The title of this article may seem, on the surface, insulting to anyone who has had to cope with the complaints associated with fibromyalgia. However, it's good to ask the question, even if only for the purpose of answering the critics, i.e. those who doubt the existence of fibromyalgia and assign its symptomology to the realm of psychiatric illness.
Is fibromyalgia real? This question, no doubt, gets asked for a number of understandable and simple reasons. One: the vast majority of individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia are of one gender; they are female. Two: a high percentage of fibromyalgia patients are concurrently treated for affective illnesses such as anxiety disorder and depression. Three: to date, the etiology of fibromyalgia is unclear since there seems to be no clear and definable cause for the illness (which is why fibromyalgia is referred to as a syndrome, rather than a disorder).
However, regardless of these facts and the mystery that still surrounds this condition, medical research is increasingly bringing more light to bear on the question, Is fibromyalgia real?. And the answer would seem to be yes. What does this research show? With regard to the chief characteristic of fibromyalgia, it shows quite a bit. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans given to fibromyalgia patients indicate that FMS patients have a heightened response to pain stimuli. That is, individuals with fibromyalgia seem to experience pain far out of proportion to what would be considered normal.
What accounts for this? According to Dr Perricone (of The Perricone Prescrition), a pain neurotransmitter called substance P exists in abnormally high levels in the brains of fibromyalgia patients. Additionally, research is finding that the sleep difficulties routinely reported by FMS patients may be linked to the pain they experience.
Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome often fail to achieve sufficient amounts of stage 4, or delta, sleep. Yet it is at this deep level of sleep that the pituitary gland secretes human growth hormone and the body engages in a restorative process. Can a lack of deep level, restorative sleep be an originating factor behind FMS pain? This has been suggested more than once.
Doubtless, it may be a number of years before fibromyalgia syndrome is more completed understood. However, many signs, and ongoing research, indicate that the condition is not psychiatric in nature, but, rather, can be tied to a physical origin.
The author of this article is Tim Moore, who also publishes a list of commonly asked Questions about Disability Issues.
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