"Fibromyalgia (FMS) is the most common cause of widespread pain (Bennett,1995), yet it may remain undiagnosed for a long time. Uncertainty and frequent misdiagnosis can cause considerable havoc in the lives of patients. Every expert in the field seems to have his or her own estimate of how many people actually have FMS. This confusion will remain until doctors are trained in comprehensive differential diagnosis. Most FMS patients are female, but again, experts disagree on the percentage.
Fibromyalgia Syndrome is pronounced fie-bro-my-al-jia sind-rome. The word "fibromyalgia" is a combination of the Latin roots fibro (connective tissue fibers), my (muscle), al (pain), and gia (condition of). Fibromyalgia is not a new "fad disease". For many years the medical profession called it by many different names, including "chronic rheumatism" and "fibrositis". Most physicians still lack the skills to diagnose and treat it effectively. FMS, like many other conditions, is not curable right now, but it is very treatable, and there are many ways in which you can considerably improve your health and quality of life. You may come to your doctor with symptoms that seem unrelated. They can run the gamut from mental confusion to burning feet, but are usually accompanied by an over-all flu-like feeling that impacts every aspect of your life. Each chapter in "Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual, edition 2" has its own medical journal reference section at the end of the chapter. There is also instruction in how to obtain these reference materials.
The American College of Rheumatology, American Medical Association, The World Health Organization, and the National Institutes of Health have all accepted FMS as a legitimate clinical entity. If your doctor "doesn’’t believe in FMS", you are going to the wrong doctor. At the Travell Focus on Pain Seminar 2000, I. Jon Russell MD, editor of the Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain, mentioned the use of the Functional MRI, which shows the brain in action. In a healthy individual, when you pressed on a tender point, there is minimal response, but in a patient with FMS, "...the result was wild. The whole brain went crazy." Something is happening in the FMS central nervous system that doesn’’t happen to healthy people.
Fibromyalgia can be a source of substantial disability (Kaplan, Schmidt and Cronan, 2000). This is especially true if you have had it for a long period of time without adequate medical support. Nearly everyone with FMS exhibits reduced coordination skills and decreased endurance abilities, although some of this may be due to co-existing chronic myofascial pain (CMP).
Fibromyalgia is a complex syndrome characterized by pain amplification, musculoskeletal discomfort, and systemic symptoms. In FMS, there is a generalized disturbance of the way pain is processed by the body (Morris, Cruwys and Kidd, 1998). I think the definition of FMS as widespread allodynia and hyperalgesia (Russell, 1998) describes it well. Allodynia means nonpainful sensations are translated into pain sensations. Hyperalgesia means that your pain sensations are amplified. These changes in the way your central nervous system processes pain seem to be worse if there is a physically traumatic initiating event.
You may be sensitive to odors, sounds, lights, and vibrations that others don’’t even notice. The noise emitted by fluorescent lights might drive you to distraction. Your body may at times interpret touch, light, or even sound as pain. Sleep, or the lack thereof, plays a crucial role in FMS. Sleep disturbances, a swollen feeling, and exercise intolerance are significantly related to FMS (Jacob
