Fibromyalgia is a type of rheumatism

Just doing some research which I do from time to time and knew this from the beginning when I was told my issue is FM.    

Fibromyalgia is a type of rheumatism which affects muscles and ligaments but not joints.  Not only does it cause aching, stiffness and tiredness in muscles, tendons and ligaments around joints, but the worst aspect of fibromyalgia may be the muscle fatigue, tiredness, lack of energy, and lack of endurance that can be severe enough to disrupt personal and family life. It may affect one or several different parts of the body such as limbs, neck or back.  Less frequently, symptoms include: tingling, numbness, poor circulation or swelling of the hands and feet, irritability, feeling low or weepy, forgetfulness and poor concentration, irritable bowels, and waking up feeling tired. 

Of course symptoms like these can have other causes - your doctor can help decide whether any further tests or advice are required. 

There is unfortunately, no specific blood or x-ray test for FMS

What causes Fibromyalgia? 

     There is no single specific cause of fibromyalgia but research has revealed that people with fibromyalgia lose deep sleep.  Lack of deep sleep may have several causes and more than one cause may affect any particular individual, e.g.-  the pain, stiffness and stress of an injury or of a disease like arthritis, emotional pain, anxiety or the sadness of bereavement all may reduce restorative sleep.  Once fibromyalgia sets in there is a vicious cycle producing more pain and more sleep disturbance. This can be enough to cause mild depression even if this was not present initially.

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