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Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes pain throughout the body, as well as fatigue. Research suggests that fibromyalgia happens when the body’s central and peripheral nervous systems don’t process pain properly.

While it’s often grouped with rheumatic diseases, it’s not considered to be a disease of inflammation, or a joint or muscle disorder. And it’s also not an autoimmune disorder, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues.

Everyone who has fibromyalgia experiences it differently, which is one reason why misunderstandings and myths often surround this condition. Even healthcare professionals may be misinformed about it.

Knowing the facts about fibromyalgia — and being able to separate them from myths — is essential to making the best choices to control the condition.

“The more informed and active the patient is, the better off they are in conditions like this,” says Don L. Goldenberg, MD, a rheumatologist and professor emeritus of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “They really need to get solid medical information.”

In that spirit, here are 10 widely held misconceptions about fibromyalgia, as well as what we know to be true.

Myth 1: It Isn’t a Real Disorder

And for people who experience the pain and other symptoms associated with fibromyalgia, the disorder is all too real, says Dr. Goldenberg.

The condition causes “chronic, widespread muscle pain,” he notes. “By the time people see doctors, it’s usually many months or years” since symptoms began.

But many doctors, Goldenberg laments, still don’t understand the condition.

“Most doctors think that if your elbow hurts, or your knee hurts, or your shoulder hurts, the pathology is directly in those areas,” he says. “In fibromyalgia, that doesn’t work. The pain is actually coming from the brain.”

This misunderstanding of the origins of the pain, says Goldenberg, is “one of the reasons it’s very controversial, and was for a long time kind of pooh-poohed as, ‘it’s all in your head.'”

Myth 2: Fibromyalgia Is a ‘Catchall’ Diagnosis

Many people are under the impression that fibromyalgia is a “catchall” or “fallback” diagnosis because there isn’t any single test or obvious symptom used to diagnose it.

“There’s very little to see on a physical exam,” Goldenberg says. “Laboratory tests to look for causes of pain are unremarkable.”

• Multiple painful areas of the body (on both sides, above and below the waist)
• Additional symptoms, like fatigue, poor sleep, and difficulty thinking or concentrating
• Symptoms that last for at least three months
• No other apparent cause of these symptoms

Myth 3: Fibromyalgia Only Affects Women

But Goldenberg says that the actual incidence among men may be even higher, since gender-based bias may play a role in how doctors diagnose fibromyalgia.

Myth 4: Fibromyalgia and Arthritis Are the Same Condition

Fact: Fibromyalgia and arthritis have little in common, other than sensations of pain and fatigue.

Unlike arthritis, fibromyalgia “doesn’t primarily affect joints. It affects muscles and soft tissue,” says Goldenberg.

And unlike arthritis and other rheumatic (arthritis-like) disorders, fibromyalgia isn’t a disease characterized by inflammation. In fact, markers of inflammation tend to be normal.

Instead of the pain coming from an inflamed area of the body, in fibromyalgia, “The pain is actually coming from the brain, from the central nervous system,” says Goldenberg.

Myth 5: A Special Fibromyalgia Diet Is Needed

Focus on following a healthy, balanced diet that includes whole grains, lean protein sources, low-fat dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and plenty of water.

It’s also a good idea to limit your consumption of caffeine, refined sugars, fried foods, red meat, processed foods, and alcohol.

Myth 6: Complementary Treatments Are Pointless

Myth 7: You Should Avoid Exercise

Goldenberg believes that stretching and strength training are also helpful for many people. Strength training can mean using weights, exercise machines, exercise bands, or your own body weight for resistance.

While exercise may be painful or difficult at first if you have fibromyalgia, regular physical activity can help improve your symptoms and make exercising easier.

Myth 8: You’re Just Tired

Fact: Fatigue in fibromyalgia goes far beyond just being tired. As Goldenberg notes, the condition causes “a tremendous amount of fatigue. People are very exhausted.”

Instead, fatigue in fibromyalgia is interwoven with other symptoms — including pain, sleep disruption, and mood disturbances — and all of these symptoms can influence one another.

Myth 9: You Can Take a Pill to Make Fibromyalgia Symptoms Disappear

Fact: Drug treatments don’t work very well for many people with fibromyalgia.

“The truth is, we don’t have very good medications,” says Goldenberg. “They work well in maybe one out of three or four patients.”

While you may see some benefit from taking a drug approved to treat fibromyalgia, your symptoms will probably just diminish, not disappear.

You’ll probably also still need to incorporate lifestyle measures, like exercise, stress reduction, good sleep habits, and possibly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), into your treatment plan.

Myth 10: There’s Nothing You Can Do

Fact: While there’s no cure for fibromyalgia — and medication doesn’t work for everyone — there’s still a wide range of options available for treatment.

“Nonpharmacological approaches actually work as well, or maybe even better,” than drugs for many people with fibromyalgia, Goldenberg notes.

If your current treatment isn’t giving you the relief you need, work with your doctor to try something new, whether it’s exercise, prescription drugs, over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers, or alternative treatments, like massage or meditative movement.

The Takeaway

• Misconceptions about fibromyalgia persist, despite specific diagnostic criteria and the fact that it affects approximately 10 million adults in the United States.
• Talk with your healthcare providers to explore both medical and lifestyle interventions, as medication alone might not fully relieve symptoms.
• While there is no cure for fibromyalgia, treatments such as aerobic exercise, stretching, strength training, and complementary therapies like tai chi and acupuncture can help manage symptoms.
• Diet plays a supportive role in managing fibromyalgia. A balanced diet rich in whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables, and with few refined sugars or processed foods, may alleviate symptoms for some.

Your A1C is largely a reflection of your lifestyle habits and the accuracy of your insulin doses if you take them, says Jones.

Chris Szoke, NP, CDCES, a nurse practitioner and diabetes specialist based in Tucson, Arizona, says that if you have diabetes and experience regular low blood sugar, you need to check in with your healthcare providers. “This is a clear sign that your insulin doses aren’t meeting your body’s needs. You need to work with your team to adjust them.”

Szoke recommends starting by testing your blood sugar more often. “If you have diabetes or you’re concerned about your A1C, your doctor can help you get a glucose meter or a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to look more closely at your blood sugar levels.”

And Szoke says that older people with diabetes may experience some hypoglycemia unawareness after decades with the disease.

“That means it simply isn’t safe for them to aim for tight blood sugar levels and a target range between 70 and 140 mg/dL,” he says. “Instead, they may need to aim a bit higher for their daily safety, and this will correlate with a higher A1C level, too, closer to 8 percent instead of below 7.”

People with heart disease and chronic kidney disease are also at particularly high risk if they develop hypoglycemia, and they may need to set higher glycemic targets, too.

It’s important to consult with your endocrinologist or doctor to decide what your own blood sugar targets should be, and how careful you need to be about the risk of hypoglycemia.

Monroe Hammond joined Everyday Health in 2021 and now runs the news desk as an editor. They received a master’s degree from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, as well as a bachelor’s degree in film and media studies from Emory University in Atlanta.

Hammond has written and edited explainers on a number of health and wellness topics, including racial disparities in HIV treatment, the metabolic benefits of cold exposure, how the flu shot works, and solutions for seasonal dermatology woes. They have also edited pieces on the latest developments from NASA, the health repercussions of climate change, and the cutting edge of quantum physics. Their work has appeared in Popular Science, Insider, Psychology Today, and Health Digest, among other outlets.

Before turning to journalism, Hammond taught English while living in Thailand and Malaysia. They were born and raised in the American South, and currently live in Brooklyn with their spouse, three cats, and too many houseplants to count.

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight by eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and staying physically active can help your overall health. These lifestyle changes can also have a positive effect on bone metastases, Tagawa says. “Both diet and exercise,” he says, “are things that are under [your] direct control.”

A healthy lifestyle can also help you better manage side effects from treatment. Try setting small but realistic goals for yourself when it comes to eating a healthy diet and getting exercise.

If you’re not sure which foods to choose, ask your doctor for a referral to a dietitian. This specialist can help you develop a meal plan that includes foods that offer the best chance of slowing the cancer’s growth and keeping you as healthy as possible.

As an oncologist, Tagawa concentrates on treating the cancer itself, but he’s aware that many of the men he sees with advanced prostate cancer are older and more likely than younger men to have health problems that can benefit from diet and exercise.

“I focus on the cancer,” Tagawa says, “but I don’t want to see [these men] go through all of that and then die from a heart attack or stroke. Attention to both diet and exercise can lead to improvements in quality and quantity of life.”

When it comes to exercise, what matters is that you do it. Just keep moving your body. Swimming, bicycling, walking, and gardening all count. Aim for a certain number of steps each day, and consider using a pedometer to help stay on track. Mix things up, set goals for yourself, and try being active with a friend or group to stay motivated.

And if you’re on hormone therapy, talk to your doctor about investing in some weights or elastic resistance bands to support your bone strength, too.

“While afib is a modest predictor of dementia in the general population, its impact is particularly significant in younger individuals and in early-onset dementia,” says lead study author Julián Rodriguez García, MD, PhD, a cardiologist with the electrophysiology and arrhythmia department of the Bellvitge University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain.

“These findings highlight the importance of early detection and management of afib,” says Dr. Rodriguez García, “and suggest the need for further research into whether afib treatment could mitigate dementia risk.”

Afib Raises Early-Onset Dementia Risk by 36 Percent

Presented at the annual meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association, the research drew on a database of more than 2.5 million adults who were 45 or older and had no prior diagnosis of dementia.

At the start of the study, nearly 80,000 participants (3.25 percent) had a recorded afib diagnosis.

Based on an average follow-up of 13 years, the researchers determined that in people under age 70 with afib, the risk of developing future dementia was 21 percent higher than for those without afib.

The risk of developing early-onset dementia (meaning dementia that begins between the ages 45 and 65) was 36 percent higher than for those without afib.

Rodriguez García and his team highlighted that people in the youngest afib group, ages 45 to 50, had a 229 percent higher risk of developing future dementia.

This suggests that mechanisms other than typical stroke may be involved, such as so-called silent strokes (those that show no clinical symptoms), microinfarcts (microscopic strokes), and microbleeds, according to the study authors.

The scientists noted that the association between afib and dementia risk lost all statistical significance from age 70 onward.

“In younger individuals, afib may play a more prominent role in dementia pathophysiology [changes that occur in the disease process],” says Rodriguez García. “In older adults, other age-related factors likely overshadow the effect of afib.”

Heart Health Is Linked to Brain Health

But prior studies have shown mixed results regarding the associations between atrial fibrillation and dementia, according to Paul Wang, MD, a cardiologist and director of the Stanford Cardiac Arrhythmia Service in Palo Alto, California.

“This study is important because it examines the occurrence of dementia in a large study population of over two million individuals with a substantial average follow-up of 13 years,” says Dr. Wang, who was not involved in the research. “The main limitation is that the study can only show that some patients with afib may have a higher rate of dementia. It cannot show that afib causes dementia, only that they are associated.”

He suggests that inflammation affecting the heart and blood vessels may affect brain cells as well.

“Afib, by disturbing blood flow to the brain, may contribute to the development of dementia,” says Wang. “Blood clots due to afib might also contribute to dementia.”

Taking Steps to Lower Afib Risks

More study is needed to see if measures to treat atrial fibrillation might help ward off dementia. Still, Rodriguez García recommends following these preventive strategies for afib:

For those already diagnosed with afib, he recommends using appropriate anticoagulation medications and heart-rhythm control strategies to help reduce the risk of long-term cognitive effects.

Prep your body before exercise by applying anti-chafing sticks, balms, or creams to the areas of your body that are most prone to friction, such as your inner thighs, underarms, nipples, or bra line. These products help create a protective barrier that reduces skin-on-skin or fabric-on-skin rubbing, says Lal.

“These anti-chafing sticks and creams repel sweat and water. They keep skin dry and allow the skin to slide over itself, again decreasing friction,” he says. You can also use these tools if you plan on exercising in wet weather, so that the rain will “bounce off” the skin instead of seeping into it, he adds.

Look for fragrance-free, sweat-resistant formulas designed for athletes, and reapply the product as needed during long workouts, especially in hot or humid conditions, says Lal. You could also try layering a bit of petroleum jelly on top of sensitive areas, dusting anti-chafing powder into your shoes, or using antiperspirant to prevent sweat and armpit chafing, he adds.

Traditional Yogurt

Traditional yogurt is made by introducing “live cultures,” aka bacteria, to milk so they can convert the lactose, or sugars, into lactic acid, explains Janette Marsac, RDN, LCSW, a New York City-based registered dietitian nutritionist. It’s unstrained, and can be made from skim, low-fat, or whole milk. Since it’s not strained of excess liquid, traditional yogurt tends to have a milkier, thinner texture than strained yogurts like Greek or Icelandic versions.

Greek Yogurt

Icelandic Yogurt

Its taste is often described as milder than Greek yogurt, and it has naturally low levels of sugar and lactose, says Diana Gariglio-Clelland, RD, CDCES, a Washington state–based registered dietitian with Next Luxury. You can find Icelandic yogurt in the United States marketed under brands such as Siggi’s and Icelandic Provisions.

Australian Yogurt

This unstrained yogurt tends to be creamy and rich, like a high-protein dessert. It’s made with skim milk and cream (or sometimes simply whole milk), and is cooked slower and longer than other yogurts. The brand Wallaby says that Australian yogurt’s smooth texture and mild taste are the result of a slow culturing process.

Noosa Yoghurt, another brand made (and spelled) in the Australian style, contains 150 calories per 4.5 oz, depending on the flavor. Because these tend to be sweeter and have less protein, they’re a good option for a healthier dessert.

French Yogurt

This style is made by a technique known as “pot set,” in which whole milk and live cultures are combined in individual pots and left to ferment for up to eight hours. French yogurt is not strained, so it retains some of its sweetness (and lactose), but is thicker than other unstrained yogurts, like Australian. French yogurt pots tend to be slightly smaller than other varieties, and so may have the advantage of built-in portion control. Several flavors from Oui by Yoplait, for instance, are 170 calories per 5-oz pot.

Beth Biggee, MD, is medical director and an integrative rheumatologist at Rheumission, a virtual integrative rheumatology practice for people residing in California and Pennsylvania. This first-of-its-kind company offers whole person autoimmune care by a team of integrative rheumatologists, lifestyle medicine practitioners, autoimmune dietitians, psychologists, and care coordinators.

Dr. Biggee also works as a healthcare wellness consultant for Synergy Wellness Center in Hudson, Massachusetts. Teamed with Synergy, she provides in-person lifestyle medicine and holistic consults, and contributes to employee workplace wellness programs. She has over 20 years of experience in rheumatology and holds board certifications in rheumatology and integrative and lifestyle medicine. Dr. Biggee brings a human-centered approach to wellness rather than focusing solely on diseases.

Dr. Biggee graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Canisius College, and graduated magna cum laude and as valedictorian from SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse Medical School. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital, completed her fellowship in rheumatology at Tufts–New England Medical Center, and completed training in integrative rheumatology at the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Following her training, she attained board certification in rheumatology and internal medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine, attained board certification in integrative medicine through the American Board of Physician Specialties, and attained accreditation as a certified lifestyle medicine physician through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is certified in Helms auricular acupuncture and is currently completing coursework for the Aloha Ayurveda integrative medicine course for physicians.

In prior roles, Dr. Biggee taught as an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (an affiliate of Columbia University). She was also clinical associate of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and instructed “introduction to clinical medicine” for medical students at Tufts. She was preceptor for the Lawrence General Hospital Family Medicine Residency.

Dr. Biggee has published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis in Rheumatism, Current Opinions in Rheumatology, Journal for Musculoskeletal Medicine, Medicine and Health Rhode Island, and Field Guide to Internal Medicine.

Even though pregnancy puts you at higher risk for DVT, you can take steps to protect yourself from blood clots. Above all, talk to your provider about your symptoms as much as you need to. When it comes to protecting yourself from DVT, no question is too small.

Be Aware of Your Risk Factors

Keep Moving

Get Up During Travel

Wear Compression Socks

Drink Lots of Water

Use Prescribed Medication

Overall, erring on the side of caution with blood clots can help prevent or catch any potential complications early. “Deep vein thrombosis in pregnancy can be life-threatening, so if you see any signs, don’t hesitate to go to your doctor to get checked,” Roshan says.