Long-term condition can only be managed, not cured

By Dina Gavarieva

Clips of Lady Gaga performing on crutches lit up social media recently, with worried fans wondering whether the pop icon was in the midst of a fibromyalgia flare.

In reality, the crutches were part of the show, but it was easy to see why so many jumped to the wrong conclusion because Gaga has spoken candidly about living with fibromyalgia, a chronic, and sometimes disabling, pain syndrome.

Actor Morgan Freeman has also described ongoing fibromyalgia pain in his left arm following a car crash, calling the condition “excruciating.”

And the late Sinéad O’Connor also suffered from it, taking a break from music in the mid-2000s partly for health reasons.

Even so, and despite some heavyweight sufferers, the condition remains relatively unknown and misunderstood.

Fibromyalgia is possibly best thought of as a pain processing disorder – not a disease of inflamed muscles, but rather of an over-sensitised nervous system.

In other words, the brain and nerves turn up the ‘volume’ on pain signals, so things like gentle pressure, changes in temperature, or everyday stress can feel far more painful than they should.

This might sound a little ‘out there’ to some, but the idea is increasingly backed by medical research.

Among the symptoms of fibromyalgia are widespread musculoskeletal pain, often experienced as a burning or aching; profound fatigue and non-restorative sleep; cognitive issues such as brain fog; headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, and heightened sensitivity to light, noise, touch or temperature.

The symptoms are wide-ranging and confusing, which explains why fibromyalgia is so often misunderstood.

The difficulty here is that there isn’t a single test that can give a clear yes, or no. Instead, doctors need to look at the whole picture – how widespread the pain is, how severe it feels, and how long it has lasted.

Many people with fibromyalgia are also diagnosed with conditions like IBS, migraines, jaw problems, or even long Covid, which makes the puzzle even harder to solve.

And because the pain is ‘invisible,’ and blood tests usually come back normal, patients often struggle to get the right diagnosis.

However, the good news is fibromyalgia is now recognised as a genuine and complex condition. The bad news is, it’s also deemed incurable.

The reason for this stems from three realities: one, there’s no single cause; two, there’s no biomarker you can treat; and three, treatments help many people manage symptoms rather than erase them.

However, that is not to say that nothing works. It simply means that fibromyalgia is multifactorial – and management of the condition needs to reflect that.

For some, symptoms accumulate gradually over time whereas others – like Morgan Freeman – experience a trigger such as an injury, a bout of surgery, a significant infection, or a period of intense emotional trauma or chronic stress.

Links have also been found with toxins and past illnesses, as well as emotional strain.

This doesn’t mean fibromyalgia is simply ‘in the mind.’ It means the body’s stress, immune and nervous systems are closely connected, and when one is under pressure, the others can be affected.

More recently, scientists have been looking at the gut, finding differences in the microbiome of people with fibromyalgia that may play a role in how the body processes pain.

As a consequence, this is opening up new areas of research into diet and probiotics as possible ways to help.

Despite the incurable tag, there are ways to improve life with the condition by examining sleep patterns, stress levels, past infections, environmental triggers, and gut health. Working with a doctor who understands complex illnesses will also make a real difference.

Exercise is helpful, if it’s done gently and built up slowly because too much, too fast can make things worse.

Sleep support, relaxation techniques, and counselling or therapy can also reduce symptoms.

While medication remains an option, it works best alongside lifestyle changes. Drugs such as duloxetine, milnacipran, and pregabalin are approved for fibromyalgia and can ease pain, anxiety and poor sleep in some people.

Gentle movement therapies like yoga or tai chi, stretching, and massage can also be helpful. And because research is linking fibromyalgia to the gut, diet and probiotics are a further avenue of support.

On the diagnosis side, progress is also being made. There’s still no single blood test or scan that can confirm fibromyalgia, but scientists are finding clues.

Around half of patients show damage to tiny nerve fibres in the skin and eyes, which may help doctors better understand the condition.

Other research teams are developing biomarker panels that look at genes and proteins linked to fibromyalgia, though these are still experimental.

So, while there is no quick fix for fibromyalgia, the condition can often be managed – and managed well – when doctors treat the whole person rather than solely the pain.

The nervous system is capable of adapting, and with the right support many people see big improvements in energy, mobility and quality of life.

For some, that means a standard mix of medication, sleep repair, stress management and gentle exercise. For others, it may involve looking deeper into hidden infections, toxins or unresolved emotional trauma that keep the body stuck on ‘high alert.’

And while this is not a condition I would wish on anyone, it does help when celebrities like Lady Gaga shine a light on the illness because, at the very least, it helps millions feel less isolated.

Dina Gavarieva is a qualified naturopath practising at Neomed Institute and Medical Centre, Limassol