Fibromyalgia

Why does fibromyalgia affect more women than men ? Same with depression and anxiety ?

Source NHS choices.

[Hidden]

Maybe because we do more housework (donkey work) than most men. Carry babies, pregnancy, etc, etc. Although a lot of men who get it in stressful, manual jobs - nurses, policemen etc. Also men who have had trauma lots of major health issues. Who knows, probably need a major survey done? 😊

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Why do we need a survey when we are looking at national statistics ?

I'm not looking to criticise women at all but just wondering why this is the case.

Lots of men now do the housework, and also do more manual labour and lifting on the whole:

In the US 90% of those who have fm are women. Source m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/f...

[Beth_19]

differing hormones and body chemistry's probably are a contributing factor. Some conditions affect one sex more then the other, just as some diseases are more common among one race and not another. Guess its just one of those things.

[Lou1062]

This is a valid question, certainly worth looking at. I have no useful answer, interesting though. Lou x

[sastek]

I did read somewhere that it is hypothesised that many men go undiagnosed for various reasons, one being that some doctors see it as a female only illness.

I am one of the unlucky minority

[Greenpeace]

Probably because more woman are more likely to go to the Dr with pain than men are. Men tend to avoid the Dr as much as possible. Also, having gone to the Dr, woman are more likely to want the pain investigated and if necessary a diagnoses. Whereas men tend to accept if the Dr says "nothing serious, take 2 Ibuprofen, every 4 hrs" and they go on their way. They only go back to the Dr when things get to the stage when they can't handle it any more.

GP. 😊😊

[Hidden in reply to Greenpeace]

One of the most stereotypical posts I've heard in a long time (no offence). Perhaps 50 years ago men would just get on with it. Now I doubt many would put up with the symptoms of severe fibromyalgia. If men just put up and get on with it are you suggesting they are less affected by pain ? Do men have higher pain thresholds ??

If it was the case men ignored being unwell then wouldn't all illnesses affect women more then men, which certainly doesn't appear to be the case.

[tulips123]

Probably different reasons, but I know some men don't like visiting Drs! Perhaps they learn to live with it, especially if symptoms are manageable, and so they don't get the diagnosis. Tulip

[TheAuthor]

I truly believe that men and women are equal but different. There are many medical conditions that affect men more than women and vice versa! Maybe Fibro is another example of this?

[peck]

I wish I knew the correct answer to that as I have read that.I would think it's something to do with hormones as they control so much of a women's life.If you hear a correct response could you let us in on it?? Thanks Peck.🐤

[ukmsmi4]

Personally I think it's probably for a mixture of reasons but one factor has to be hormones.

Most people think hormones just relate to sex and reproduction but actually the body utilises many hormones for different reasons, one of which is that they are involved in the process of sending messages throughout the body as in pain messages etc.

As for pain thresholds I always thought women actually had a higher pain threshold than men because of childbirth. Not sure, I might be wrong. But if it's right it makes it even more strange that women are more affected than men. Guess we won't know for sure until the truth about the condition is discovered.

Perhaps it also depends on if you believe in nature or nurture. Perhaps there is (or as you say more likely was) an element of social acceptance and behaviour in that men didn't show pain or stress as it wasn't considered manly for some strange reason. However, men are obviously human too and those ideas don't hold sway any more, thank heavens. It actually makes things worse when people bottle things up so I for one am very glad such archaic ideas are on the way out and men are allowed to be human these days.

I can't help thinking though, if you apply the nurture theory to the condition then you are basically saying it is in the head after all, and I know that is not the case. Personally I think it has a biological answer, just don't know what it is.

The recent research is pointing much more squarely to a physical cause, as per these

healthline.com/health-news/...

niams.nih.gov/health_info/f...

and that means once we can prove the cause is biological/physical then we may come to understand why certain groups are affected more than others.

Be interesting to know the answer but I think even science is struggling to figure that one out at the minute.