Pain Management

Fibromyalgia is a condition that is managed by both medical treatments and lifestyle changes. Pain management in Fibromyalgia is a combination of multiple strategies, with medications as a last resort. For management of Fibromyalgia it is important to understand pain, the types of pain and the ‘pain cycle’

Key Points

  • Persistent pain is a core symptom of Fibromyalgia.
  • Pain management is breaking the cycle by understanding pain triggers and windup.
  • Like other symptoms, pain levels can be linked to physical stressors, infections, immune factors, as well as activities.
  • Patients need to monitor pain and respond – adjust lifestyle, food, environmental and other triggers.
  • Optimal pain management involves many non-drug strategies.
  • Pain management is a combination of multiple strategies, with medications as a last resort.
  • Note that addressing fatigue and poor sleep can reduce pain.

Understanding Types of Pain in Fibromyalgia

Persistent pain in the neurological condition Fibromyalgia, whether widespread, migratory or localised, peaks and wanes and may range from mild to severe.

Pain reflects inflammation in the brain and spinal cord and can be in muscles, joints or both. As part of diagnostic criteria, pain is located in all four quadrants of the body, upper, lower, left and right sides.

Headaches may be particularly troublesome, they can be a new type, pattern or severity and are often migraines.

Both nociceptivepain and neuropathic persistent pain are experienced in Fibromyalgia: these mirror damage to the nerves and cells and are similar to the pain experienced in shingles and diabetes.

Three types of Fibromyalgia pain are medically defined:

  • Hyperalgesia - Is the body’s exaggerated response to pain stimulus
  • Allodynia - A clinical situation that results in pain from a stimulus (such as light touch) that normally should not be painful.
  • Painful paresthesia - Odd nerve sensations that can feel like crawling, tingling, burning, itching, or numbness.

Common Patient Terminology

  • Aching
  • Burning
  • Throbbing
  • Stinging
  • Crawling

Pain Cycle

Unmanaged persistent physical pain can create a cycle of the worsening of many symptoms of Fibromyalgia.

Pain management in Fibromyalgia aims to break the pain wind-up cycle at any of the cycle steps by linking pain initiators, triggers, sustainers and co-existing conditions.

Before care plan interventions and wider referrals, it is important to treat localised pain, e.g. arthritis or migraine, because it can hinder progress and amplify the generalised pain of Fibromyalgia and can spiral out to other symptoms.

 

For more information please see the Patient Easy Guide on pain.

Disclaimer: This website is not intended to replace informed medical advice.  It contains information for educational purposes only.


 

Estimates are that as many as 1 million Australians experience this pain disorder.

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