International Women's Day: Understanding ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia

International Women's Day is a great time to spotlight health conditions that disproportionately affect women, like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia. These diseases often co-occur, and have many commonalities: they're medically unexplained, predominantly occur in women, have overlapping symptoms and risk factors, and require careful management for better daily living.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is a complex illness that is often disabling and is marked heavily by overwhelming fatigue that isn't improved with rest. Both physical and mental activities can worsen this, and someone with ME/CFS might be confined to bed. They might not look physically ill, but this disease causes serious issues with daily functioning:

• People with ME/CFS are unable to function the same way as before becoming ill.
• ME/CFS inhibits a patient's ability to do daily tasks.
• ME/CFS reduces a patient's ability to take part in family and social life, education, and the workforce.
• Post-extertional malaise (PEM): worsened symptoms after physical or mental activity that would not have caused a problem before becoming ill.
• ME/CFS can last for years and can lead to serious disabilities.

ME/CFS has a significant impact on public health, although it often goes unacknowledged due to lack of awareness:

• 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans are estimated to have ME/CFS.
• 90 percent of patients with ME/CFS have not been diagnosed.
• 1 in 4 patients with ME/CFS will be bed- or house-bound for long periods.
• ME/CFS costs the U.S $17 to $24 billion annually in medical expenses and lost income.
• Most medical schools in the U.S. do not have ME/CFS as part of physician training.

The difficulty of diagnosing ME/CFS and uncertainty about its causes has led to a lack of understanding of the disease from many patients and even medical professionals.

Fibromyalgia

Also a complex illness of uncertain origin, fibromyalgia affects 4 million U.S. adults, about 2 percent of the adult population. Its symptoms manifest as both mental and physical problems:

• Widespread pain and stiffness.
• Fatigue and tiredness.
• Depression and anxiety.
• Sleep problems: insomnia, frequent waking up during sleep, 
• Problems with thinking, memory, and concentration.
• Headaches and migraines.
• Tingling or numbness in extremities.
• Face and jaw pain and disorders:  such as temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ).
• Digestive problems: abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• Abnormal pain perception processing: excessive sensitivity to pain.

What You Can Do

Educate Yourself and Others

Whether you have these conditions or not, learning about them can help you spot their symptoms in friends and family, and your encouragement and knowledge may cause an undiagnosed loved one to get the help they need. Have conversations with friends and family about these illnesses, especially with someone who's experiencing symptoms that may indicate they have ME/CFS or fibromyalgia.

If a loved one has or may have one of these conditions, learn about the experiences of others living with them. Read about how to manage and treat these illnesses. Learn about job and school accommodations to make living with these conditions easier.

Show Your Support

Wear blue on May 12th to show your support for patients with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. Post about it on social media, sharing your personal story with these illnesses or articles about them.

If a loved one has or may have one of these conditions, offer aid in any way possible. Help them speak up for better medical outcomes, more accurate diagnoses and better treatments. Assist them with daily tasks that have become difficult for them, or offer them transportation for medical visits or daily errands.

Socialize

ME/CFS and fibromyalgia can be extremely isolating illnesses during a normal period, and even more so in a time when social distancing measures are practiced. When you can't physically connect with your loved ones, try to spend time together online, making use of teleconferencing platforms and other media. You can watch movies, shows, or sports together; play online video games (or tabletop games over a platform like Discord); hold online trivia or karaoke contests; or just have long video chats with each other. Staying in contact is essential for the well-being of anyone with a disease.

Communicate

Every patient with ME/CFS and fibromyalgia has a different experience. Communicate with a loved one about personal limits on activity as well the need for assistance in daily functioning. Instances of post-exertional malaise or flare-ups of fibromyalgia pain can happen with little to no warning or regularity, so always keep communication open about current needs and how to adapt to meet them.

Mountain Ice: Pain Relief for Fibromyalgia

Treating fibromyalgia can be an unclear process, as the causes of the disease are unknown. Many medical professionals prescribe similar treatments and lifestyle changes as those prescribed for neuropathy, including pain relievers, physical treatments like massage, improved diet, increased sleep and physical activity. Mountain Ice's capacity for pain relief allows patients to more easily engage in physical activity, but it also does so much more.

Although the source of fibromyalgia pain is difficult to determine, the widespread muscle pain it causes is easy to locate. Mountain Ice cools the top layer of the skin, which then numbs and blocks pain signals to the brain, providing temporary relief of muscle pain.

The combination of natural ingredients in Mountain Ice Pain Relief Gel also facilitates absorption of anti-inflammatory and pain relieving ingredients deep into the muscles and joints, allowing for increased blood flow and reduced swelling at the source of pain and not just at the surface of the skin. Thanks to its potential to reduce both the pain sensation and the inflammation that causes it, Mountain Ice can be a valuable option to explore for anyone seeking to reduce chronic pain.

Visit Mountainside Medical Equipment for the Best Women's Health and Hygiene Products

Maintaining access to quality preventative healthcare and living a healthy lifestyle are vitally important to women's health outcomes. Luckily Mountainside Medical Equipment has you covered! We've got what you need to keep active and stay healthy. Click this link to visit our women's health products!