The Prevalence of Fibromyalgia in Other Chronic Pain Conditions

[Marco]

You may or may not like this.

While largely written from the perspective of Fibromylalgia it refers to Fibro as one of a number of 'Central Sensitivity Syndromes' which include 'CFS'.


The Prevalence of Fibromyalgia in Other Chronic Pain Conditions

Muhammad B. Yunus *

Section of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, One Illini Drive, Peoria, IL 61605, USA

Abstract

Central sensitivity syndromes (CSS) include fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), irritable bowel syndrome, temporomandibular disorder, restless legs syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, and other similar chronic painful conditions that are based on central sensitization (CS). CSS are mutually associated. In this paper, prevalence of FMS among other members of CSS has been described. An important recent recognition is an increased prevalence of FMS in other chronic pain conditions with structural pathology, for example, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoarthritis, diabetes mellitus, and inflammatory bowel disease. Diagnosis and proper management of FMS among these diseases are of crucial importance so that unwarranted use of such medications as corticosteroids can be avoided, since FMS often occurs when RA or SLE is relatively mild.

Some of it is not so good - e.g. the recommended use of CBT;

and some quite a lot better - e.g. :

Such nomenclatures as medically unexplained symptoms or MUS and somatization disorder (SD) are equally fallacious and detrimental to scientific progress, and statements of bias. Such a bias impedes empathetic and proper patient care. By DSM IV-TR definition, in SD laboratory tests are remarkable for the absence of findings to support subjective symptoms. This is obviously not true of CSS diseases as has been adequately discussed [7]. CSS are medical conditions based on objective pathology of neurochemistry and neuroimaging that explain many symptoms of CSS diseases [7]. So, terms like MUS seem to sprout in a fertile mind of bias. The problem is that MUS represents illness and illness is a second class citizen in the land of medicine.

All in all quite a sympathetic treatment but one that relies on the conception of all these syndromes as arising from central (over) sensitisation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3236313/?tool=pubmed

 

[sianrecovery]

interesting paper, thanks for posting. I think we are going to see a lot of stuff on the same theme, as the time and costs of treating long term illness and long term pain spiral

 

[Mya Symons]

They also find higher rates of Fibromyalgia in persons with viruses like HTLV, AIDS and hepatitis.

Higher prevalence of fibromyalgia in patients infected with human T cell lymphotropic virus type I.
Boris A Cruz, Bernadete Catalan-Soares, and Fernando Proietti
+ Author Affiliations

Rheumatology Department, Biocor Instituto, Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brazil. boriscruz@terra.com.br
Abstract

OBJECTIVE:. Inflammatory rheumatic conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and Sjgren's syndrome have been reported in individuals infected with human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). Other chronic lymphotropic virus infections such as hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus are associated with fibromyalgia (FM). There are no reports about the association between HTLV-I infection and FM. We evaluated the association between FM and HTLV-I infection. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study with prevalent cases. Ex-blood donation candidates with HTLV-I infection from a blood bank cohort, and healthy blood donors as a control group, were submitted to rheumatologic evaluation to compare the prevalence of FM. The following covariables were also evaluated: other rheumatic diseases, age, sex, personal income, level of education, and depression. RESULTS: One hundred individuals with HTLV-I infection and 62 non-infected blood donors were studied. Thirty-eight (38%) HTLV-I infected individuals and 3 (4.8%) individuals from the control group presented the diagnosis of FM (OR 12.05, 95% CI 3.53-41.17). Other rheumatic diseases were also more prevalent in the infected group (37% vs 12.9%; OR 3.80, 95% CI 1.63-8.86). In multivariate analysis adjusted by the covariables, the association between HTLV-I and FM was statistically significant (OR 9.14, 95% CI 2.42-34.52). CONCLUSION: Our study shows a greater prevalence of FM in HTLV-I infected individuals, suggesting that FM may be associated with this viral infection.

I am completely baffled on why they still think Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will work. If Fibromyalgia is found with other viruses and autoimmune diseases, isn't it obvious that it is another PHYSICAL symptom, probably related to something going on with the immune system? What the heck is wrong with people? How do they jump from this conclusion to that?