Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that needs consistent care that prevents painful flare-ups and allows you to live your best possible life. Haddis T. Hagos, MD, DABA, DABA-PM, Brent Earls, MD, and the team at Pain Management Associates LLC in Greenbelt, Maryland, have extensive experience helping patients get symptom relief and keep their fibromyalgia in remission as long as possible. To learn about your treatment options, call the office or request an appointment online today.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic (long-lasting) condition that causes widespread muscle pain and tenderness when touched. Patients with fibromyalgia may also experience:

• Severe fatigue (that doesn’t improve with sleep)
• Sensitivity to lights, temperature, and sound
• Tingling or burning sensations in their arms or legs
• Difficulty concentrating (brain fog)
• Joint pain
• Headaches
• Memory loss
• Depression
• Anxiety

The symptoms caused by fibromyalgia often flare up in response to triggers such as stress and dietary changes. During a flare, your pain and fatigue may be so severe that you can’t work or engage in daily activities.

What causes fibromyalgia?

Despite causing muscle and joint pain, fibromyalgia isn’t caused by musculoskeletal disease. Though the exact cause has yet to be defined, experts agree that it’s associated with changes in your nerves that make them hypersensitive and over-reactive. As a result, they interpret any small stimulation (inside or outside your body) as severe pain.

How is fibromyalgia treated?

Pain Management Associates LLC focuses on easing your symptoms and boosting your energy. While medications may provide pain relief, it’s just as crucial to be sure you have a healthy, balanced diet and get regular exercise.

Gentle exercise improves your energy and also eases the pain, but you also need to know when to rest to prevent a fibromyalgia flare. For this reason, it’s often best to start physical therapy.

Your Pain Management Associates LLC provider may prescribe one of several medications approved for fibromyalgia. Examples include Lyrica® to relieve nerve and muscle pain, and Cymbalta® and Savella®, which balance brain chemicals associated with pain.

Your provider may also recommend treatments targeting specific symptoms or interventions stopping overall pain. A few examples include:

• Trigger point injections
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Occipital nerve stimulation
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

People with fibromyalgia commonly develop trigger points (painful muscle spasms or knots). A trigger point injection relaxes the spasm and gives you fast pain relief.

Other interventional procedures work by preventing pain signals from reaching your brain. Spinal cord stimulation, occipital nerve stimulation, and TENS all use low-level electrical pulses to block the nerve signals. You get significant pain relief when your brain doesn’t get the message.

The team at Pain Management Associates LLC can help you finally get relief from the pain of fibromyalgia. Call the office or book an appointment online today.