Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Apr 4, 2016
@keri and @tiredofpain have spoken about being diagnosed with Central Sensitization a while back. Hopefully they'll join this discussion to share with you @leh09.
I have not been officially diagnosed with "central sensitization" but I
know I have it. I have fibromyalgia and with FM, something happens in the
central nervous system so that a person with this condition feels a lot of
pain from a stimuli wherast a "normal" person will feel little or not pain.
We are cursed!!
I'm also assuming that central sensitization is FM, very nasty to us as you noted. As many " treatments" as symptoms LOL. A sense of humor is not enough for this level of pain, though, and sometimes you really don't know how you will make it through the day. There are a lot us dealing with this.
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Apr 5, 2016
@want2bme, I moved your message to this discussion where you'll meet @capefibro, @lolomarie and @leh09 who are talking about Central Sensitization and Fibromyalgia.
"Central sensitization has long been recognized as a possible consequence of stroke and spinal cord injury. However, it has become increasingly clear that it plays a role in many different chronic pain disorders. It can occur with chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain , whiplash injuries, chronic tension headaches, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis of the knee, endometriosis, injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, and after surgeries. Fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue syndrome, all seem to have the common denominator of central sensitization as well."
As Colleen's article noted, there are a number of disorders which have central sensitization as a hallmark symptom, with FM being one. I like the article suggesting that "mild aerobic exercise" lowers central sensitization pain. There is no "mild" aerobic exercise, it's either aerobic ( very difficult, especially for us) or not aerobic. My pain management specialist, who recently fired me and said, essentially, suck up the day-to-day pain and do aerobic exercise for an hour each day, was clueless. I sent her a nasty letter and copied it to the chief medical officer at the hospital. It's very unfortunate that my FM pain got much worse the last three years as the "opioid crisis" caused doctors to throw people in real pain under the bus. This is a difficult time to have chronic pain in America.
I went through Mayo's Pain Rehab Clinic and was a little better for a short time. It was there that I learned of Central Sensitization. I've had progressive symptoms over the past 5 years. It's reached a point where the fatigue is so profound that I have trouble getting up the energy to do much of anything. And the pain.....some days I can control the pain.....most days I cannot. I take pain medication but am developing a tolerance. How do you cope?
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@keri and @tiredofpain have spoken about being diagnosed with Central Sensitization a while back. Hopefully they'll join this discussion to share with you @leh09.
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1 ReactionI have not been officially diagnosed with "central sensitization" but I
know I have it. I have fibromyalgia and with FM, something happens in the
central nervous system so that a person with this condition feels a lot of
pain from a stimuli wherast a "normal" person will feel little or not pain.
We are cursed!!
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10 ReactionsI'm also assuming that central sensitization is FM, very nasty to us as you noted. As many " treatments" as symptoms LOL. A sense of humor is not enough for this level of pain, though, and sometimes you really don't know how you will make it through the day. There are a lot us dealing with this.
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4 ReactionsIs it definitive that Central Sensitization is indeed Fibromyalgia?
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1 Reaction@want2bme, I moved your message to this discussion where you'll meet @capefibro, @lolomarie and @leh09 who are talking about Central Sensitization and Fibromyalgia.
See the last paragraph of "What is Central Sensitization?" in this article http://www.instituteforchronicpain.org/understanding-chronic-pain/what-is-chronic-pain/central-sensitization
"Central sensitization has long been recognized as a possible consequence of stroke and spinal cord injury. However, it has become increasingly clear that it plays a role in many different chronic pain disorders. It can occur with chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain , whiplash injuries, chronic tension headaches, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis of the knee, endometriosis, injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, and after surgeries. Fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and chronic fatigue syndrome, all seem to have the common denominator of central sensitization as well."
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7 ReactionsAs Colleen's article noted, there are a number of disorders which have central sensitization as a hallmark symptom, with FM being one. I like the article suggesting that "mild aerobic exercise" lowers central sensitization pain. There is no "mild" aerobic exercise, it's either aerobic ( very difficult, especially for us) or not aerobic. My pain management specialist, who recently fired me and said, essentially, suck up the day-to-day pain and do aerobic exercise for an hour each day, was clueless. I sent her a nasty letter and copied it to the chief medical officer at the hospital. It's very unfortunate that my FM pain got much worse the last three years as the "opioid crisis" caused doctors to throw people in real pain under the bus. This is a difficult time to have chronic pain in America.
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6 ReactionsI was diagnosed with it in 2012 by the May Clinic in Jacksonville.
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2 ReactionsJadiAnn, welcome to Connect.
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? What led to your diagnosis? How are you coping today?
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1 ReactionYes, I was diagnosed about 6 years ago.
I went through Mayo's Pain Rehab Clinic and was a little better for a short time. It was there that I learned of Central Sensitization. I've had progressive symptoms over the past 5 years. It's reached a point where the fatigue is so profound that I have trouble getting up the energy to do much of anything. And the pain.....some days I can control the pain.....most days I cannot. I take pain medication but am developing a tolerance. How do you cope?
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Helpful -
Hug
5 Reactions