The Most Common Signs Of Fibromyalgia

Migraines

Migraines are a kind of severe and recurring headache characterized by a pulsing sensation or throbbing pain in the head. In some cases, migraines cause the affected individual to feel nauseous, vomit, and to be sensitive to sounds and light in their environment. Migraines may last anywhere from a few hours to several days, often disrupting daily activities and normal function. Migraines are thought to be the result of alterations in the way the trigeminal nerve and brainstem interact with each other. The trigeminal nerve is the most complex nerve of the cranial nerves and a major pain pathway for an individual's neck and head.

Between twenty and thirty-six percent of individuals who have frequent migraines are also affected by fibromyalgia. Between forty-five and eighty percent of fibromyalgia patients are also affected by frequent migraines. The mechanism behind this association is thought to be related to how recurrent migraines in affected individuals cause an increase in neuronal response to nonphysical pain and physical pain sensations, effectively triggering random neuronal activity around the body. This random activity of the neurons increases the patient's sensitivity to the symptoms of their fibromyalgia.

Bladder Dysfunction

Bladder dysfunction is the medical term used to characterize a range of issues with the bladder functions of holding and releasing urine. Bladder dysfunction includes symptoms of urinary frequency, hesitancy, infrequency, straining, pain with urination, urgency, and incontinence. The most common forms of bladder dysfunction reported fibromyalgia patients are frequent urges to urinate, incontinence, and chronic bladder pain. Individuals affected by fibromyalgia have a central nervous system sensitized to pain stimuli. Because fibromyalgia is a problem with the nerves and their signal transmission, it is thought that it may provoke the nerves in the brain associated with the function of the urinary system.

Urge incontinence is a type of bladder dysfunction where the affected individual feels a powerful and very sudden urge to empty their bladder. Fibromyalgia patients may also experience stress incontinence or leakage of urine due to coughing or laughing pressures on the bladder. Bladder pain due to fibromyalgia can irritate the bladder tissues and cause them to transmit inappropriate signals to the brain. These abnormal signals can result in an overactive bladder and incontinence.