Certain people carry more risk factors for getting fibromyalgia than others. Some of these risk factors include the following:
- Family history. If you have a close relative with fibromyalgia, you have an increased chance of getting the disorder as well. Unlike many genetic diseases, however, the links between who gets fibromyalgia in your family and who doesn’t isn’t based on the usual genetic principles. This means that just about any kind of relationship can exist between you and the other relative you have who has fibromyalgia.
- Women have an increased risk of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia when compared to men. This may be due to hormonal influences or to gender differences we do not yet understand.
- History of a rheumatic disease. If you suffer from a rheumatic disease such as SLE (lupus) or rheumatoid arthritis, you also stand a greater chance of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It is still possible to get fibromyalgia without any of these diseases or any other type of autoimmune disease. As far as research has shown, fibromyalgia itself is not an autoimmune disease.
- Women are more likely to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia around the time of menopause. This could mean that fibromyalgia is related to the sudden loss of estrogen associated with the coming of menopause.
- Lack of physical conditioning. Most women with fibromyalgia do not partake in a program of regular exercise, although it does afflict some women who have been active throughout their lives.
- Some cases of fibromyalgia have been associated with having surgery in the not too distant past. The exact relationship between surgery and getting fibromyalgia, however, has not been made clear.
- Spinal cord or brain trauma. Some women develop fibromyalgia after a significant injury or accident that may or may not have set up the right biochemical conditions in the brain for getting fibromyalgia.
- Some people with fibromyalgia develop fibromyalgia after a major psychological stressor. Exactly how stress predisposes a person to fibromyalgia, however, is not completely clear.
- Having insomnia. While it is known that people with fibromyalgia do not sleep well, it is not known whether or not a lack of sleep is a risk factor for getting fibromyalgia or if lack of sleep stems from already having fibromyalgia. A lack of sleep is known to decrease a person’s level of brain serotonin, which increases the sensitivity to pain. In some research studies, women have been deprived of sleep and have gotten symptoms similar to fibromyalgia.
- Women with depression have a higher risk of also having the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The two diseases may stem from the same thing—low levels of brain serotonin.