For many years, a large number of people suffered from pain that seemed to cover the body with no relief in sight. Medical professionals now understand that this is a true medical problem and not the figment of an overactive imagination. The condition is Fibromyalgia. It is more than just widespread pain.
This condition presents itself in many different ways. A sufferer may find that his or her pain perception is not functioning normally. Fatigue is very common with Fibromyalgia. The body becomes tired and weakened; this is compounded by the stress of always feeling bad. There are also some less common symptoms associated with this condition. Some people experience irritable bowel syndrome, while others suffer from psychological distress. Headaches, rheumatic diseases and tingling or numbness in the extremities may also occur. Most suffering from this ailment are middle aged women.
While more is being learned on a daily basis about Fibromyalgia, the root cause of this condition is not known. This adds to the frustration associated with it. Some feel it is hard to justify their condition to others around them because so little is known about it. The pain being suffered does not manifest itself in any outward symptom, so they may feel they have to go above and beyond to validate what they are going through is real.
Progress is being made in regards to this ailment. New studies are finding that there may be a link between Fibromyalgia and amino acid levels. In the studies, it was repeatedly shown that the patients with this painful condition had drastically lower amino acid levels than those of healthy participants. Some of the lower amino acids include threonine, valine, tyrosine, taurine, methionine, alanine, and phenylalanine. Fibromyalgia sufferers also lack the needed sum of essential amino acids. These are the amino acids that are essential in the human diet. There also seemed to be a deficient level of tyrosine competing amino acids. The plight of these amino acids is to fight, or compete, for the cerebral uptake mechanism.
More and more evidence is pointing to the fact that patients may suffer from the inability to properly absorb the amino acids. These amino acids are not being efficiently absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. Studies are also finding the lack of tyrosine competing acids is hampering the cathecolaminergic system.
It must be made certain to patients that even though they lack essential amino acids, they are not suffering from malnutrition. They simply lack the ability to absorb what is needed by the body. This calls into to question the effectiveness of taking amino acid supplements. Taking them does no good if the body lacks the ability to absorb them into the system. More progress will have to be made. Medical researchers must discover why the body cannot absorb them and how to correct the problem. This will be a major step in the right direction for Fibromyalgia sufferers.
