The defining symptoms of fibromyalgia are chronic, widespread pain and tenderness to light touch. Other symptoms can include moderate to severe fatigue, a heightened and painful response to gentle touch (allodynia), needle-like tingling of the skin, muscle aches, prolonged muscle spasms, weakness in the limbs, nerve pain, functional bowel disturbances, and chronic sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances may be related to a phenomenon called alpha-delta sleep, a condition in which deep sleep (associated with delta waves) is frequently interrupted by bursts of alpha waves, which normally occur during wakefulness. Slow-wave sleep is often dramatically reduced.
Many patients experience cognitive dysfunction (known as “brain fog” or “fibrofog”), which may be characterized by impaired concentration, problems with short and long-term memory, short-term memory consolidation, genitourinary symptoms and interstitial cystitis, dermatological disorders, headaches, myoclonic twitches, and symptomatic hypoglycemia. Although fibromyalgia is classified based on the presence of chronic widespread pain, pain may also be localized in areas such as the shoulders, neck, low back, hips, or other areas. Many sufferers also experience varying degrees of facial pain and have high rates of comorbid temporomandibular joint disorder.
The most basic symptoms of Fibromyalgia syndrome are severe fatigue, widespread musculoskeletal pain and disturbed sleep. Fibromyalgia implies pain in the muscles, tendons and ligaments. The pain can be anywhere in the soft fibrous tissues of the body. Patients with Fibromyalgia often complain about pain all over the body and most of the time their muscles and ligaments feel stressed out and over worked. Occasionally Fibromyalgia symptoms involve burning sensations and muscle twitches too. Some of the common symptoms of Fibromyalgia include :
