Fibromyalgia & Associated Disorders: From Pain to Chronic Suffering, From Subjective Hypersensitivity to Hypersensitivity Syndrome, 2021, Maugars

The concept of fibromyalgia has progressed to achieve a certain consensus regarding the definition of the condition. We summarize what is known in 2020, be it in terms of diagnosis, with the criteria that have changed over the years, or at the level of the psychological profile, via the notions of “catastrophizing” and “coping” and post-traumatic syndrome.

The importance of fatigue and sleep disorders is underlined, with the chronological sequence of post-traumatic syndrome, chronic fatigue, and then amplification of the pain and the onset of multiple associated symptoms. The etiopathogenic debate has been enriched thanks to neuro-imaging data to discover the start of the central neurological signature. The many associated symptoms are reanalyzed in the context of so-called sister conditions which form sometimes more or less separate entities, such as chronic fatigue syndrome or restless legs syndrome for example.

What these conditions have in common is hypersensitivity, not just to pain, but also to all exteroceptive stimuli, from deep sensitivity in the neuro-vegetative system, the sense organs and certain functions of the central nervous system, to the psychological aspects and sleep control.

In summary, it is possible to define fibromyalgia as a cognitive disorder of cortical integration of chronic pain, with amplification of painful and sensory nociception, decrease in the threshold for the perception of pain, and persistence of a stimulus that maintains the process in chronicity. Fibromyalgia is part of a group of chronic hypersensitivity syndromes of central origin, with a very wide range of means of expression.

Open access, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.666914/full

 

Pseudoscientific masturbation.

 

"The long- and very long-term progression is poorly known, but it can be noted that there are few or even no cases of fibromyalgia after the age of 70 years, even if the condition has existed for a long time."

That is one of many examples of misleading or false assertions in this review article with some theory tacked on at the end.





My doctor visit last week: "How is your sleep?"

Fine, I said, after 24 years of paring down my life to adjust to fibro, I am able to sleep well (usually) with the help of medication each night.

"So, I don't think you have fibromyalgia then."

 

So I guess that, at age 80, I no longer have fibromyalgia. Tell that to the areas of my body that cannot tolerate pressure without significant pain.

 

I guess the authors don't understand the word "chronic."