Fibromyalgia: Can This Disease Be Hereditary?

Scientists have yet to establish why humans develop fibromyalgia . It is a complex disease that is still difficult for scientists to explain. It is a disorder that causes muscle and bone pain with no apparent stimulus directly causing it.

In other words, fibromyalgia means that something that is not normally painful is causing you an intense sensation of pain. The very name of this disease comes from a combination of Greek and Latin words, where ” fibro ” refers to the fibers of the connective tissue, ” myo ” to muscle, and ” algia ” means pain.

This is a problem that occurs much more often in women than in men. Experts estimate that it affects about 2% of the world’s population. It is a complex disorder to diagnose and treat.

Today’s advances in medicine have made it possible to formulate many different hypotheses about the possible causes of fibromyalgia. That is why in this article we will try to show you why it can be an inherited disease and what other situations can cause it.

What is fibromyalgia?

As we mentioned, fibromyalgia is a complex disorder. This is because the causes of this disease are still not well understood. Moreover, it is very subjective because it changes a person’s perception of pain as it changes.

Someone with fibromyalgia experiences musculoskeletal pain with no trauma to explain it. Therefore, it is important to distinguish this symptom from a joint injury or injury to the bones and muscles themselves, as the symptoms will be similar.

In addition, this disease is usually associated with diverse and heterogeneous symptoms. First, the sufferer experiences very often a feeling of tiredness and stiffness throughout the body. Likewise, there is often a tingling sensation in the hands or feet and even a feeling of swelling.

The point is that fibromyalgia exposes a person to a very intense feeling of pain that ultimately affects most of the person’s life. In fact, such people often suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems.

Pain makes it very difficult to focus attention or socialize with others, so it also affects social and professional aspects. On the other hand, we can associate this disease with many other symptoms, such as migraines or irritable bowel syndrome.

What are the causes of fibromyalgia?

Scientists are still trying to find out what causes this pain. They believe that the levels of certain substances that cause pain are increasing in the brain.

It also seems that the receptors of these substances are “oversensitive”. This means that with each new pain signal, the receptors overreact, making the perception of the pain almost unbearable.

Researchers have suggested various factors that may influence the development of this disease. For example, it seems that it can trigger certain infections. In addition, some studies link the onset of fibromyalgia to injuries or stressful situations.

However, recent research indicates that it may be an inherited disease. Researchers found that some families with fibromyalgia had mutations in the DNA of their mitochondria.

Mitochondria are part of cells that also contain DNA, but their composition is different from that found in the nucleus. This DNA is always passed on from mother to child. In other words, the father’s genes do not influence the inheritance of this cellular organ.

This assumption that fibromyalgia is hereditary would explain why the disease is more common in women, and also why there are different cases in the same family.

Fibromyalgia: what are the treatments for this disease?

Fibromyalgia is not a disease that has been successfully treated. Currently, it can only be treated symptomatically in order to try to reduce the pain and its impact on the patient’s life. Therefore, psychological and social support for sick people is very important.

However, the fact that everything points to a genetic mechanism makes us believe that there will soon be a therapy that will allow us to directly act on the cause to avoid the development of this disease.

Fibromyalgia: Final Conclusions

Fibromyalgia is a disabling disease. The scientific community has been unable to confirm the cause or mechanism of action. However, it appears that a genetic mutation may be the cause and is therefore an inherited disease.