Fibromyalgia Research Paper

Words: 526
Pages: 3

The Mysterious Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic, widespread pain condition affecting the musculoskeletal system. It does not radiate from a distinct region of the body. This condition often considered to be related to arthritis, but not like arthritis, it does not cause inflammation to the joints. The term that was used for the same exact condition was fibrositis, but later named Fibromyalgia in the 1990s. The cause of this disease is still unknown, making it one of the medically unexplained illnesses.
According to Blumenstiel and Eich (as cited in Morewitz, 2006), the condition may be caused by a number of genetic, central nervous system, muscular, and psychological factors. Some say intense physical activities/physical trauma, climate changes and stressful events lead to painful episodes. Nevertheless, the etiology is still not well understood and clinical tests does not always coincide with the patient’s self-reported impairment, making fibromyalgia a very controversial disorder. This issue is being heated up with the fact that social factors might have a great impact to this pain syndrome to the extent of patients seeking for disability compensation.
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Widespread pain and the specific tender points makes it different from others. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has a certain criteria that have been very useful in guiding researches about this condition. There are no actual physical discovery or abnormalities in the test results with patients with FMS. Aside from widespread pain, people with fibromyalgia experience non-pain symptoms as well. According to Hazlett, Haynes and Neeck (as cited in Johnson, 2008), morning stiffness, nonrestorative sleep, headache, numbness, chilliness, low blood pressure, mood and cognitive problems are few of the non-pain symptoms a person with FMS may