Connection: Fibromyalgia and Pregnancy
With all of the risks associated with a healthy pregnancy, many women aren’t eager to know about another health concern associated with pregnancy. At the same time, having resources and information is integral to taking the best care of your body and your baby. I’ve noticed that women in my community don’t talk about the connection that can exist between Fibromyalgia and pregnancy. I wanted to bring it up and see if other Health Activists find this missing as well.
When this happened to me I had to dig a bit to find out that it is acknowledged by others who have experienced the same. I found one physician, Dr. Mark J. Pellegrino, describing how pregnancy can trigger the onset of Fibromyalgia. “It's the second child that's most likely to cause the flare-up. My theory is that pregnancy is a stress, like a trauma to the fibromyalgia body. Things are out of sorts [during a first pregnancy], but before a bona fide flare-up could be established, things straightened out. The central nervous system didn't get a sustained signal, but laid some of the groundwork. It started to form some hypersensitive pathways, but shut it down before the pain amplification process [started]. Then the second pregnancy comes along, and it's like the body has been primed the first time. The amplification process starts, and lo and behold, fibromyalgia. The second delivery is the riskiest, both for developing FM and for amplifying. “ And this seems to be exactly what I experienced.
While my first pregnancy was “traumatic” for my body, my second was by far the most stressful. In retrospect my body was the perfect playground for Fibromyalgia to hook it's claws into my weakened system. And now, with my youngest child 4 ½ years old, I still battle this health issue and am learning how to live well and manage it. Living with Fibromyalgia can be challenging, but what I want to point out here is the importance of recognizing that pregnancy, although a time of miracles, is also a time when it is of the utmost importance to take preventative measures and deal with the discomfort and symptoms in the most proactive of ways.
The lost sleep, the extra strain on the body, the stresses that can be added on due to a pregnancy, all need to be handled with the best care. Following the guidelines and the helpful hints found through reliable resources and your physician for optimum wellness is vital to your well-being. I have to say, I don't know what I could have done differently to have prevented the development of Fibromyalgia in my own body, but if acknowledging this as a potential health concern can help someone else somehow, then my goal has been achieved.
If there are women in your community who currently have Fibromyalgia and are pregnant or considering pregnancy, then there is an ample amount of good news. There are plenty of support networks like the one I stumbled across at Inspire.com and more and more information coming out about how to manage your pain and fatigue during pregnancy. It seems that the need for more research is being acknowledged now and doctors no longer feel you should avoid pregnancy if you have Fibromyalgia, which is what I was told after given my diagnosis in 2006. Are women in your community aware of the risk associated with pregnancy and Fibromyalgia?
Here are a couple more resources for those interested in this topic, as well as tips, and research: Fibromyalgia and Pregnancy from Fibromyalgia-Support.org ; Fibromyalgia Often Unspotted During Pregnancy from ezinearticles.com ; and the National Fibromyalgia Association .
Do women in your community discuss this issue or are they aware of it? Do you have any other resources to add to the list for Fibromyalgia and Pregnancy? If it’s not being talked about in your community, why not bring this up with your community and see what your members think? My hope is that awareness of this issue will help women to take the best care that they can before, during and after pregnancy, and also that the fears surrounding this issue will be calmed by becoming more informed.
When this happened to me I had to dig a bit to find out that it is acknowledged by others who have experienced the same. I found one physician, Dr. Mark J. Pellegrino, describing how pregnancy can trigger the onset of Fibromyalgia. “It's the second child that's most likely to cause the flare-up. My theory is that pregnancy is a stress, like a trauma to the fibromyalgia body. Things are out of sorts [during a first pregnancy], but before a bona fide flare-up could be established, things straightened out. The central nervous system didn't get a sustained signal, but laid some of the groundwork. It started to form some hypersensitive pathways, but shut it down before the pain amplification process [started]. Then the second pregnancy comes along, and it's like the body has been primed the first time. The amplification process starts, and lo and behold, fibromyalgia. The second delivery is the riskiest, both for developing FM and for amplifying. “ And this seems to be exactly what I experienced.
While my first pregnancy was “traumatic” for my body, my second was by far the most stressful. In retrospect my body was the perfect playground for Fibromyalgia to hook it's claws into my weakened system. And now, with my youngest child 4 ½ years old, I still battle this health issue and am learning how to live well and manage it. Living with Fibromyalgia can be challenging, but what I want to point out here is the importance of recognizing that pregnancy, although a time of miracles, is also a time when it is of the utmost importance to take preventative measures and deal with the discomfort and symptoms in the most proactive of ways.
The lost sleep, the extra strain on the body, the stresses that can be added on due to a pregnancy, all need to be handled with the best care. Following the guidelines and the helpful hints found through reliable resources and your physician for optimum wellness is vital to your well-being. I have to say, I don't know what I could have done differently to have prevented the development of Fibromyalgia in my own body, but if acknowledging this as a potential health concern can help someone else somehow, then my goal has been achieved.
If there are women in your community who currently have Fibromyalgia and are pregnant or considering pregnancy, then there is an ample amount of good news. There are plenty of support networks like the one I stumbled across at Inspire.com and more and more information coming out about how to manage your pain and fatigue during pregnancy. It seems that the need for more research is being acknowledged now and doctors no longer feel you should avoid pregnancy if you have Fibromyalgia, which is what I was told after given my diagnosis in 2006. Are women in your community aware of the risk associated with pregnancy and Fibromyalgia?
Here are a couple more resources for those interested in this topic, as well as tips, and research: Fibromyalgia and Pregnancy from Fibromyalgia-Support.org ; Fibromyalgia Often Unspotted During Pregnancy from ezinearticles.com ; and the National Fibromyalgia Association .
Do women in your community discuss this issue or are they aware of it? Do you have any other resources to add to the list for Fibromyalgia and Pregnancy? If it’s not being talked about in your community, why not bring this up with your community and see what your members think? My hope is that awareness of this issue will help women to take the best care that they can before, during and after pregnancy, and also that the fears surrounding this issue will be calmed by becoming more informed.
Tags: during, fibromyalgia, health, pregnancy, risks
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