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WarriorPrincess

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DX FIBRO
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05/2005
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I was looking around for news about Fibromyalgia, and I stumbled upon this older article from 2008. I've always wondered why it seems that specific ailments target one gender more than others. The first time I encountered the situation was when I finally found a name for my bladder condition, and attended an event on the subject. It seemed 9/10 of those diagnosed were female, and I've found that Fibromyalgia also seems to target women more frequently than men, although I'm not sure the numbers are quite as extreme with Fibromyalgia as is the case with Interstitial Cystitis.

This study concerns a biological link between pain and fatigue, and mentions that testosterone possibly protects some males from developing the level of muscle related fatigue the females do. Apparently the scientists who conducted this study are continuing to work on the subject, with the hope of developing better treatments for chronic musculoskeletal pain as well as addressing the issue of fatigue.

Here's a link to the article. If I find anything further, I'll try to post that, as well. If anyone else knows of related research, please feel free to post. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407153037.htm
 
This is great information.

If you come across any interesting news moving forward it would be great if you could post it to the homepage of the website here: Create News | Fibromyalgia Forum. It's good you took the time to post it period, it's just that posting to the homepage will give it more "press".

I posted this on your behalf, hope that's okay. You can see it here with credit to you: Pain and Fatigue Study from 2008 | Fibromyalgia Forum
 
This is interesting! I suffer from PCOS so my testosterone levels are usually higher than most females, and I do seem to be daring much better than other females in my support group. I was actually exposed to more testosterone than estrogen while I was still in the womb (my ring finger is longer than the index one). So this definitely sounds really interesting!
 
This is quite interesting. I have always known testosterone to be the hormone of aggressiveness and strength so this should not come as a surprise. I think it is also amplified or related to the fact that men have more muscle in their bodies as compared to women. I have seen a related study though slightly different on the effects of oestrogen. It concluded that this hormone alters the perception of pain or norciception in women so that women handle pain much better than men.
 
Thanks, David, I'll do that if/when I find updated information.

Wow @Trellum I've never had my testosterone levels checked, maybe that's something I can do in the future. If estrogen leaves us more vulnerable to this and other similar disorders, it would seem that the conditions would improve somewhat during and after menopause, but I'm not sure that's ever been studied. I don't recall hearing anything about it, at least.
 
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