Normal childhood infections and injuries are fairly simple to diagnose in childhood. It is simple to take a throat swab to find out if the teenager has strep throat or not. Unfortunately, some children have symptoms that are harder to diagnose. They may report symptoms like problems sleeping, fatigue, pain and achiness. While these could be symptoms of a variety of illnesses, it is possible that these symptoms could be caused by fibromyalgia. Known for causing pain in soft tissues and muscles around the joints, fibromyalgia is harder to diagnose in children than adults.
While the majority of fibromyalgia sufferers are women over the age of 18, an estimated 1 to 7 percent of children are believed to have the condition. When it occurs in children,
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There seems to be a genetic link to the condition since it is more common among families. Scientists have researched connections between fibromyalgia and biochemical, immune, psychological and endocrine issues. To date, there still is not a gene or anything else that has been connected with the condition for sure.
Among teenagers, more girls are diagnosed with the condition than boys. On average, girls are diagnosed between the ages of 13 and 15. While this is the normal time to be diagnosed, fibromyalgia can develop at any point.
Spotting Symptoms
Among children, the most common symptom of fibromyalgia is sore spots on specific muscles. If these tender spots are touched, they will hurt. A doctor will normally touch 18 spots on the teenager's body that are common locations for fibromyalgia pain. Patients who have experienced pain in at least five of these spots for at least three months are diagnosed with the condition. Teenagers may describe the soreness as tenderness, stiffness, aching, tightness or burning.
Other symptoms of fibromyalgia in teenagers include:
Restless legs during sleep
Fatigue
Problems sleeping
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On average, students with fibromyalgia miss three days of school every month. Other than hurting their grades, this can make the condition socially isolating. Missing so much school makes it hard to develop friendships and finish academic courses.
Treatment for Fibromyalgia in Teenagers
Once a child is diagnosed with fibromyalgia there are some options available to treat it. A psychologist or counselor can help with symptoms like depression, social isolation and anxiety. Coping strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy can help teenagers learn how to spot pain triggers and cope with them. Muscle relaxation, meditation and other stress-relieving techniques can also help with pain.
Exercise is considered an important part of fibromyalgia treatment. According to studies, children who exercise and have fibromyalgia experience less pain. They are also less likely to experience depression or anxiety. Physical therapy can help improve the child's ability to exercise and work through the muscle soreness. In some cases, medication may be given to help with depression and pain. Currently, the efficacy of drugs for children with fibromyalgia is
Diagnosis of FMS is often very difficult. There are many different symptoms that seem to be unrelated. Some of the symptoms such as fatigue overlap with many other diseases. A patient will often have to visit many different doctors before being properly diagnosed. Also, there currently is no lab test to rule whether or not a patient actually has FMS. As physicians become more aware of the disorder and its classic symptoms, it will be easier for them to diagnose it. Still, many other diseases and disorders must first be ruled out before the patient is diagnosed as having fibromyalgia. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has established some criteria for diagnosis: more than three months of muscular pain and tender points, there must be pain in all four quadrants of the body (top, bottom, left, right), and there must be at least eleven tender points (the ACR has established eighteen of these points). (Source 1)
A physical barrier may be an increased likelihood for people who experiences fibromyalgia having impaired fine motor control, decreased increased tone which can in turn affecting their gripping strength (Watson, Buchwald, Noonan, & Ellenbogen, 2009). Ruby sometimes experience difficulty with fine motor control as she could drop plates without being aware of it. Ruby experience spirituality through getting something out of volunteering as it was her occupational engagement. Working provide motivation and reinforce her a sense of purpose and meaning (Johnston & Mayers, 2005). Therefore volunteering work enables
A total of 35 children were enrolled into the current study; 15 children had a medical illness, 14 children were siblings of a child with a medical and/or chronic illness, and 6 children were healthy and had healthy family members. The children with medical illnesses and the
There are so many common secondary symptoms that it is not unusual for a patient to be treated by multiple specialists for those symptoms over a period of years before they are diagnosed with FMS. Secondary symptoms need not be present for diagnosis, and will vary from one patient to the next.
Two of the most common clinical symptoms in childhood disorders is fever and pain . At times when parents present with their children and the different concerns that they have noticed, we as healthcare providers must take them serious and evaluate and investigate each individual circumstance.
Fibromyalgia – This condition causes individuals to have aching muscles all over often leaving them in quite a lot of pain, and many fatigued by the simplest of movements.
Many people do not realize what effects your body can get when it does not have the proper physical needs to stay strong and healthy. One of the effects is a rheumatic syndrome called FIBROMYALGIA, also known as Fibrositis and Myofasical pain syndrome. This syndrome is diagnosed with a history of at least three months of widespread pain and tenderness in eleven to eighteen of tender-point sites. These points include: the neck, the shoulders, the chest, the rib cage, the lower back, the thighs, the knees, the arms(mainly the elbows), and the buttocks. The pain in these areas is defined as an overwhelming characteristic of FIBROMYALGIA and is long standing. These points are the trigger points,
Other common symptoms may include depression or anxiety, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, and pain full tender points. Many people with fibromyalgia feel there pain in specific areas like the joints in the lower back, and neck. Many people experience fibromyalgia many years before being diagnosed. People with fibromyalgia experience localized areas of tenderness called tender points. Tender points are not areas of deep pain and are under the surface of the skin. Doctors would check 18 specific points to see how many of them were painful when pressed firmly. People suffering from fibromyalgia have 11 or more tender points out of 18 different tender
of extremities, and even cognitive memory problems. The name fibromyalgia comes from "fibro" in Latin
Fibromyalgia causes you to ache all over. You may have symptoms of crippling fatigue -- even on arising. Specific tender points on the
"Approximately 10 million Americans (2-4%) have Fibromyalgia with a ratio of about 8 to 2, women over men." This is a ratio that has been found by the National Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Association. Fibromyalgia is a disease that affects the body in many different ways. It comes with pain in the muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Along with chronic muscle pain, it also comes with fatigue, sleep problems, and painful trigger points. Although many doubt a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, it is a real disease affecting so many people. This confusing diagnosis leads to daily struggles like fatigue, pain all throughout the body, and even depression from time to time, affecting not only the victim of the disease, but also the people around them.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that has not been studied much in the medical field. The cause of this condition is unknown is more common in women and create a poor quality of life and disabilities due to the constant fear of having pain. Fibromyalgia has been identified as a disease that attacks the central nervous system. When attacking the nerves the patients pain pathways are firing more often than they should which creates a constant pain. One method being trialed in studies has shown an improvement in pain levels is a treatment called TENS or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. This TENS unit creates electric stimulation in patients nerves to help relieve the pain pathways that are triggered to signal the brain the body feels pain. Fibromyalgia has also been linked to other diseases like: osteo¬arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.
This paper will explore the biopsychosocial components of fibromyalgia for patients and the current research surrounding the use of mindfulness as a treatment for the disorder.
Pain is typically the most prominent symptom of fibromyalgia. FM pain is chronic and widespread affecting all four quadrants of the body, although not essentially simultaneously. Its intensity might range from mild to deep. Fm pain tends to wander sometimes affecting one portion of the
An individual that has strives to live with anxiety or an anxiety disorder faces many struggles daily because of the feelings the conditions stimulate. There are an infinite amount of symptoms, causes, and consequences, but an equal amount of treatment options and ways to handle anxiety. Anxiety disorders can be viewed as general or extremely specific, but all in all each one affects the life of a person living with one or knowing someone who struggles with it. In regards to teenagers specifically, between three and five percent children and adolescents in the United States have some sort of anxiety disorder (Foa and Andrews 2). With the many challenges teenagers already face because of pressure based on school, athletics, social