Is fibromyalgia caused by depression?

Question

I read somehwere that depression can cause fibromyalgia to flare up. Is this true? I don't know much about fibromyalgia, but I do know it's pain in your joints. Could I have it? How do doctors figure out you have it?

Answer 1

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a neurological disorder of hypersensitization - it definitely is NOT caused by depression. Joint pain would be arthritis, or a related condition :-)

Because there isn't one test that says, "Hey, you definitely have fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS)!" the diagnostic process can be pretty long.

If you've experienced pain in all four quadrants (above your waist on the right side, above your waist on the left side, below your waist on the left side, and below your waist on the right side) for more than three months (some doctors insist on six), and you've tested negative for everything else that would explain full-body pain (arthritis, scoliosis, degenerative disc disease, lupus, lyme disease, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, etc.), a rheumatologist should do a tender point examination.

No more than 4kg/1.54km2 of pressure is applied to 18 specific points on your body (don't confuse these with trigger points, which are different). That's a very little bit of pressure - if you push your finger against something, just as the skin under your nail starts to change color, it's a little less than that much pressure. That's how it was explained to me.

Someone who has fibromyalgia will experience significant pain in at least 11 of the 18 points. (There's some controversy on that at the moment, because symptoms can vary from day to day, but that's the official criteria right now as established by the American College of Rheumatology.) I felt like screaming with all 18.

There are people who say, "Oh, I think I have fibromyalgia!" just like there are plenty of people who walk around claiming to have chronic fatigue syndrome or who say they have "allergies" to everything under the sun when they really mean they don't like your perfume. Unless someone has been officially diagnosed by a rheumatologist, AFTER having everything else ruled out, call bullshit on any claims to having fibromyalgia. It's too often used as an by hypochondriacs.

Unfortunately it's also used as a "wastebasket" diagnosis by doctors who are too lazy to find out what a patient's real problems are. Fibromyalgia is considered incurable, so it's easy to say, "Oh, you've got FMS, nothing I can do for you, get used to it." If you run in to that kind of doctor, fire him!

That kind of nonsense makes it very hard to get fibromyalgia, which IS very real, taken seriously. I speak as someone diagnosed with it in 1993. My daughter was diagnosed in 1999 (she's just 16 now). It's a nasty thing, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. If you have it, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your life. I've made it one of my missions in life to share what I've learned about it with others :-)

On the depression issue: People who have fibromyalgia often feel depressed, but that's understandable considering the symptoms we live with :-)

As for whether or not being depressed can cause a fibromyalgia flare - well, any stressor can make fibromyalgia symptoms worse. Most depressed people don't take care of themselves as well as they would otherwise, and studies have established that depression causes us to perceive any kind of irritant as more annoying than it would be otherwise. So the fibromyalgia is going to get to you more when you're depressed, and being depressed is going to make you less likely to take good care of yourself to alleviate your fibromyalgia symptoms. It's a pretty nasty feedback loop.

I wish you luck in dealing with fibromyalgia and/or depression, if you or someone you care about are. Please let us know how you're doing.

Answer 2

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1998. At that time, the doctor that I was seeing also simultaneously diagnosed depression. It was (and sometimes is) thought that these two conditions are related or that, at least, depression worsens the fibromyalgia.

I think that this might be the case because I had a lot of fatigue, headaches and pain until a few years later when the depression lifted. I suppose I still have fibromyalgia as once in a while I have fatigue and joint stiffness that I associate with what I used to feel all of the time. My ANA test still comes back positive, but the symptoms are much less severe and I go about my days fairly normally.

So, yes, I would say there is a relationship.

Also, the doctor ( an excellent one by the way) gave me tramadol and Ambien for better pain relief and sleep. This combination was miraculous for me. He also gave me an anti-depressant, but I cannot recall which one. There is one, which , if you read about fibromyalgia treatment, is considered the "gold standard" for current care. It made me excessively sleepy , so I stopped taking it, but the tramadol and Ambien worked very well for me.

Answer 3

Any time your body aches it's easy to go into a depression, how can you not? Isn't that what depression really is, pain that won't go away. All the pain that the body feels is sent to the brain and when the brain is overloaded with pain, depression will follow. Here's a question for you; How much exercise does your mother get? The reason for that question is that when we don't get enough of any exercise our body doesn't get rid of the waste materials properly, they start backing up in the body and when they back up other functions within the body can't do their work properly and they let us know by sending out messages that they hurt. Exercise gets the "pumps" working again, moving the waste materials out of our bodies and letting everything function again. I was once at the point where they thought I might be having fibromyalgia, but nothing today. Also drink lots of water, it's nature's natural cleanser for the body.

Answer 4

I actually suffer from both, I don't believe that depression causes it , I believe it is hereditary. My great grandmother,grandma, and mom all suffer from fibromyalgia, as do I. I have suffered from depression since about age 10,and have only started feeling symptoms of fibromyalgia in the last two years. I am not sure if the two are related or not. Doctors will do a test to see if you have it, basically they will push on all your pressure points and to be diagnosed with it you must have 8 of the 11 pressure points affected.

Answer 5

No, it is not caused by depression, but it will cause you to be depressed due the the pain and limitations. There are 11 preasure points that a specialist will push on and determine if you do have Fibroymyalgia. The first clue is that you will have a hard time sleeping through the night, as this disorder causes you not to go into the REM state of sleep. They will prescribe a medication that has a sleeping agent in it. When you sleep your body heals which reduces the pain. No sleep, more pain, hence depression. Low impact, the right foods, and rest, and you live a normal life.

Answer 6

Fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose because there is no test, there are no specific symptoms, and it usually accompanies other diseases. Some doctors are reluctant to diagnose it. Yes, there is pain in the joints and/or muscles, but other diseases also show these symptoms. Very little is actually know about its causes or developement. Most of the time a patient is diagnosed after testing and eliminating all other possible causes of the pain.

Answer 7

Over the last five years I had begun to have increasingly withdraw into a downward spiral of depression..

But now with the method I can fully focus my energy and thoughts into a decisive line on how to make my life better constantly. And it works like magic! I'm beginning to attract people to me once again and things have just been looking up since then.

Helping you eliminate depression?

Answer 8

When my fibro. first started it was because of a car accident. I know other people that similar events caused their fibro. I did get depressed for a time because of dealing with years of pain. Research I've read has said that depression doesn't cause fibro. Fibro. can cause depression because of coping with chronic pain.

A flare (my own definition) is when symptoms of fibro. get worse because of over exercising, etc. My bout with depression did make my fibro. flare up worse.

Fibro. pain is not pain in the joints. It is pain in the muscles, muscle spasms, fatigue, and other symptoms. Overexercising will cause me to feel it the next day.

A rheumatologist uses ACR criteria to diagnose people. Number of tender points, evaluating symptoms, etc.

Answer 9

depression can cause physical pain, but i'm not sure it directly leads to fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is extrememly painful and often leaves people bedridden. you'd probably know if you had it, but if you're legitimately concerned just go to your doctor.

Answer 10

My mother has fibromyalgia, but no depression.