My whole body is aching and stiff… We must be suspicious of ‘this’ causing disability [건강+]

In addition to body pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance
1 in 10 women in their 60s have fibromyalgia
Symptoms of depression and other disabilities may also appear.
Can improve with exercise and appropriate treatment

A woman complaining of muscle pain. Getty Image Bank

Person A, a woman in her 40s, suffered from body pain, insomnia, and fatigue for several years.

Recently, my whole body felt like I was being crushed by a truck, and my entire body felt sore and stiff for 24 hours, and my knuckles also became sore and swollen.

Mr. A, who visited the rheumatology clinic, was eventually diagnosed with ‘fibromyalgia.’

If pain starts in one part of the body and spreads throughout the body, fibromyalgia may be suspected.

According to Seoul National University Hospital on the 7th, fibromyalgia is a type of rheumatic disease characterized by chronic whole body pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and tender points (parts that hurt when pressed).

Pain may start in one part of the body but spread throughout the body. Pain mainly occurs in the lower back, neck, and shoulders. It shows various aspects, such as tingling, feeling like the body is stiff, or even a deep, subtle pain.

Fatigue is also a typical symptom of fibromyalgia. You often feel tired, stay tired even when you wake up, or wake up frequently during sleep.

The cause of the disease is not yet known, but it is presumed to be due to an abnormality in pain perception.

Fibromyalgia mainly occurs in middle-aged women, and the number increases with age, with 1 in 10 women in their 60s having this disease.

It is known that approximately 2-4% of the total population suffers from it. It is a relatively common disease, accounting for approximately 6% of patients visiting internal medicine and 20% of patients visiting rheumatology departments.

However, symptoms of fibromyalgia may include memory impairment, cognitive impairment, headaches, anxiety, and depression, and approximately 9-44% of patients may show symptoms of disability, so caution is required.

Fibromyalgia does not cause destruction or deformation of joints, so it is possible to improve with appropriate treatment.

Exercises such as walking or running can be helpful, but excessive exercise can actually worsen symptoms, so you need to find an exercise of appropriate intensity that suits you.

To treat pain, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, calcium blockers, simple analgesics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used. In some cases, injection treatment using anesthetics or steroids into the painful area is also performed.

In the case of steroid injections, problems may arise if overused or misused, so consultation with a specialist is required.

Seoul National University Hospital advised that “regular aerobic exercise is good (for fibromyalgia),” and that “you should start only when there are no problems with sleep and pain and fatigue improve.”

He also recommended, “Increase exercise slowly, 20 to 30 minutes at a time, 3 to 4 times a week, at a low level that does not cause pain in the body.”

Reporter Kook Yun-jin [email protected]

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