Living with Anxiety and Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is an often misunderstood medical condition. Those who live with this type of chronic pain sometimes also suffer from an anxiety disorder. Both conditions are serious, but they may be dismissed because symptoms cannot be seen as easily as a broken bone. Fibromyalgia and its connection to anxiety disorders should never be dismissed or ignored.

What is fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder that causes widespread muscle pain and fatigue. People with fibromyalgia have tender points on their bodies that hurt in response to even slight pressure. Fibromyalgia is considered a rheumatic condition, meaning a medical condition that impairs the joints and causes chronic pain. Though the symptoms can feel similar to arthritis, it is not a form of arthritis because it does not cause inflammation at the joints or muscles.

Fibromyalgia may cause people to experience sleep problems, headaches, and temperature sensitivity. People may also have difficulties with memory or feel numbness or tingling in their arms and legs. Some with fibromyalgia also suffer from restless leg syndrome or irritable bowel syndrome, and many suffer from depression and anxiety.

What causes fibromyalgia, and how many people have it?
No specific cause has been identified, but researchers believe people with fibromyalgia are hypersensitive to stimuli that are not painful in others. This may be due to a reduced blood flow to the portion of the brain that helps the body deal with pain. Fibromyalgia also appears to run in families, but scientists haven’t pinpointed a specific gene.

Fibromyalgia affects 3 to 6 million Americans — as many as one in 50. Women are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder, and most are diagnosed during middle age. People with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and spinal arthritis are also more likely to develop fibromyalgia.

How is fibromyalgia diagnosed?
A person must have widespread pain lasting for more than three months and at least 11 of 18 designated tender point sites on the body, as classified by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). But diagnosis can be difficult because not all doctors are familiar with the condition, and there is no lab test to detect it. Doctors must take the patient’s word about the amount of pain. Fibromyalgia is also difficult to diagnose because its symptoms of fatigue and disturbed sleep describe several medical conditions.

Can fibromyalgia be treated?
The FDA recently approved the first drug to treat fibromyalgia. But like other medical conditions, fibromyalgia often requires a combination of treatments and therapies, such as physical and occupational therapy and antidepressants, which in some cases can reduce pain in people who have fibromyalgia. While symptoms can improve with treatment, fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that can last a lifetime. There is no cure, but the condition is not progressive or fatal.

Doctors also recommend getting ample sleep and exercise. A recent study at Harvard Medical School found that moderate exercise can make an immediate difference. The study discovered that women who engaged in strength training, aerobic activity, and flexibility training reported feeling better physically and mentally after four months.

What is an anxiety disorder?
Anxiety disorders are a unique group of illnesses that fill people’s lives with persistent, excessive, and unreasonable anxiety, worry, and fear. They include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and specific phobias. Anxiety disorders are real, serious medical conditions, but they can be treated. Read a more detailed overview.

What role does anxiety play in fibromyalgia?
In a 2006 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, participants with fibromyalgia were almost seven times more likely to have an anxiety disorder than participants without the condition. In addition, the National Sleep Foundation reports that about 20 percent of fibromyalgia patients also have an anxiety disorder or depression.

People with fibromyalgia can become anxious when even their own doctors can’t diagnose it correctly or tell them they’re just under a lot of stress. Their friends and family may not understand the condition and say it’s all in their head. “Because fibromyalgia is so confusing, other people wonder if it’s real. This contributes to the sufferer’s emotional distress,” Dr. Dennis Turk, a pain specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, told the Washington Post.

Patients can also become frustrated or depressed when their pain doesn’t respond to treatment or when they can no longer perform their job or family responsibilities.

How can people with fibromyalgia and an anxiety disorder get help?

Anyone suffering from chronic pain and an anxiety disorder should see a medical professional who can properly diagnose the conditions and work with the patient to develop an individual treatment plan. That may mean seeing one doctor for fibromyalgia and another for an anxiety disorder — a rheumatologist, for example, may not know enough about mental health to properly treat an anxiety disorder but can effectively treat fibromyalgia. If that is the case, be sure to inform each physician you see about all the medications you’re taking, or ask that the physicians work together on a treatment plan. To find a therapist who specializes in anxiety disorders, click here.

For more information
Fibromyalgia - National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
All About Fibromyalgia – National Sleep Foundation
Fibromyalgia – Mayo Clinic
Living with Fibromyalgia – U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Exercise Eases Fibromyalgia Symptoms – Washington Post
Fibromyalgia: Real Illness, Real Answers – New York Times
Living with Chronic Pain – New York Times

Fibromyalgia Resources
National Fibromyalgia Association
Fibromyalgia Network
American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association