Obesity & Fibromyalgia Risk

My father was skinny and I think he had fibro. I was slim and have had it since childhood.A cousin also.I don’t see a correlation.
It was severe onset of CFS that put 30 pounds on me within months..I was in my 30’s, and had gained and rapidly lost 50 lbs with each child with no effort. With CFS,it seemed my body could not convert food to energy.

I’ve never been a very active person but I was thin for most of my life. I’m somewhat overweight now but I’ve never been obese. If anything, it’s the medications I’m on that have made me gain weight (Lyrica and the tricyclic antidepressant Sinequan). So, don’t feel guilty if you have a weight problem. IT DIDN’T CAUSE YOUR FIBROMYALGIA! But, I guess the inactivity part of the study is probably true. I hate to admit that!

At this point in my life, at 56 years old and having had fibromyalgia for 23 years, getting more active now is unlikely to happen for me.

But it’s definitely a good idea to teach your children good dietary and exercise habits now so their health will be better in general in the future. And, hopefully by then, we’ll have a cure for fibromyalgia and CFS!

When I came down with fibro I was not at all overweight. I was actually right in my weight range and often in the lower half. After getting fibro the story has been very different. I peaked at 240 I’ve managed to keep it below 200 for the past 5 years. I’ve even been able to get down to 170 but then I’ll hurt something and be laid up for a year and gain a bunch back.
My weight isn’t helped by the fact that I find comfort in eating something I normally keep under control. Or the problem that the medicine upsets my stomach so I eat a piece of bread to calm it.
I walk 3-4 miles 3 times a week with my husband but still It is a constant battle.
I look in diet books that say this and that prevents weight loss, and guess what it is half the medicine I’m taking.
This is turning into a rant SORRY. I guess it boils down to one of the things I hate most about fibro is the weight gain and difficulty losing it.

I was skinny and very, very active before I developed CFS. Only slowed down the activity when my body just refused to cooperate any more; only gained weight as I approached menopause (years after developing CFS). So obesity and lack of exercise were certainly not causal in my case.

I think it is more likely that we have FM for many years before we actually have symptoms that would result in a diagnosis of FM .

I had growing pains as a child, wore support hose as a young woman in my 20’s, had migrating pains that did not result in any physical impairment.

FM as it worsened began to impact on my ability to move and I became more and more sedentary.

AND I ate too much and all the wrong things which I now believe was my way of self-medicating to increase the boost of neurotransmitters and endorphins (serotonin / melatonin)

All of which lead to my being morbidly obese.

I am with you Adrienne … Did the obesity and inactivity cause the fibro or did the fibro lead to the obesity and inactivity. I would love to talk to the researchers (or even just read the full study) to see if they considered that possibility.

Let’s hope that the new research will delve further into this.

I forgot to add that I have lost almost 100 pounds over the past year and I am more active than I have been in a long time. AND I still have Fibromyalgia … darn!!

Well, I got sick at the age of 10. I began to get fat at the age of 13. At that time, there was no change in my lifestyle, except that I probably exercised more because I was in Jr High and PE was more intense than in grade school, and I was in the marching band, so I got a double dose of exercise.

Currently, I waver between 270 and 290. I don’t try to diet (gave that up years ago). I maintain the same moderate diet all the time. I try to exercise to tolerance, sometimes with more success than others (especially since I have CFS as well as fibro). I don’t really care if I ever lose weight. My emphasis is on feeling as well as I can and being as functional as I can. If I lose weight, great. If not, that’s great too. If people don’t like my fat body, then they can darn well just not look at me.

Can you tell I’m part of the fat acceptance movement *laughs*.

If they really want to look at risk factors, they should look at more than just weight. They need to compare the rate of FMS for the population at large to that of the population who are obese to that of the population who aren’t obese. Then correct for things like exercise. Recent studies that correct for activity level actually show that the much flaunted risk of heart disease in the obese goes away when you consider activity level. So a fat person who is active is less likely to have a heart attack or stroke than a skinny person who is not active.

Researchers need to get their heads out of their butts about obesity and realize that it’s more than just calories in vs. calories out.

I agree with Nancy A., Lyrica was the thing that added 20 lbs to my frame. I was slightly overweight to begin with but the medications from fibro have been what have made me overweight.

Like many I was thin when first diagnosed.

While I’ve never been an avid execiser, I was exercising more than ever immediately prior to my inital onset of fibro symptoms. I was slightly overweight, but had recently quit smoking and considered it a fair trade off. The increased activity was helping shedding the pounds and when symptoms started, I was maybe five or ten pounds overweight.

After the onset of symptoms, I became scared to execise. After several failed attempts, I find myself some frightened again. I try to stretch as often as possible and I do find that very helpful. Going to start taking very short walks soon and see how that pans out. Wish me luck and same to all of you!

I have been consistently gaining weight the past 10 years along with the fibro symptoms. I was only disgnosed a year ago but have had it that long. I think it is a combination of someof the drug treatments and that the body thinks it is under attack. When the body does that it slows the metabolism down. I work out more and eat less the the average person and I still gained 17 pounds this year. It is incredibly frustrating! Please, I pray they find a way to speed up th metabolism.

I have had fibro for over 10 years and have always been between 175-200 the entire time but I had emergency gallbladder surgery last April and am now topping 225. My breasts have gotten enormous (and they were big before – YUCK!) and my midsection is now much bigger than before. I have neck and lower back problems and even walking makes me hurt even more. I’m not eating any different than before. I am just so miserable that I can’t stand it. I am feeling my worse physically since my surgery. I just don’t get it. I would like someone to make give me the “magic pill” to fix it all – LOL!

I was slim all my life until I got sick. I am now morbidly obese…yucko. I went into remission once, and the weight poured off me. I was able to walk 4 miles a day, felt great. Then one day, I just wasn’t able to complete a walk. I continued to struggle to walk until fibro and CFIDS beat me down and the pounds piled back on. No matter how few calories I ingest, the weight won’t move. If I didn’t have to worry about my weight, I know I would have a more positive outlook.

I was slim at the onset of my fibro two years ago & became skinny from the anxiety of the horrorific symptoms my body was experiencing. Exercise was my favorite pastime before the fibro with jogging or power walking being part of my daily habits. I’ve been a vegetarian over 15 years & eat a very healthy diet with lots of vitamin, mineral & herbal supplements included. Although I cannot do what I did before the fibro, I continue to exercise & stretch as much as possible throughout the day. The only medication I’m on is a low dose (25 mg) amitriptyline & although it does make me hungry (particularly for sweets) I refuse to gain any weight. Extra weight puts one at a greater risk for additional health problems & who would want any more than what we endure with the fibro.

For a stretch of almost twenty years in my life, I did have a weight problem. Food can be as much of an addiction as drugs & even harder to break in that we have to eat to survive. I learned that nothing tastes as good as thin feels. I do love sweets & allow myself a treat on Saturdays but go right make to healthy eating habits come Sunday.

I encourage any of you who are overweight to really exercise discipline in your eating habits. For reasons even more important than cosmetic, as you will feel so much better without the burden of extra pounds. They tax every organ & every muscle & we all know how vulnerable our muscles are.

Good luck,
Jean

Adrienne, If that is the Polish study I have some reservations about it. The main one is we are often ill for a very long time before we are diagnosed. If they are using diagnosis as the cut off rather than the beginning of symptoms then of course, most of us have had to quit exercising by then and consequentially have begun gaining weight.

When researchers come up with definitions for a disease it makes it easier to replicate studies if they all use the same definition AND exclude other variables such as other diseases.

Reality check: The more things that go wrong with your body, the more things go wrong. For example, sub acute thyroid problems can be co-morbid – some of the same viruses that are associated with CFS are also associated with thyroid problems and possibly fibromyalgia.

And sometimes scientists conduct a study in such a way as to influence the outcome – the CDC Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Program chose the rural Georgia County of Bibb to do their research. Why Bibb? Maybe because the CDC also ranks this county as having some of the most overweight people in Georgia. If you wanted a specific outcome, namely correlating obesity and the psychiatric theory of de-conditioning with a disease what better place to do such research?

My doctors are treating my fibro as though it is adrenal fatigue. If adrenal fatigue (which the Western medical community doesn’t accept as real) is truly the cause, then it makes sense that many would gain weight. The adrenal glands play a major role in metabolism.

I was skinny and could eat whatever I liked without putting on weight for many years even when I became ill but back then I was forced to keep active – child raising etc. Later, cortisone changed my body and metabolism so I become overweight but I lost a lot of that when I stopped taking this but the scene was set (the fat cells?) for never being “skinny” again. Pre and post menopausal was the beginning of me being chronically overweight despite my relatively small food intake. I cannot handle big meals but it has always been hard for me to give up the sweet stuff that I could eat when younger without any sign of weight gain. Nevertheless the main thing now days is inactivity and I would have to put that down to a lifestyle choice in order to avoid pain – from indigestion to joint and muscular- made far worse by being active. Ineffective pain management has got to be held responsible for at least some of the inactivity leading to the reduced ability to deal appropriately with weight problems. Fear of triggering off flu-like symptoms is my weakness too. Fat and happy beats sick and skinny any day!

I have been obese much of my adult life. About two years before I got sick, I discovered I loved weight lifting, and became very active. I could run up and down stairs and shrank like you wouldn’t believe.

Then I caught mono, and never got well. I became bedridden for years. I have lost and gained weight several time in the last twelve years, and presently am over 400 pounds, and blaming myself for being unable to exercise the last year.

I would love to lose weight because carrying less weight would give me more energy to live, even if the cfs/fibro never improved.

Did the overweight help cause it–maybe, though I was very active for my weight. Unfortunately, I have never read a study that says losing the weight will make cfs/fibro any better.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, overweight. Before getting sick, I was exercising two times a day anywhere from a half hour to two hours each time, and sometimes more. I was training for triathlons and running marathons, and also did a lot of other sports and physical activity.

In fact, it was trying to continue to exercise at the same level that made me get sicker. Had I known to back off, instead of trying to push through the pain, exhaustion, etc, I probably would not be as sick as I am now.

I have always been a very active person and running and powerwalking. When I started to feel the effects of fibromyalgia, I was in excellant condition. I ate right and I exercised all the time, at least 2x a day. I did have some injuries that slowed me down and started adding on the pounds. I think that was my starting point to my having fibromyalgia. I am at the point I hurt all the time, and wanting to have my old life back. I love to exercise and walk and just be busy. I was on a study and taking now savalle which is now on the list of drugs to take. I don’t see the improvement I wanted, I am at a loss right now! My Doctor just feeds me pills, I think there should be more we can do than just feed us pills. The thngs I use to love to do are now gone and my new life of hurting with pain are now my new life. THAT WILL GET ANYBODY DEPRESSED!!!

I had been 5 – 10 lbs overweight all my life and never exercised. In my 40s I was under severe stress, stopped eating and started loosing weight. I started exercising regularly and finally felt good about my body. I had energy, enjoyed exercising and generally was enjoying my life. I then contracted mono and everything changed. My body hurt all the time. I couldn’t go to the gym because my feet hurt too much in running shoes. After visiting many doctors and going through many tests, I was told I had fibro and arthritis and put on different types of medication which did nothing to help but made me gain weight. It has been a constant struggle ever since. I do not take medication and knowing there is a physical cause for my pain and anxiety does help. I know when I am too exhausted to move to rest which isn’t always easy. I have found yeast in food does make my pain worse but that seems to be the only thing. I love to walk but that is impossible now. If I overdo it I suffer after. Now my hands are giving me great problems which scares me to death because I work on a computer all day. This is a terrible, terrible health problem.

I think all these comments have covered it all. Just wanted to add mine for the record. I too was actively raising 4 kids and ‘thought’ I was overweight when the FM struck. I was actually in healthy weight range. Have gained 40kg over 17 years and try really hard to lose it. Seems impossible. Have suffered from anxiety and depression too. Just lately I’ve been diagnosed with major depression. Had endometrial cancer 2 1/2 years ago. That was blamed on weight too!

I didn’t gain weight until i started on antidepressant. So it has not relation to mine fibro.

Losing weight at this point is like pulling teeth but I keep on trying. Also the craving for carbs and sweets is strong right now (I think that is a symptom of CFS). As far as exercise I get all that I can handle. I walk my dog about five times a day usually about 10-15 minutes each time. It doesn’t help with the weight or the energy levels. In fact I am more tired when I walk her than when someone else walks her for me.
Weight can aggravate the symptoms but it’s not the cause of the disease…and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

I wasn’t overweight or inactive when I got diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was actually pretty thin (I’m a petite person). I was an active person and kid, always running around outside, hiking, and going out dancing 3 times a week. the only time I was inactive was when I started an office job and that lasted about 4 years.

I’d hate to think that the job is “what made me sick”. I don’t think it did but it’s interesting because I’ve been in chronic pain since that job and sick with all the other fun things that come along with it.

I think it’s more of genetic thing for me. My family has a history of arthritis (both types) and I think that got me to be a bit more predisposed to it.

When I became ill with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, it was a sudden viral-like onset. I am 5′4′ tall, female, and I weighed 116 pounds at the time. I lost 10 more pounds the first 3 weeks that I was ill. I had never weighed more than 124. My weight had nothing to do with these illnesses. It was in the first year of CFS/FM that I gained weight, after I was already quite ill.

A number of commentators here have given a profile exactly opposite the study’s conclusions: they were extremely active prior to developing fibro. From people I know, this is typical of many fibromyalgics; it almost suggests that people burnt out at some point. It also fits my profile.

I am always skeptical of studies that support stereotypes. I can remember the spouse of a rheumatologist telling me, “As an active person, you don’t fit the fibromyalgia mold; most of my husband’s fibromyalgia patients are obese women.” And, of course, there was further suggestion that these women were suffering from a multitude of symptoms related to their obesity and that inactivity was probably the chief factor in their problems.

I was very slim when I got fibromyalgia. I have had a couple of differing periods of overweight at different times of my life and fluctuating for no reason. My last endeavour that reduced the weight was high protein and low carbohydrates. Then came Lyrica and I put on 20 kgs in 18 months, still eating the same – also on Dothep for neck pain.
I am someone still after 9 years that if I exercise the least bit beyond a short walk with a walker now, because I am still so stiff and exhausted the Occupation Therapist and Doctor suggested using the walker for exercise. Anything more than short walk every other day lands me back in bed in screaming pain, and even worse exhaustion. I read on one FM article from the USA a few years ago, 4 mintues of exercise such as stretching and light gentle movement to music gradually up to 12 times a day is a better way to go so a do a bit of both as much as my condition for the day allows. I have had to find my own limits and definitely know stretching my exercise causing me to me much worse after a suggestion my a pain clinic. It nearly crippled me. So go with what is best for yourself and don’t be pushed by well meaning people and some professionals who push you to do what is too much for you. I am a retired nurse who absolutely followed instructions to the letter before this condition, but now I have learned to be more discerning. Blessings to all.

I got chronic fatigue first and was at a perfect weight and was exercising at the gym 3-4 times a week. I ate well and just took very good care of myself. Although the exhaustion at times would get the best of me I was still pretty much able to live my life the way I wanted to.

Unfortunately eight years ago I was in a horrific car accident and suffered from severe whiplash. That thank God was the only injury that night from the accident. You wouldn’t think so looking at the cars. The problem though was for weeks and weeks after the accident I kept waking up with such horrible stiffness and pain that I could barely get out of bed, much less move around most of the day. I had been exercising still at the gym up to the point of the car accident but after that I no longer had the ability to do so. My body was in too much pain and I was to exhausted at the end of the day to do anything else but collapse into bed.

I kept going back to my doctor telling her something is wrong giving her all the things that were going on. Of course she kept guessing and telling me things or giving me excuses really and I was getting extremely frustrated. I found out what I had through a friend of a friend. She told me to look fibro up online and when I did I almost fell off my chair. There is was…in words right in front of me, everything I had been going to the doctor about and she couldn’t or wouldn’t or didn’t diagnose me???? I printed this out, made an appointment and took this print out with me. I held it up when she came in the room and told her this is what I have and she said she doubted it. I insisted and she finally sent me to a rheumatalogist, who is the one I still go to now. And of course she told me I had it. I did not get the fibro because I was overweight and to even read that makes me upset and angry. Mine came directly as a result of the car accident. Now I have to say I have an extra 40 lbs. I am carrying on me that have come on since I no longer exercise as I once did, plus add on the start of menopause and there you have it. I am not happy about it but I still had all the fibro symptoms long before the weight gain and menopause, so how can they explain that???

I feel like I’ve had this illness as far back as I can think. When I was 5 or 6 years old I would be so tired just from walking around the park. I also had pain in my ribs on both sides almost all the time. I was sick all the time. It seemed like I had a very week immune system. Whenrver my brother came home with anything I got it by the next week! I kept my Mom busy. Speaking of Mom, I am sure she had fibromyalgia too but she was never diagnosed and most of her doctors treated her like she was crazy. My Father also had some form of the disease too. But in my family of 4 I was the only one to get Fibro/CFS. I feel that everyone wants to give a reason for this illness but I think that it is inherited. At least in my case it was. I’m 53 years old and things have been getting worse. I have a good doctor but even a good doctor doesn’t know what to do with me. She has tried but I get sick from all of the new drugs and my liver is going bonkers so I have to limit my intake of NSADS for pain. So I just try to do the best I can and then I either fall asleep from exhaustion or I’m in so much pain I am forced to take some NSADS. All I can do, is to do what I can.

I am not even overweight. The pain is utterly disabling. I doubt being overweight or obese can help. It probably makes this illness a great deal worse. But I am inclined to blame both fibromyalgia and these ridiculous drugs that cause immense weight gain in people who can’t easily quite using them without serious withdrawal.

Stupid research. I am so tired of these studies. It’s like no one ever considers that some things like obesity are co-symptoms to illness. While not everyone with FMS is obese, not everyone with FMS shares all the FMS symptoms. That does not mean that obesity might not be just another symptom of illness.

I fought like crazy my whole adult life to remain slim and succeed most of the time, though I’d had symptoms of CFS and FMS from childhood. As I became progressively sicker, the weight piled on, though my diet remained the same to more restricted, particularly right after I became totally disabled.

I am on an experimental medical protocol and in the first six months 20 lbs of the 40 extra pounds fell off. In the next year, 10 more lbs. I am now at the middle of the weight chart for my height. That’s with eating the same amount of food. As I am getting better, my body is metabolizing food better. Go figure.

My mom said i used to have pain all the time, but i was never able to stay still. (okay that is true today too) the doctors never found a cause for the pain i was not diagnosed with Fibromyalgia until 2008. prior to that it had been growing pains, (until i was 18) and carpal tunnel, and Chronic Fatigue and after a car accident it was soft tissue injuries (still there 10 years later) in 2004 it was Rheumatoid arthritis. i have been drugged to the hilts, had endless physiotherapy, physical trainers Dieticians, and have been about 250 and 5′9″ since i was 10 years old i was always on the track team the sports team and Gymnastics rode my bike until car accident in 2000 (injured my hip cannot ride anymore) I have a green belt in Tae Kwon Do, endless medals and ribbons, there was never a normal reason for the wieght or the relentless pain, lack of sleep or lack of appetite. i am now 33 years old, i still walk 20 minutes a day every day, up to 2 hours a day. I have 5 kids 2 pregnancies were twin pregnancies the last one left me with a huge floppy belly and an extra 40 lbs that i cannot kick. My pain as i am sure everyone else’s does varies day to day depending on weather, stress, activity, illness, fatigue, etc.
I know many many skinny people who feel the same way i do. and are even less active, that can’t gain weight.
so i don’t think the research is accurate.

I am obese – huge really – and this has DEFINITLY caused my fibromyalgia and a whole lot of other things – basically I would be healthy if I were healthy weight and since I am so fat like the author of this piece and the lady in the photo, I cannot expect to be pain free. I can get a whiole lot of diseases and my kids will die early and inherit my unhealthy lifestyle as is PROVED again and again so dont write articles as if this were not true – you are showing ignorance, as well as laziness and denial, lady!

Cece,

First of all, my biggest weight gain came AFTER fibromyalgia, not before, so no, it’s not valid to say that I have fibromyalgia because I’m fat.

Second, I’m not denying that being obese can cause a wealth of health problems. I’m simply saying that it’s only one part of the equation, and while it’s tied to risk, it’s not shown to be a cause. Also, weight loss is in no way a cure.

Third, I specifically say that this study shows us how important it is to make sure our children are physically active and eat a healthy diet. Once you’re sick, it doesn’t really help you to know what risk factors pointed out years ago that you could get sick. Knowing risk factors help us protect those who aren’t yet sick.

As for “lazy,” that’s just plain offensive. I’m raising two young children; taking care of my house, garden, and animals; maintaining a social life; writing a novel; and working to lose weight (I’ve dropped 15-20, depending on my currently inflammation level) while dealing with fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s, myofascial pain syndrome, TMJ and several other chronic illnesses. I could have just laid down and quit when my symptoms were more severe, but instead I worked hard to learn about my illness and improve my health.

And as for “denial,” I never said that the study was wrong — I simply pointed out some facts. A risk factor is NOT a cause, and a lot of unanswered questions remain. Do I think obesity could be a causal factor? Sure. Anything that puts undue strain on our bodies could contribute. However, when people say we wouldn’t be sick if we weren’t fat, it’s unfair and inaccurate — especially since many people were thin when they developed fibromyalgia and only gained weight when they were forced to give up their active lifestyles.

I was diagnosed with Fibro in 1995. I weighed 280 pounds at that time, was single, and vry lonely. Upon my diagnosis, i took it upon myself to lose weight and do something about being lonely. I met a wonderful man at the gym and we got married last April. I was obese when the symptoms started and feel that being obese and lonely was the cause of my FM.

I have lost 163 ponds (so far) and all my symptoms have vanished. When I was obese and had daily flare ups, i was offended by anybody who suggested it may have something to do with my weight. After taking the weight off and finding someone who has made me feel good about myself, I know believe those who say that FM is largely a fussy fat women’s disease.

For those of you who are going to respond to this in the usual way most FM suffers do, I’m proof that you can get better. Lose the weight and eal with whatever mental ghosts you have.

Stop the denial.

I think this article is rubbish.

I have fibromyagia and i am a size 8 in clothes, my friend also has Fibro and shes a size 10 in clothes, this article should be deleted, gives ammunition for nasty people to have a dig at someone that is overweight, you should be looking at why people are overweight, not judge them for being so.