One of the most common yet complex chronic pain disorders, fibromyalgia syndrome, affects an estimated 10 million people in the U.S., physically, mentally and socially. Fibromyalgia is not a disease, but a syndrome - a collection of signs, symptoms, and medical issues that typically occur together, but are not related to one identifiable cause. Often women in menopause confuse the many symptoms of hormone imbalance with those of conditions like chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. The good news is that women taking bioidentical hormones replacement therapy are finding relief for their fibromyalgia symptoms.

About 75-90 percent of the people who have fibromyalgia are women, although it also occurs in men and children of all ethnic groups. This disorder is often seen in families, among siblings or mothers and their children. Diagnosis is usually made between the ages of 20 to 50 years, but the incidence rises with age so that by age 80, approximately 8 percent of adults meet the American College of Rheumatology classification of fibromyalgia. Severe fibromyalgia can be debilitating as it interferes with basic activities of everyday life.

Fibromyalgia is usually characterized by chronic widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, multiple tender points, fatigue, psychological distress and sleep disturbances. Whereas hormone imbalance symptoms are primarily caused by the incorrect relationship between progesterone and estrogen levels in the body, and can have a dramatic effect on health, resulting in a number of the symptoms of hormone imbalance that are similar to those of fibromyalgia.

The primary symptom of fibromyalgia is chronic widespread body pain, and most people with fibromyalgia also experience sleep disturbances, moderate to extreme fatigue, cognitive difficulties, and sensitivity to touch, light, or sound. Many individuals also experience a number of other symptoms and overlapping conditions, such as lupus, arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome. Symptoms also include poor stamina and profound exhaustion. However it is important to note that fibromyalgia symptoms may vary widely from one person to the next.

Interestingly many of the women on bioidentical hormones have experienced relief from symptoms like insomnia, muscle aches and pains, chronic fatigue, depression, and many other typical fibromyalgia symptoms.

Once such example is from Linda, talking about her sister Stella, who takes the Wiley Protocol bioidentical hormones. She said, “She has recently run out and has been suffering the consequences of not having the hormones in her system. (Her fibromyalgia is acting up; she has osteopenia in all her joints – her pain levels are highly escalated when she’s not on the Wiley Protocol).”

As author T.S. Wiley says, “It’s actually diminishing hormones that are the cause of the classic lower back pain common in middle-age people. The backache of old age is really just a case of threadbare sciatic nerves. Scientists found that natural progesterone increased in the expression of the gene that remyelinates the nerves in the rats lower back. At the main nerve junctions of communication, like the heart and brain stem, wires start to fray when hormones levels fall off. Without estrogen to peak and cause ovulation, there’s no progesterone. Without progesterone to remyelinate nerves, peripheral nerve bundles that are farthest from the brain fray first. The biggest ones, farthest down, after the one in the base of your neck, is at your tail bone area in the lower back.”

Following are the fifty symptoms most often associated with peri-menopause and menopause among women who are 45 plus:

1. Anxiety attacks
2. Allergies
3. Brain fog
4. Breast pain or tenderness
5. Bloating
6. Body odor
7. Bone loss
8. Burning tongue
9. Chronic fatigue
10. Gum bleeding
11. Depression
12. Difficulty concentrating
13. Discomfort during sex
14. Disorientation and dizziness
15. Dry eyes
16. Dry itchy skin
17. Emotional bouts
18. Facial hair increase
19. Face flushing
20. Fatigue
21. Fingernails are dry, brittle
22. Feelings of apprehension doom and gloom
23. Forgetfulness
24. Hair loss
25. Headaches
26. Hot flashes
27. Incontinence
28. Irregular periods
29. Joint pain (back of knees and heel pain)
30. Lethargy and tiredness
31. Light headedness
32. Loss of balance
33. Loss of libido
34. Memory lapse
35. Menstrual irregularities
36. Mental confusion
37. Migraines
38. Moodiness
39. Muscle aches and pains
40. Night sweats (nocturnal hyperhydrosis)
41. Osteoporosis
42. Panic disorder
43. Rapid heartbeat
44. Sleep Disorders
45. Sudden tears
46. Thinning hair
47. Tingling extremities
48. Urinary urges
49. Vaginal dryness
50. Weight gain

During perimenopause and menopause as your estrogen levels drop, you may begin to feel any of the above fifty signs of menopause. Bioidentical hormones replacement therapy helps diminish these symptoms.

Source: National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).