Fibromyalgia can give muscular pains and tiredness, and can disturb the sleep. It can also be characterized by tender spots which are felt mostly in the neck, spine, shoulders and hips. The attachments of muscles to bones are also affected by this disease. Joints seem to be left unaffected by it. Besides muscles, pain in tendons and ligaments appear also.

At first the doctors named this affection fibrositis because they thought that they were dealing with an inflammation of the muscles and tissues, but later they found out that inflammation is not a part of the symptoms related to fibromyalgia.

Scientists have managed to understand a lot of things about this affection and have even reproduced similar symptoms of this affection in healthy people, only by disturbing their sleep schedule.

It seems that women are exposed to this disease 20 times more frequent than men and mostly the 20 to 60 aged women get affected by it.

The causes of fibromyalgia have not been discovered yet but it is considered that a special event like the flu or a trauma could be the trigger of this disease.

Diagnosing fibromyalgia is made after eliminating other diseases that can manifest alike and after inquiring about the tender spots and their location.

When talking about fibromyalgia, tender spots are usually situated in both sides of the body and at least 11 spots must be painful otherwise some doctors will not be sure that fibromyalgia is present.

There are known 18 tender spots that can be painful in fibromyalgia and most are situated around the neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, lower back, elbows and knees.

Some of the fibromyalgia symptoms are: pain that lasts more than three months, tenderness in the 18 points, sleeping problems, fatigue, headaches, abdominal pain associated with diarrhea or constipation and bloating. Also, paresthesia or tingling in hands, arms, feet, legs or face can be present.

25% of the patients can feel depressed and develop mood changes, other patients complain about anxiety and difficulty in concentration along with sensitivity to light and temperature. Because these symptoms are found in other neuromuscular diseases, tests for fibromyalgia can be ordered.