Understanding the Link between Fibromyalgia and Depression

Living with fibromyalgia syndrome is no easy task as the constant muscle pain, joint pain, fatigue, insomnia, stress, and many other additional and consequential health problems generally make even daily life a lot harder than it should be. However, what a lot of the patients do not realize is the fact that fibromyalgia can also be responsible for debilitating psychological issues such as depression and anxiety. Let’s go through the following points to understand the situation better.

How Does Depression Originate from Fibromyalgia?

Constant tiredness and chronic pain are common with fibromyalgia, which usually leads to stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression over time. In fact, all these effects are both causes and symptoms of each other because one fuels the other. There is also a popular opinion that depression is a direct effect of fibromyalgia, just like the pain, fatigue and sleeping issues.

How to Know if You have Depression?

Whether it’s a direct effect of fibromyalgia or an indirect one resulting from a different problem, the symptoms are more or less identical in both cases. Some of the symptoms which you should look for if you suspect that you are suffering from depression include the following.

• Difficulty with concentrating on anything
• Indecisiveness
• Tiredness is a symptom, but it can be indiscernible from the general fatigue experienced by fibromyalgia patients
• Irritability, impatience, and loss of interest in everything
• Sense of hopelessness, loneliness, and excess guilt conscience
• Chronic sadness and negativity
• Anxiety
• Suicidal tendencies in advance cases

How to Counter It?

There are various routes that you can take to counter depression, depending on its severity and your other medical conditions. TMS therapy for depression by Smart Brain and Health, for example, is a non-invasive FDA-approved process, which treats depression without any meds whatsoever. As TMS therapy does not have any side-effects such as loss of libido, impaired memory and cognition, weight gain, and sedation, unlike common antidepressant meds, it might actually be the best option to treat the problem without aggravating any of the other symptoms of fibromyalgia. Talk with your doctor to figure out the best plan, which should incorporate lifestyle changes as well.

Is Fibromyalgia Induced Depression the Same as Normal Depression?

While the symptoms and certain effects might be the same, there are differences between general depression and fibromyalgia induced depression. In order to successfully control the depression, it is important to treat both depression and fibromyalgia at the same time. Fibromyalgia basically affects so many of your physical and emotional aspects that it is impossible to treat anything that results from it, without taking the necessary steps to control the actual root cause first.

Now that you have a general idea of how the two are interlinked, you are already a step ahead of most people who are suffering from the effects of fibromyalgia induced depression. It’s a vicious cycle really, but as long as you are aware of it and you take the necessary steps as soon as you see the symptoms of depression creep up, you should be able to control everything effectively.