Fibromyalgia: Is It an Autoimmune Disease?
by Admin
Posted on 24-08-2022 12:37 PM
There are currently no effective treatments for
fibromyalgia
, a chronic condition that causes widespread pain, sleep problems, fatigue, and emotional distress. The underlying cause has remained a mystery, although some research has hinted at the involvement of the immune system. A study has now found that antibodies from people with fibromyalgia induce symptoms of the disease in mice, which strongly suggests that fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disorder. The discovery could lead to diagnostic blood tests for the disease and more effective treatments. People with fibromyalgia have chronic pain and sensitivity to pressure and cold all over their body.
They may also have trouble sleeping and experience fatigue and emotional distress.
Fibromyalgia has a lot of symptoms in common with autoimmune diseases. In fact, a lot of people mistakenly believe that it's classified as autoimmune. It's not--at least, not at the moment. Fibromyalgia affects 2% to 4% of adults. Autoimmune diseases can, and frequently do, occur alongside it. Additionally, some autoimmune diseases, such as lupus , have symptoms that are strikingly similar to fibromyalgia. Because fibromyalgia was once believed to be an arthritis-related condition, and many types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis (ra) , are autoimmune diseases, the assumption used to be that fibromyalgia fit into this category. Research, though, has pointed in different directions.
Fibromyalgia (fm) may be an autoimmune disease , where your immune system attacks healthy cells by mistake. For years, the evidence seemed to point away from that. This issue is still far from decided, but opinion may be swaying back toward autoimmunity. Some research suggests fm may be an autoimmune disease involving neuroinflammation, an inflammatory response within the brain and spinal cord, and small-fiber neuropathy , which is weakness and pain from nerve damage. That hypothesis isn’t getting widespread acceptance in the medical community, though. This article looks at what this research says; the evidence for autoimmunity, neuroinflammation, and small-fiber neuropathy; why not all inflammation is created equal; and why these findings—if accurate—are important.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder which is characterized by widespread pain, tenderness and fatigue. Persons with fibromyalgia may also experience sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, anxiety, and irritable bowel syndrome. Often it is also accompanied by depression. It is difficult to diagnose because most of the symptoms mimic those of other disorders. Fibromyalgia is not an autoimmune disease, however it does accompany other autoimmune rheumatic and endocrine diseases.
What’s an autoimmune disease?
Fibromyalgia is a disease that causes, “widespread pain—muscle and joint pain and fatigue. ” it’s a serious, painful condition that can cause the sufferer to struggle with everyday tasks, often leading to sadness or unhappiness, as many chronic pain illnesses do. Whether or not fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disease or not is subject of frequent debate. An autoimmune disease is a disease where, “your immune system mistakenly attacks your body, which is why some experts believe that it should be classified as an autoimmune disease. While some fibromyalgia symptoms can also be found in many autoimmune diseases, not all the symptoms overlap, which is why there is still debate.
Our bodies have an immune system, which is a complex network of special cells and organs that defends the body from germs and other foreign invaders. At the core of the immune system is the ability to tell the difference between self and nonself: what's you and what's foreign. A flaw can make the body unable to tell the difference between self and nonself. When this happens, the body makes autoantibodies (aw-toh-an-teye-bah-deez) that attack normal cells by mistake. At the same time, special cells called regulatory t cells fail to do their job of keeping the immune system in line.