A swollen face and hands in the mornings is a common symptom offibromyalgia. When you have fibromyalgia, you may also experience other morning symptoms like exhaustion, stiffness, and aches. Not everyone with fibromyalgia has these morning symptoms, but they’re common.
This is one of those areas medical research hasn’t yet explained. They also don’t know a lot about how to relieve these symptoms, other than what can be learned through trial and error.
This article discusses morning symptoms of fibromyalgia, including swollen face and hands.
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Swollen Face and Hands
Some people with fibromyalgia wake up with puffiness in their hands and feet or around their eyes. Again, science can’t say for sure why. The puffiness is generally believed to be the result of excess fluid, not inflammation. (Some cases offibromyalgia may involve inflammation, though.)
Other Causes of Swollen Hands
Fibromyalgia Symptoms and Complications
Morning Exhaustion
It’s pretty simple to sum up why people with fibromyalgia are exhausted first thing in the morning—they don’t sleep well.
Fibromyalgia is linked to multiple sleep disorders, including:
Research also shows some people with fibromyalgia have abnormal sleep patterns that interrupt deep sleep. They may also havesleep that is generally unrefreshing.
Any one of these problems can leave you tired the next day. If you have several of them in combination, it’s even harder to get good-quality sleep.
Otherfibromyalgia symptomscan make this worse. Pain can certainly keep you awake or wake you up periodically. Anxiety makes it difficult to relax.Sensitivity to noise and lightcan make seemingly minor things jar you awake, possibly with a big shot of adrenaline.
A lot of people with this condition complain of getting too hot and/or sweaty to sleep well.Temperature sensitivityis common in this disorder, and not just sensitivity to heat.A hand sticking out of the covers may get chilled to the point of discomfort or even severe pain, and can it take a long time to warm up. They are also prone to excessive sweating.
Depending on your symptoms, your healthcare provider may recommend a sleep study to diagnose sleep disorders. The findings could lead to treatments such as medications or aCPAP machinefor sleep apnea, or to suggested lifestyle changes for improving sleep. Pain management and anxiety treatment can be an important part of helping you sleep better as well.
What’s the Difference Between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia?
Morning Stiffness
It’s fairly normal for people with fibromyalgia to wake up feeling stiff and achy all over or to have a hard time standing up straight for a while.
For many, the achiness tends to be different from other fibromyalgia pain. It’s often more like the muscle pain a healthy person would feel the day after really strenuous activity or possibly a minor car accident.
It’s not clear why their bodies are like this in the mornings. While they may feel pretty sedentary most of the time, people watching them often say that they are fidgety.
What happens is that a position makes something start to hurt, so they’ll shift a little. Then something else starts hurting, so they shift again. It’s possible that they’re stiff in the morning because they haven’t shifted around enough all night.
Some people find relief from morning soreness with a hot bath, possibly with Epsom salt, before bed. Others try simpleyogaor other stretches before sleep or before getting out of bed. Medication, either for pain or sleep, may also help. Ask your healthcare provider for ideas and talk about things you’d like to try to make sure they’re safe.
The 8 Types of Fibromyalgia Pain
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Treatment and Coping
Summary
Many people with fibromyalgia experience morning symptoms. A puffy face and hands are common. So is morning exhaustion and stiffness. Unfortunately, these symptoms aren’t well understood, so there aren’t yet any standard ways to treat them.
Finding relief for your morning symptoms is an individual process. Some people find taking a hot bath before bed can help. Others get relief from massage therapy. It is a good idea to talk to your healthcare provider about your symptoms and what might work for you.
A Word From Verywell
While these symptoms may cause problems waking up in the morning, they’re not usually among the worst symptoms of fibromyalgia. Also, they’re called morning symptoms for a reason—they generally clear up as the day goes along.
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5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hawkins RA.Fibromyalgia: a clinical update.J Osteopath Med. 20131;113(9):680-9. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2013.034Civelek GM, Ciftkaya PO, Karatas M.Evaluation of restless legs syndrome in fibromyalgia syndrome: an analysis of quality of sleep and life.J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2014;27(4):537-44. doi:10.3233/BMR-140478Poluha RL, Grossmann E.Does pregabalin improve sleep disorders in fibromyalgia?Br J Pain. 2018;1(2). doi:10.5935/2595-0118.20180031Cassisi G, Sarzi-puttini P, Casale R, et al.Pain in fibromyalgia and related conditions.Reumatismo. 2014;66(1):72-86. doi:10.4081/reumatismo.2014.767Larson AA, Pardo JV, Pasley JD.Review of overlap between thermoregulation and pain modulation in fibromyalgia.Clin J Pain. 2014;30(6):544-55. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e3182a0e383Additional ReadingBesteiro González JL, et. al.Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia.Psicothema. 2011;23(3):368-73.Check JH, Katsoff D, Kaplan H, et al.A disorder of sympathomimetic amines leading to increased vascular permeability may be the etiologic factor in various treatment refractory health problems in women.Medical Hypotheses. 2008;70(3):671-7. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.052
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Hawkins RA.Fibromyalgia: a clinical update.J Osteopath Med. 20131;113(9):680-9. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2013.034Civelek GM, Ciftkaya PO, Karatas M.Evaluation of restless legs syndrome in fibromyalgia syndrome: an analysis of quality of sleep and life.J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2014;27(4):537-44. doi:10.3233/BMR-140478Poluha RL, Grossmann E.Does pregabalin improve sleep disorders in fibromyalgia?Br J Pain. 2018;1(2). doi:10.5935/2595-0118.20180031Cassisi G, Sarzi-puttini P, Casale R, et al.Pain in fibromyalgia and related conditions.Reumatismo. 2014;66(1):72-86. doi:10.4081/reumatismo.2014.767Larson AA, Pardo JV, Pasley JD.Review of overlap between thermoregulation and pain modulation in fibromyalgia.Clin J Pain. 2014;30(6):544-55. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e3182a0e383Additional ReadingBesteiro González JL, et. al.Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia.Psicothema. 2011;23(3):368-73.Check JH, Katsoff D, Kaplan H, et al.A disorder of sympathomimetic amines leading to increased vascular permeability may be the etiologic factor in various treatment refractory health problems in women.Medical Hypotheses. 2008;70(3):671-7. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.052
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Hawkins RA.Fibromyalgia: a clinical update.J Osteopath Med. 20131;113(9):680-9. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2013.034Civelek GM, Ciftkaya PO, Karatas M.Evaluation of restless legs syndrome in fibromyalgia syndrome: an analysis of quality of sleep and life.J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2014;27(4):537-44. doi:10.3233/BMR-140478Poluha RL, Grossmann E.Does pregabalin improve sleep disorders in fibromyalgia?Br J Pain. 2018;1(2). doi:10.5935/2595-0118.20180031Cassisi G, Sarzi-puttini P, Casale R, et al.Pain in fibromyalgia and related conditions.Reumatismo. 2014;66(1):72-86. doi:10.4081/reumatismo.2014.767Larson AA, Pardo JV, Pasley JD.Review of overlap between thermoregulation and pain modulation in fibromyalgia.Clin J Pain. 2014;30(6):544-55. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e3182a0e383
Hawkins RA.Fibromyalgia: a clinical update.J Osteopath Med. 20131;113(9):680-9. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2013.034
Civelek GM, Ciftkaya PO, Karatas M.Evaluation of restless legs syndrome in fibromyalgia syndrome: an analysis of quality of sleep and life.J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2014;27(4):537-44. doi:10.3233/BMR-140478
Poluha RL, Grossmann E.Does pregabalin improve sleep disorders in fibromyalgia?Br J Pain. 2018;1(2). doi:10.5935/2595-0118.20180031
Cassisi G, Sarzi-puttini P, Casale R, et al.Pain in fibromyalgia and related conditions.Reumatismo. 2014;66(1):72-86. doi:10.4081/reumatismo.2014.767
Larson AA, Pardo JV, Pasley JD.Review of overlap between thermoregulation and pain modulation in fibromyalgia.Clin J Pain. 2014;30(6):544-55. doi:10.1097/AJP.0b013e3182a0e383
Besteiro González JL, et. al.Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia.Psicothema. 2011;23(3):368-73.Check JH, Katsoff D, Kaplan H, et al.A disorder of sympathomimetic amines leading to increased vascular permeability may be the etiologic factor in various treatment refractory health problems in women.Medical Hypotheses. 2008;70(3):671-7. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.052
Besteiro González JL, et. al.Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia.Psicothema. 2011;23(3):368-73.
Check JH, Katsoff D, Kaplan H, et al.A disorder of sympathomimetic amines leading to increased vascular permeability may be the etiologic factor in various treatment refractory health problems in women.Medical Hypotheses. 2008;70(3):671-7. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.052
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