fibro bits

From the article, Are Fibromyalgia Patients More Sensitive to Sound?:

Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread tenderness, including sensitivity to touch. But do fibromyalgia patients also more sensitive to other stimuli, such as sound? In their article A Psychophysical Study of Auditory and Pressure Sensitivity in Patients With Fibromyalgia and Healthy Controls, researchers at the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, discuss their recent research into this question [Journal of Pain, 2008 Feb 14].

I know i haven’t mentioned it here lately (because, dur, this is a new blog), but y’all, i heart U of M like whoa.

This is one of those sensitivities i can remember occurring in early childhood. I can remember very specifically – the the sound of a hairbrush dropping on the bathroom tile, and the strange sensation of the sound actually rippling through me like a wave.

In my experience, this is not a matter of “all loud noises”, because there are times when i like loud noises. When i’m up and about, i seem to be most affected by sounds on the higher and lower ends – a high whistle and low rumbling bass will both hurt.

When i’m right on the verge of wakefulness and sleep, if there’s an unexpected noise (meaning no other preceding quieter noises hinted at an incoming louder noise), it literally feels like a shockwave traveling through my body.

Nix adds: For me, the sound things seems to be directly correlated to a flare-up (or even a particularly sensitive to everything day). The last flare-up I had ended 3 days ago, but even as of yesterday I was still finding myself turning down the radio in the car (when it’s usually quite the opposite, I am that girl), and especially while the flare-up was in high swing, I had to ask the boyfriend to not practice his bass guitar. I think this is another one of those things that probably hits (no pun intended…mostly) most Fibro people, but at different levels…just like every other aspect of it.