Fibromyalgia Isn't Just For Women
Often, when you hear that someone has Fibromyalgia, you instantly think of a female. Fibromyalgia affects more than 4 million Americans age 18 and older. Depending on the source, anywhere between 60-90% of those with Fibro are female, but men can and do get it. Men who have Fibro are generally more likely to have other autoimmune disorders.
In my case, I’m one of those rare cases that affect a man and I also have several other autoimmune disorders. In fact, it seems that the sexual bias of Fibro is quickly coming to an end as studies show more and more men are being inflicted with Fibro every day.
Fibromyalgia is also called fibromyalgia syndrome. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that happen together. People with fibromyalgia experience aches and pain all over the body, fatigue (extreme tiredness that does not get better with sleep or rest), and problems sleeping.
Fibromyalgia may be caused by a problem in the brain with nerves and pain signals. In other words, in people with fibromyalgia, the brain misunderstands everyday pain and other sensory experiences, making the person more sensitive to pressure, temperature (hot or cold), bright lights, and noise compared to people who do not have fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia has been compared to arthritis. Like arthritis, fibromyalgia causes pain and fatigue. But, unlike arthritis, fibromyalgia does not cause redness and swelling, or damage to your joints.
The exact cause of Fibro is not yet known, but researchers strongly believe that genetics may play a role. Studies also show that the brains of people with fibromyalgia may not process pain in the same way as people who do not have fibromyalgia. Lower levels of certain brain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin or norepinephrine, may cause you to be more sensitive to pain and have a more severe reaction to pain. Imaging studies of the brain show that people with fibromyalgia feel pain when people without fibromyalgia do not. Some medicines prescribed to treat fibromyalgia try to bring the levels of those neurotransmitters back into balance.
There is a cure or treatment for fibro, though the FDA has approved several medications to help with the symptoms, including, pregabalin, duloxetine, and milnacipran. I personally have already tried pregabalin (Lyrica), and duloxetine (Cymbalta). I didn’t have great experiences with either. I turned out to have a major allergic reaction to Lyrica and Cymbalta is the devil’s drug of choice, lol. I really had a bad time on Cymbalta, everything from major night sweats to horrible dreams and suicidal thoughts. When I mean night sweats, I’m talking about waking up around 2 a.m. and your sheets are dripping wet. This means changing the sheets and your clothing and trying to fall asleep again. This was every night and I started to sleep in the spare bedroom, so I wouldn’t keep my wife up at night. Every time I close my eyes, even for a few minutes, I had the nastiest visions, not just nightmares, they were there when I just rested my eyes and hadn’t fallen asleep yet. Plus they both love to play with your serotonin, and I have already been to the ER once for serotonin syndrome.
So, yes, men can and do get Fibro and no, it isn’t just some muscle aches. Being a Marine veteran, I have been in pain many times in my life and this pretty much trumps most of it (besides my Costochondritis). We are talking about pain in every single joint in your body at times. We are talking muscle cramps that never go away, we are talking shooting and radiating pains that jump from a 2-3 to an 8-9. I always thought that people who complain about pain were just wimps, but damn, I was certainly wrong about that.
