Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or you’ve been a chronic pain warrior for some time now, you might be wondering what kind of thing you’re dealing with here.
Like, is Fibromyalgia an autoimmune disorder?
You’ve had thoughts like:
Did my immune system do this to me?!
My body feels like it’s crumbling on top of itself and that feeling is spreading.
Will this pain continue to get worse, as many autoimmune conditions do?
You understandably want answers.
Read on to learn whether doctors consider Fibromyalgia an autoimmune disorder.
Understanding Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances.
This condition also makes it difficult to think clearly – hi Fibro fog!
Fibromyalgia affects an estimated 4 million people in the United States alone (about 2-4% of the population), with a higher prevalence among women.
The exact cause of fibromyalgia is still unclear, but researchers believe that it may involve a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors.
For example, serious injuries or traumatic events have been known to trigger Fibromyalgia.
Furthermore, some studies have suggested that abnormalities in the central nervous system, including changes in neurotransmitter levels and heightened pain sensitivity, play a role in developing Fibromyalgia.
Common symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is often associated with whole-body pain that can vary in intensity from person to person.
That’s not the only hallmark symptom though.
Common Fibro symptoms include:
- widespread pain
- fatigue
- trouble thinking clearly
- poor quality of sleep (despite quantity)
- sensitivity to light, sound, touch, etc.
To make matters more complicated for the Fibro sufferer, Fibromyalgia symptoms typically fluctuate and evolve.
In my experience, things can get really bad just as well as they can go good.
Fibro is a coin-toss kind of chronic illness, for sure.
Before we talk about the meat and potatoes of this post, let’s refresh our memories of what an autoimmune disorder is.
What is an autoimmune disorder?
An autoimmune disorder happens when the body mistakes healthy cells for bad ones and your body overreacts and attacks itself.
Some common symptoms of autoimmune disorders are:
- joint pain
- stomach pain
- fatigue
- skin rashes
- swollen glands
Fibromyalgia can present some of these symptoms.
But does this mean Fibro can be considered an autoimmune disorder?
Is Fibromyalgia an autoimmune disorder?
Two indicators of an autoimmune disorder are cell damage and inflammation. Fibromyalgia currently doesn’t check enough boxes to classify as an outright autoimmune disorder, like lupus.
The chronic illness doesn’t sabatoge cells or cause inflammation like an autoimmune disorder does.
Therefore most doctors don’t consider Fibromylagia to be an autoimmune disorder.
However, recent research is pointing to some immune-related causes for why Fibro symptoms show up in the first place.
In other words, some studies are suggesting that Fibro is not (only) a neurological disorder, but could be an autoimmune one.
I’ll explain why below.
For starters, let’s talk about what makes Fibro not a widely-accepted autoimmune disorder.
Then we’ll discuss how it could be one.
Fibro doesn’t cause cell damage
One of the biggest indicators of autoimmune problems is damage to the body’s tissues (via self-reactive T cells).
Fibromyalgia doesn’t cause damage to your cells (tell that to your brain who’s processing all that pain though!), though inflammation is usually present.
Fibromyalgia has different inflammation
Inflammation is another indicator of an autoimmune disease.
However, Fibro inflammation is different from autoimmune inflammation.
Fibro has neuroinflammation of your central nervous system, aka your brain, nerve fibers, and spinal cord.
Autoimmune inflammation occurs when your body’s defense system mistakenly attacks healthy cells.
How Fibromyalgia could be an autoimmune disorder
Though Fibromyalgia is not widely accepted as an autoimmune disorder, research is indicating that it could have autoimmune origins.
Antibodies called anti-GPCR (that’s anti-G protein-couple receptor if you really want to know) have some doctors believing Fibro could be an autoimmune disorder after all.
In this 2023 article, Professor Yehuda Shoenfeld of the Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases believes that the strongest evidence of Fibro being an autoimmune disease is the presence of anti-GPCR autoantibodies in people with Fibromyalgia.
These antibodies are often associated with autoimmune diseases, such as Sjogren syndrome.
Your takeaway
So is Fibromyalgia an autoimmune disorder?
Most doctors don’t consider Fibromyalgia to be an autoimmune disorder because FM doesn’t cause tissue damage or attack healthy cells.
Furthermore, Fibromyalgia has neuroinflammation of the central nervous system whereas autoimmune inflammation occurs when your body attacks healthy cells.
However, some doctors believe that Fibromyalgia could be an autoimmune disorder because of anti-GPCR antibodies.
These antibodies tend to be found in people with autoimmune disorders and have also been seen in Fibro warriors.
What are your thoughts on Fibro being an autoimmune disorder?
