BIO 168-130 Research Paper
December 9, 2014
Fibromyalgia and its effect on the human body I have always been amazed at how the human body can function in spite of less than optimal conditions. There were many disorders that I could have chosen to do research on. I chose fibromyalgia because I have a relative who suffers with it on a daily basis. Perhaps you have seen the Lyrica commercial that shows a woman who now has a happy life thanks to this wonderful drug. Before I started my research, I only knew that fibromyalgia affected the nerves. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance (Ryan 2011). Normal pain is amplified. Symptoms come and go and move …show more content…
Unfortunately for sufferers, the exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown. To make matters worse, symptoms of fibromyalgia occur in many different places on the body. Besides problems with sleep, one may get headaches and be affected by mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. Muscular problems may include but are not limited to pain, twitches, and stiffness. On a systemic level, there may be problems with weight gain, skin problems and sensitivity to allergens. Because the symptoms mirror those of other disorders, people may go without an official diagnosis for many years. Difficult to diagnose, rheumatologists and family physicians are usually the ones to discover it. To further complicate matters, this disorder can start suddenly or develop over time. During the course of my research, I came across three possible explanations: genetics, illness, and …show more content…
Who among us has never been fatigued, had muscle pain or even difficulty sleeping? The stark truth is that anyone can get fibromyalgia. An article in the March 2011 edition of Natural Solutions magazine bluntly tells us that no one is immune (Teitelbaum, 2007). Fibromyalgia has no respect for gender, race, nationality or age. Women are more likely to have fibromyalgia with a male to female incidence ratio of one to nine (Tunning 2012). The risk of getting fibromyalgia increase with age and decreases with more exercise more and less weight (Teitelbaum, 2007). Out of the sources of information that I found, the incidence in the U.S. population is estimated to be between two and six percent (citation,