How Fibromyalgia Affects Your Nervous System

After osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia is the next most common rheumatic disorder, and is considered to be a lifelong central nervous system disorder responsible for debilitating pain. If you suffer from fibromyalgia, you know the signature shooting pains can rob you of your best quality of life. 

At Florida Pain Management Institute, in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, we offer a variety of medical foods that can help you manage fibromyalgia better, so you can focus on living your life, rather than chronic pain management. 

Take a few minutes to learn how fibromyalgia affects your nervous system and learn how nutrition plays a role in your pain management plan. 

Fibromyalgia is a neurological disease

It’s a common misconception that fibromyalgia is a condition originating in your joints that leads to inflammation and pain. However, fibromyalgia is a neurological disorder of the central nervous system that affects your sensory processing system. 

If you suffer from fibromyalgia, your brain and spinal cord process pain signals differently than most people. This is the reason you experience a heightened sensitivity to pain, heat, light, or noise — potentially any of your sensory reactions. 

Fibromyalgia amplifies pain pathways in the body

Often without an apparent or obvious cause, pain pathways throughout your body amplify pain and are hypersensitive to a variety of environmental, physical and emotional triggers. 

In other words, your hypersensitivity to pain means you can feel extreme discomfort in nearly any part of your body, to even the smallest sensations. With fibromyalgia, you feel intense pain when those without the condition may simply feel slight discomfort. 

Managing fibromyalgia pain with nutrition and exercise

While medical professionals often find it challenging to diagnose fibromyalgia, since its symptoms are similar to other chronic conditions, many physicians agree that a multidisciplinary approach to managing your pain offers the most benefits. 

Exercise benefits your brain

Physical activity and gentle exercise can help relieve fibromyalgia symptoms. When you exercise daily, you increase oxygen to your brain, which helps boost your mood and reduces stress and depression. Exercise also releases neurotransmitters that help improve your brain function, which is especially important for people with fibromyalgia.  

Physical activity can also help reduce brain fog — a common symptom of fibromyalgia. And, you don’t have to run a marathon to enjoy the benefits of exercise as part of your fibromyalgia pain management plan. Walking, swimming, yoga, and other low-impact movements work just as well. You can begin slowly and work up to a little more activity each day, as your endurance and stamina increase. 

Proper nutrition helps manage symptoms

Many fibromyalgia sufferers have amino acid and nutrient deficiencies. When you replenish your body with foods that contain the missing amino acids, vitamins, and other nutrients, you help restore your nervous system’s balance. A proper diet can help improve fibromyalgia symptoms such as pain, fatigue and brain fog, while improving your overall energy levels. 

As part of a comprehensive pain management plan, exercise and nutrition go a long way in helping you cope — physically and emotionally — with the daily disruptive symptoms of fibromyalgia. 

To learn more about how you can better manage the chronic symptoms of fibromyalgia through medical foods, give us a call at 561-331-5050. You can also send us a message online.