Is Their a Link Between Barometric Pressure and Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia sufferers are affected by the ambient pressure especially if it goes down suddenely. If a storm approaches the pressure drops, causing the air in our joints to expand.

Barometric pressure is a measurement of the weight that is exerted by the air all around us. When its a lovely sunny day then the barometric pressure tends to be quite high.

The change in the weather can effect us all, even air conditioning units can disrupt muscle aches and pains.

Falls in barometric pressure cause tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc.) to expand. Any expansion inside the body, where space is limited, might lead to pain in sensitive areas.

Very Well writes that researchers haven’t spent a lot of time looking into the impact of weather on fibromyalgia symptoms, but they have done a handful of studies. The studies showed that a significant but small effect on pain or fatigue in five (10%) of the 50 different weather comparisons they performed. They also found significant but small and inconsistent differences between participants when it came to random effects of weather variables.

The findings basically said that you should not rule out the possibility that weather-symptom relationships may exist in some fibromalgia patients with some suffering and others not. In fact, they say that they found roughly the same amount of positive associations as negative ones.

They say that it may seem a bit confusing that some patients suffer and others don't as there’s nothing consistent about it, but that kind of thing is par for the course when talking about fibromyalgia.

We all know at least one person who is suffering from either fibromyalgia or some form of arthritis or both and most will comment when the weather changes and how it affects them. There is a definitive association between flare up of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and weather changes. 

Other studies have found links between pain symptoms and weather factors such as cold temperatures, humidity, and barometric pressure.

When the barometric pressure changes they found that in people with arthritis, the joints hurt. In people with migraine, the head hurts. In people with fibromyalgia, anything and everything may hurt.

The changes in the weather we are experiencing all of the world at the moment will most definitely cause flare ups with people in pain but it changes by the day so it is difficult to know how to deal with it.

Source: Very Well