Fibromyalgia is often diagnosed because patients report an unusual amount of muscle aches and pains. Fibromyalgia has divided experts and researchers over the cause, etiology, and treatment for decades.

If you have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia please continue to return to this wiki, as new, ground-breaking research is published regularly on this dibilitating illness. If you have any information to add, please request to be a writer for this wiki.

Fibromyalgia is a common condition characterized by long-term, body-wide pain and tender points in joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. Fibromyalgia has also been linked to fatigue, morning stiffness, sleep problems, headaches, numbness in hands and feet, depression, and anxiety. Fibromyalgia can develop on its own or along with other musculoskeletal conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Researchers are investigating if Fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disease, and how it is triggered.

While the underlying cause or causes of FM still remain a mystery, new research findings continue to bring us closer to understanding the basic mechanisms of fibromyalgia. Most researchers agree that FM is a disorder of central processing with neuroendocrine/neurotransmitter dysregulation. The FM patient experiences pain amplification due to abnormal sensory processing in the central nervous system. An increasing number of scientific studies now show multiple physiological abnormalities in the FM patient, including: increased levels of substance P in the spinal cord, low levels of blood flow to the thalamus region of the brain, HPA axis hypofunction, low levels of serotonin and tryptophan and abnormalities in cytokine function.

Recent studies show that genetic factors may predispose individuals to a genetic susceptibility to FM. For some, the onset of FM is slow; however, in a large percentage of patients the onset is triggered by an illness or injury that causes trauma to the body. These events may act to incite an undetected physiological problem already present. Fibromyalgia is more common in women than in men. Previously, the condition was known by other names such as fibrositis, chronic muscle pain syndrome, psychogenic rheumatism and tension myalgias.

Exciting new research has also begun in the areas of brain imaging and neurosurgery. Ongoing research will test the hypothesis that FM is caused by an interpretative defect in the central nervous system that brings about abnormal pain perception. Medical researchers have just begun to untangle the truths about this life-altering disease.

• OBGYN.net Women's Health Conditions & Procedures AF
  • A resource page for those suffering with the mysterious disorder of Fibromyalgia. Resources, organizations and links to other sufferers. ...
• Fibromyalgia Network
  • Educational materials on Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), such as coping techniques, treatments, research studies, medical journal listings, and more.
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