In many cases, men and women can be affected by the same mental and physical health conditions, but not always. Women often get diagnosed and treated more often than men, while men sometimes ignore symptoms because of the stigma involved. One such condition that fits the bill is fibromyalgia.
What Is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is an illness known for its widespread musculoskeletal pain paired with fatigue, sleep problems, and memory and mood issues. It’s believed that fibromyalgia intensifies painful sensations by upsetting how your central nervous system processes painful and nonpainful signs.
Symptoms may happen after an event, like physical trauma, surgery, contagion, or significant mental stress. In other instances, symptoms slowly accumulate over time with no apparent triggering event.
Women get fibromyalgia more often than men, and people with it also experience tension headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorders, anxiety, and depression.
It’s not unusual for someone with fibromyalgia to experience symptoms of other conditions or even be diagnosed with another condition simultaneously. If you have fibromyalgia, you may also get chronic fatigue syndrome, migraine and other types of headaches, interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome, and postural tachycardia syndrome, among many others. In fact, according to some estimates, up to 2.5 million Americans experience chronic fatigue symptoms, with many of their symptoms falling in line with what you’d expect from the widespread pain characteristic of fibromyalgia.
Causes of Fibromyalgia
Causes of fibromyalgia may include:
- Genetics and family history, with certain genetic mutations, could make you more likely to get the disorder.
- Some illnesses seem to trigger or worsen fibromyalgia.
- Physical or emotional trauma, like those related to a car accident or intense mental anguish. Long-term psychological pressure can also trigger fibromyalgia.
Some of these can be avoided, while others are part of life that no one can prevent from happening.
Men and Fibromyalgia
Of the estimated 4 million cases of fibromyalgia each year in the United States, less than 10% are reported by men – but that’s still a large number of people struggling with pain symptoms.
According to the Mayo Clinic, instances of fibromyalgia are under-reported, especially among men. Fibromyalgia happens more in women, but men aren’t immune. The inconsistency between the number of patients reporting symptoms and the number diagnosed with fibromyalgia was highest among men, based on study results in 2012. The numbers were startling, as 20 times more men seemed to have fibromyalgia due to their survey response than had received a diagnosis. In contrast, only three times more women described fibromyalgia symptoms than were diagnosed.
How are men affected by fibromyalgia?
Men are affected in many ways as women, with some notable exceptions. A 2018 study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health reported four significant problems men face when dealing with fibromyalgia:
- Physical and mental health problems. Some men described difficulties with anger, depression, continual pain, mobility issues, cognitive problems, and the inability to do things they used to enjoy doing.
- Poor quality of life. Fibromyalgia was described as completely changing how a man could function before the illness.
- Adverse effects on personal relationships. Men described feelings of isolation, losing friends, feeling they’re a hindrance to others, and broken relationships.
- Negative impacts on career, including job loss and less responsibility at their workplace.
How does fibromyalgia affect a man’s interactions with a healthcare provider?
The same study noted a potential for misdiagnosis, dismissal of symptoms, the stigma of being a man with fibromyalgia, men being treated differently than women with the condition, and a lack of healthcare resources that spoke meaningfully to men.
Diagnosis & Treatment
A diagnosis is mostly based on pain symptoms. Your healthcare provider will look for tenderness to compression or tender points at a certain number of locations on your body before confirming you have fibromyalgia. Still, they’re not required for a final diagnosis. A physical exam may be helpful to distinguish tenderness and rule out other reasons for muscle pain. Unfortunately, X-rays, blood tests, or other procedures can’t uncover fibromyalgia, just other conditions that may be confused.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a man struggling with pain all over your body and other physical or mental anguish which interferes with your quality of life, there’s a chance you have fibromyalgia. It’s a treatable condition but can only be helped if its symptoms aren’t ignored. Ask your healthcare provider about treatment options, including ketamine.