SearchExclusive.com

Understanding Fibromyalgia Disability

Fibromyalgia and its Disbaility

Very often misdiagnosed and misunderstood, after osteoarthritis, the second most common musculoskeletal condition that affects a lot of people is fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia disability occurs in the form of joint pain, fatigue and widespread muscle pain along with other disability-like symptoms. Depression and social isolation are the direct implications of fibromyalgia disability.

A syndrome is a set of symptoms that exist together and they point towards the presence of a specific disease or an increased chance of the disease developing in the system. The following symptoms occur in the case of fibromyalgia syndrome:

Social anxiety
Sensitive tender points
Depression
Widespread pain
Decreased pain threshold
Debilitating fatigue

It has also been noted that women are ten times more likely to contract this disease as compared to men, usually between the ages of 25 to 60 years. While over 12 million Americans have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia Disability

A constant ache all over the body is the most common symptom of fibromyalgia that occurs with other symptoms of crippling fatigue. Feeling fatigued even after a whole night’s sleep is one of the most common symptoms. Deep and restful sleep cycles may also be punctuated by disturbances because of mood swings and occurrence of specific tender points on the body that may be painful to touch is also common. Another common indication of fibromyalgia is unexplained depression.

Talking about muscles, it feels like the muscles are pulled or overworked even without any strenuous exercise. Muscles may also experience stabbing deep pains, burns or twitching. Achiness and pains around the back, shoulders, necks, joints and hips that makes it difficult to exercise or sleep is also experienced by some people suffering from fibromyalgia. Some other symptoms that can be considered common to a lot of problems but are indicative of fibromyalgia are:

Dryness in eyes, mouth and nose
Hypersensitivity to cold or heat or both
Irritable bowel syndrome
Abdominal pain
Chronic headaches
Incontinence
Numbness or tingling sensation in feet and fingers
Fibro fog or inability to concentrate
Overall Stiffness

The signs of fibromyalgia are similar to those of osteoarthritis, tendinitis and bursitis, which often has experts classifying it under a type of arthritis and its related disorders. As the pain is localized in other disorders like tendinitis and bursitis, the pain and stiffness in fibromyalgia is widespread and not centered.

Diagnosing Fibromyalgia Disability

To make an accurate diagnosis about fibromyalgia, a comprehensive physical exam and medical history is required of the patient. Specific blood tests may suggested by the doctor to rule out other treatable or more serious illnesses and disorders. A complete blood count or CBC test is required, blood chemistry to mark out levels of different enzymes, nutrients and calcium in the blood may be required. A thyroid test is done to rule out the problem since an underactive thyroid often causes fatigue like symptoms similar to fibromyalgia.

Tests for rheumatoid factor (RF), Lyme titers, erythrocyte or red blood cell sedimentation rate, calcium levels, antinuclear antibodies ANA and vitamin D levels and other laboratory tests that are usually done to rule out serious illnesses.

The American College of Rheumatology has put in place a diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia syndrome and fibromyalgia disability. Most doctors follow the guidelines to see if the symptoms match with the given criteria. A persistent widespread pain for a period of 3 months or more is included in this criteria and can refer to pain on both left and right sides of the body, including the mid and lower back, chest, sides, neck etc. Tender points of the body formerly used to diagnose fibromyalgia are also an important factor.

Other related symptoms like sleep disturbances, mood disorders and fatigue that can help measure the impact fibromyalgia disorder has on the emotional and physical functioning of the patient needs to be evaluated by the doctor to check the severity.

Treatment for Fibromyalgia Disability

Fibromyalgia has no cute yet. There is also no comprehensive treatment that helps handle all the symptoms of fibromyalgia. This often difficult syndrome is usually dealt with by combining different treatments both traditional and alternative to effectively manage the disorder. A combination of exercises and medications that help with aerobic conditioning and strengthening along with behavioral techniques may be required.

Drugs to Treat Fibromyalgia

In case of fibromyalgia, drugs usually only treat the symptoms, as stated by the American College of Rheumatology. FDA has approved anumber of medicaitons for effective fibromyalgia disability treatment. Opioid pain drugs are usually avoided as they can cause drug dependency issues in the long run. A class of drugs referred to as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) also have proven effective.

Related Reading

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Most of the dogs do not have a food fuss and may eat almost anything that you feed them. Dogs are not choosy at all when it comes to food and nutrition. Hence, it is important to make sure that the food that you are purchasing for your dog is healthy. The landscape of dog food has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent times. There is a wide variety of options to choose from in the online and offline market. Given the wide range of options that are available today, buying the best dog food might seem to be a confusing task indeed. All the commercial pet food that is available in the market today is regulated by the FDA. Therefore, most of the products do contain nutritious, healthy, and safe ingredients. But it does help to know certain basic factors you should look for while buying food for your dog. Prioritize on the nutritional guarantee The best dog food, which meets the dog’s needs adequately has a statement written on the label of the product, from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Buy from some of the best dog food brands, such as Fromm Family Foods, Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and The Honest Kitchen.

Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

The most important aspect when designing your kitchen is deciding on the type of cabinets. In addition to functionality, kitchen cabinets score on aesthetics as well. Once the layout is planned, you can go ahead with choosing the cabinets. If you’re remodeling your home or just the kitchen, what you need to consider are the types of cabinets that furnish your kitchen. Here are a few types of kitchen cabinets that you can choose from. Base cabinets These kitchen cabinets are mounted on the floor and they are placed after checking out the floor plan. A major part of your job in the kitchen is on these base cabinets, which hold and support the countertops. These base cabinets are combined to carve out kitchen islands. A number of base cabinets are fused/set against one another and installed on site. The base cabinets, in addition to supporting the countertops, serve as drawers to hold your cutlery and appliances. Wall cabinets Mounted on the walls, these cabinets can store everything, right from your cookware to cookbooks. In terms of design, they offer utmost flexibility. Wall cabinet kitchen is available in varying heights, multiple widths, and custom depth options. This customization helps you to fit in your stuff of varying shapes and sizes into the wall cabinets.

How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

In today’s world, where you are presented with over a dozen choices for every item you would purchase for your own kitchen, it is not surprising that you have an equal number of options for your dog’s food. However, choosing the perfect brand and formula for your dog out of a range of options in the market is not an easy job. Your pet depends on you and trusts you to make the right choice for them. Therefore, it is imperative that you do your research about the products available in the market, understand what your dog needs, know what might be your pet’s problems, and then make a sound decision. What is a sensitive stomach? Dogs are known to have voracious and large appetites. Keeping that in mind, it is normal to assume that they have strong stomachs. They can eat close to anything be it sweets, bakes, chewy gum, hard leather or even woolen socks for that matter! It always so happens that the strongest of them are prone to allergies and can develop a disorder which is medically translated as a sensitive stomach. This might be due to a sudden change in the food habits or even due an infection picked up from somewhere.

All You Need to Know about Cat Food

For cat owners, cat food is a hot topic. You need to think about it in different aspects. The best thing is to know which ingredients are good for cat food and which are harmful. If you are aware of this, you can get an idea about the quality of the cat food just by going through the label. It is always sensible to stick to one brand of cat food. However, you may also want to try and prepare cat food yourself. There are also various options for wet cat food as well. Cat’s love for fish is universal, so you can do without going for expensive cat food. Nevertheless, whether you buy it or prepare cat food at home, you need to ensure that the food contains enough nutrition and calories. You would need to have some idea about the ingredients that must be present in cat food and make a worthy selection for your cat. Basic ingredients present in good cat foods Cats need a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and active; they need various vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and oils. The following is a brief explanation of the basic ingredients that should be present in cat foods.