Fibromyalgia, Fatigue & Pain That Won’t Quit? Here’s What Your Doctor Probably Isn’t Telling You

Do you feel like your whole body hurts… all the time? Are you waking up exhausted, even after 8 hours of sleep? Struggling with brain fog, muscle aches, mood dips, and mystery pain that seems to move around your body? If you’re over 40, female, and wondering “Do I have fibromyalgia?”—this one's for you.

Let’s talk truth: fibromyalgia is more than “being sensitive.” It’s real, it’s chronic, and it can wreck your quality of life. But the part that rarely gets addressed? Your hormones.

What Is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition marked by widespread pain, extreme fatigue, and tender points across the body. Think of it as a nervous system gone haywire—your pain signals are being turned up way too high, even when there’s no injury.

Symptoms often include:

• Achy, tender muscles and joints

• Headaches or migraines

• Sleep that doesn’t restore you

• Memory problems (“fibro fog”)

• Digestive issues and abdominal pain

• Tingling in your hands and feet

• Depression or anxiety

• Painful periods

• Morning stiffness

And while the exact cause is still unclear, we know this: women are significantly more likely to get fibromyalgia—and especially between the ages of 40 and 60. That’s not a coincidence. That’s hormonal.

Why Hormones Matter

Here’s where conventional medicine drops the ball: they rarely connect the dots between fibromyalgia and perimenopause.

Let me connect them for you.

• Estrogen plays a huge role in modulating pain perception, mood, and inflammation. When estrogen declines (as it does in your 40s and 50s), your pain threshold drops. That means you feel pain more intensely—and recover less quickly.

• Progesterone has calming, anti-inflammatory effects. Low levels (hello, perimenopause) can contribute to increased pain sensitivity, anxiety, and poor sleep.

• Cortisol—your stress hormone—can spike due to constant fatigue, emotional load, and systemic inflammation. Chronically high cortisol disrupts your sleep, fogs your brain, and leaves your immune system confused and on edge.

• Thyroid hormones often tank during perimenopause, and low thyroid function can mimic (or worsen) fibromyalgia symptoms: fatigue, body aches, poor concentration, constipation, and cold intolerance.

So yes—your symptoms are real. But the root may not be “mystery pain.” It may be hormone chaos.

What You’ve Probably Tried (And Why It’s Not Enough)

Doctors often hand out prescriptions—pain meds, antidepressants, or sleep aids—and send you on your way. Maybe you’ve tried:

• Stretching or yoga

• Talk therapy

• Anti-seizure meds like Lyrica

• Antidepressants like Cymbalta

• A half-dozen supplements from that wellness aisle at Whole Foods

And maybe you’re still exhausted, inflamed, and feel like a stranger in your own body.

That’s because you’re treating symptoms, not root causes.

What Actually Works: A Functional Medicine Approach

To truly heal from fibromyalgia—or fibromyalgia-like symptoms—we need to get upstream:

✅ Test and balance your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone)
✅ Rule out (or address) thyroid dysfunction
✅ Calm inflammation and stress chemistry (cortisol!)
✅ Restore sleep and nervous system regulation
✅ Support gut health, detox, and mitochondrial function

Bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT) can be a powerful part of this puzzle—especially if your pain and fatigue got worse after 40. Rebalancing your hormones is not a quick fix—but it’s the foundational fix your body is craving.

Tired of Being Told “It’s All in Your Head”?

It’s not. And you don’t have to white-knuckle your way through this.

If you suspect fibromyalgia—or if you’ve already been diagnosed but haven’t found real relief—don’t wait. Let’s get to the real root causes and finally get you feeling like yourself again.

👉 Book your hormone consult today at getmerva.com
👉 Learn how we use BHRT, functional medicine, and smart diagnostics to uncover what’s really behind your symptoms.