Health patterns of women with fibromyalgia

Abstract

Using diaries, eight women documented how they were living with their fibromyalgia on a daily basis for 3 months. Aches and pains were the most common symptoms experienced on nine to 81 of the 84 days of data collection. Cross-correlations revealed significant patterns related to pain, sleep and weather conditions for individual women. The narrative portion of their diaries supports that pain is physical and mental, knowing the self helps to control the intensity of the illness, and distraction helps to decrease the associated discomforts. Use of diaries and active listening (validation) are supported as interventions for these women.

Patients’ experiences of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain: a qualitative systematic review

“…The team members did not agree over 24 papers and sent these to two other team members for a decision. Sixteen studies were excluded after quality appraisal, [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] hence 77 papers were included reporting 60 studies. These studies explored the experiences of 1168 adults ranging from 18 to 91 years of age.…”

Menstrual cycle influences on pain and emotion in women with fibromyalgia

“…FM is a pain disorder of unknown etiology found in an estimated 3-6 million Americans, including children and the elderly [6]. As many as 90% of the patients are women [7].…”

Temperament and Fatigue Management in Persons With Chronic Rheumatic Disease

“…In studies that examined fatigue representation, participants related fatigue to overdoing, 30 disease, 21,31,32 worsening health status, 33 weather, heat and humidity, 30,33,34 full-time work outside the home or role burden, 32 and time of day. 32 Consequences of the fatigue experience varied, ranging from frustration due to inability to complete a task and irritability with self and others 32 to strained relationships, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and loss of control such as an ''undertow'' effect.…”