Why do people with rheumatoid arthritis experience pain in multiple areas of the body?

  Patients with rheumatoid arthritis often experience pain in multiple areas of the body (muscles), including the limbs, shoulders, neck, back, and lower back. However, there are some patients who still have multiple muscle pains with sleep disorders and depression after the rheumatoid arthritis is in remission, so it is important to consider the possibility of a combined “fibromyalgia syndrome”.  Fibromyalgia syndrome is a type of rheumatism, which can be primary or secondary. The most prominent symptom is diffuse pain throughout the body, which lasts for more than 3 months, and can be combined with other clinical manifestations, including sleep disturbance, stiffness, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, etc. Sleep disturbance is a common concomitant symptom, and patients show persistent insomnia. Patients suffer from chronic insomnia and myalgia, resulting in anxiety and depression, causing great suffering.  Fibromyalgia syndrome is an idiopathic disease whose pathophysiology is still unknown and therefore difficult to treat, and it is still a chronic painful disease that cannot be cured. Current treatment is mainly devoted to improving sleep status and decreasing the sensitivity of nociceptive receptors.  Therefore, for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, if you have chronic muscle pain in multiple areas of the body for more than 3 months, and these muscle pain symptoms are not relieved even after the rheumatoid arthritis has been controlled, accompanied by insomnia, significant fatigue, and lack of energy, you need to exclude the combination of “fibromyalgia syndrome” We recommend you to consult a rheumatologist promptly.