Fibromyalgia And Pregnancy
The majority of women find their pregnancies to be very enjoyable but pregnancy can definitely have its difficult times. Whether it is morning sickness, insomnia or just plain old fatigue. When someone is pregnant and fighting an illness though, things can be even worse. Women with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, often wonder if they will be able to deal with the demands of a pregnancy. Fibromyalgia is a relatively unknown illness, even though it affects between 3 and 6 million people every year. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that causes extensive and chronic pain in the body. This pain is also accompanied by many other symptoms and often has a great impact on the freedom and enjoyment of life.
Fibromyalgia syndrome seems to attack more women than men with 80% of sufferers being female. Onset of this syndrome generally occurs during early adulthood or middle age and is characterized by symptoms that wax and diminish over periods of time. Symptoms of Fibromyalgia: Fibromyalgia symptoms are throbbing and can be devastating. Fibromyalgia attacks the muscles throughout the body, causing them to ache, burn and twitch. If one is are suffering from the syndrome, you probably feel achy all over, especially in the arms, lower back, shoulders and neck area. Fibromyalgia causes tingling in the fingers and toes, severe fatigue, headaches, and sleep problems. The syndrome is also associated with abdominal pain and gastrointestinal complications. In addition, many suffers have to deal with nervousness and depression triggered by their fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia and pregnancy: Not very much is recognized about the course of fibromyalgia during pregnancy. There seems to be contradictory proof between researchers and doctors as to the effects of pregnancy on the syndrome. It is usually accepted that more fibromyalgia research must be executed in order to get an accurate idea of what happens to fibromyalgia syndrome during pregnancy. Through a research it is found that an overwhelming number of those pregnant while suffering from fibromyalgia reported a drastic increase in the severity of their symptoms. The third trimester was most challenging during their pregnancy with symptoms increasing in frequency. Most of the women in the study reported that their symptoms remained more strong than normal until about three months after they had delivered. They also had a greater incidence of post-partum depression. The babies born to women with fibromyalgia were all healthy, full-term and of a good birth weight. |