Are There Many Cases of Fibromyalgia in Children?
A few years ago the common belief was that fibromyalgia does not affect children. However, this statement has been revised after studies showed that one in every six people affected by this debilitating disease is less than 18 years of age.
What Is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is an affliction that is characterized by acute and overwhelming pain all over the body in general and in about 10 to 20 spots on the body in particular. The causes for this ailment are not yet confirmed by medical science though indications are pointing to acute stress and sleeping problems to be some of the important triggers.
Fibromyalgia in children is more difficult to diagnose because adults do not take the complaints of children very seriously. Come to think of it, the children themselves do not take pain as a serious symptom unless it crosses the endurance threshold. When it does so and the child is desperate about the pain, the problem is referred to the doctor.
Fibromyalgia in children occurs roughly when the child reaches puberty, when he is around13 to15 years old. This is a difficult time which brings along many changes in the bodies and minds of the children for which fibromyalgia in children is so difficult to diagnose in initial stages. All the symptoms of the disease, i.e. muscular pain, lack of sleep, lack of concentration, etc are attributed to the difficult age they are passing through and hence ignored.
Quantification of Pain in Fibromyalgia in Children
When you say any part of the body is hurting, as an adult you are able to correctly quantify the pain and know exactly whether such pain is expected as an outcome from the activities you have performed in the recent past or not. In case it is not and you are not suffering from flu or something similar, you would sit up and wonder where this pain could be originating from.
However, it is not so clear with fibromyalgia in children. Children, even when they are older at 15 or16 are unable to correctly quantify the pain they feel because they are constantly underplaying their discomfort as well as physical and mental pain. This is part of growing up. This is why though fibromyalgia is very common in children it took so long to uncover.
Time for Some Good News
You need to be careful the next time your daughter or son complains about body and muscle ache. Watch them closely and check whether their sleeping patterns changed and whether they are finding difficult to compute data mentally. These are sure fire symptoms that point to fibromyalgia. The good news here is that this ailment in children can be fully reversed unlike that which plagues adults. Early diagnosis and treatment would be able to completely cure fibromyalgia in children.
