Fibromyalgia is Most Common in Women Ages 20 to 50

Fibromyalgia, like Chronic Pain Syndrome, is a syndrome.  What is a syndrome?  It’s a series of symptoms that occur together but the cause is not known.  The symptoms are associated so that with the occurrence of one, a doctor can predict the occurrence of other symptoms or sings.  So, in Fibromyalgia vs Chronic Pain Syndrome, both have unknown causes.

Both syndromes also have long-term pain anywhere or everywhere in the body.  Fibromyalgia Syndrome has the added symptoms of what feels like joint tenderness, and/or tenderness in the muscles and tendons.

Like Chronic Pain Syndrome, Fibromyalgia may be triggered or caused by a virus, an injury, or an abnormal pain response.  The other main difference in Fibromyalgia vs Chronic Pain Syndrome is that the latter seems to affect the elderly more, and the former affects more women 20 to 50 than any other segment of the population.

Other symptoms of fibromyalgia are fatigue and can also include headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, and numbness in hands and feet.

The easiest way to describe what this disorder means is to describe it as overall pain and tenderness that lasts for months on end.  The American College of Rheumatology provides the standard of diagnosis for Fibromyalgia Syndrome, and provides a tenderness map of points on the body that exist in patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

Pain and tenderness are the conditions that diagnose Fibromyalgia Syndrome, but other may exist as well.  It’s estimated that about 5% of women have the disorder, and the ratio of women to men with Fibromyalgia Syndrome is nine to one.  It’s considered a functional disorder, which means it pretty much scrambles the normal functioning of a bodily process.  It doesn’t mean a person with Fibromyalgia Syndrome can carry on normally in daily life as if the disorder didn’t exist.  It’s not like saying a functioning alcoholic.

People with Fibromyalgia Syndrome have a low threshold to pain, or you could say an increased overall sensitization of the central nervous system.  This sensitization causes the person to receive an increase in the processing of pain stimuli.  It’s like the body is working harder to make the person feel more intensely any pain, even the slightest bit of pain.