|
There is a DU forum on it as well.
There are many websites that deal with it, too. You will find (the majority, at any rate) that when there is a lot of stress in your life your symptoms are worse. You will find that you don't sleep well through the night, and probably suffer from some aspect of insomnia. In part, the insomnia can be both caused by and the cause of, fibro. They did tests with people who has fibro and found they don't reach the "delta" wave sleep, and it is a lack of deep sleep that exacerbates fibro. They put normal people into a sleep study who normally slept through the night, and began interrrupting their deep sleep patterns so they never got into that deep sleep, and shortly thereafter, the subjects began to get fibro symptoms. They let them go back to their normal sleep patterns and it disappeared. But those with fibro have some factor that prevents them from getting that deep sleep necessary to repair bones, muscles and tendons.
It's now considered an auto-immune disease, and it WILL prevent you from donating blood in some places. It isn't contagious, it just means you're weakening yourself by giving blood. Or at least that's what the nurse told me the last time I tried to give.
Sleep.....both your enemy and your friend. When you want it, it's not there, and when you don't want it, it is there. It messes upyour internal clock to the point where you don't want to plan anything because you aren't sure you're going to have enough energy to get through it.
It comes with depression. Doctors are convinced now that it isn't depression that causes it, but vice versa. Many people go years without any depression attached to their fibro, until one day, when everything is just completely overwhelming, and you realize that you're not only tired, sore and unable to do much, but now you're crying and depressed as well.
There are good times, though. People can go into remission and stay relatively "healthy" for long periods of time. But then, at the slightest provocation, it all starts again. The key is getting regular schedules, going to bed at the same time every night, getting up at the same time, and not overexerting yourself to the point where you break.
Hope this helps a bit. I would recommend googling and look for major hospital/medical sites like webmd, johnshopkins, mayo, lahey, medline, etc.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
