Got fibromyalgia?
Victor Rosenfeld, MD said, “Patients with fibromyalgia have a tenfold increase in sleep-disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnea. Proper diagnosis and treatment will improve health and quality of life for fibromyalgia patients.”
Fibromyalgia (FM) has no known cause. It’s a pain & fatigue syndrome. It occurs in 2-3 percent of the population; women are affected up to 9 times more often than men. And incidence increases with age; 4 percent at age 20 growing to 8 percent be age 70.
Most FM patients hurt all over — toes to head. Patients also often complain of the following symptoms:
- Poor sleep
- Numbness
- Burning sensations
- Dry mouth and eyes
- Cold feeling
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Bladder problems
- Abdominal problems
- Dizziness
- Sensitivity to certain medications
- Restless leg syndrome
- Jaw pain
- Memory and mood problems
But FM is more than just a pain syndrome; it involves dentral nervous system senssitizqtion of patients as well as deep sleep dysregulation. In a recent article, fatigue & sleep problems are the most common complaints in FM patients — not pain. They suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as well as several other sleep disturbances. And patients with FM have another risk factor; sedatives and narcotics used for FM can either cause or make worse OSA.
OSA is a very serious problem. It is usually accompanied with loud snoring and involves partial and/or total airway collapse during sleep. These collapses of the airway of over 10 seconds in OSA sometimes occur as many as a hundred times or more per night in many patients. These airway blockages can cause many physiological changes in FM patients and these changes are linked to many medical problems which you can find on my website — www.NWSleepDoc.com.
It’s just about summer and you could have some of the pain, etc. from FM gone before that vacation or cruise. And it is easy with oral appliance therapy since there is no electricity required. Don’t you deserve better sleep?
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Dr. Donald Johnson founded Northwest Treatment Center for Snoring & Sleep Apnea in Coeur d’Alene to help patients stop their snoring and live free with no limits! Obstructive sleep apnea is usually able to be treated with a small oral appliance. Dr. Johnson’s office is at 114 W. Neider Ave., near Costco. The website for more information is www.NWSleepDoc.com and the office phone is (208) 667-4551. Schedule a free consultation appointment today!