Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Fibromyalgia was a condition first noticed and described in the early 1900’s by Sir William Gowers.  Over the next seven decades more physicians were noticing similar findings and in 1987 a diagnostic code for Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) was instituted along with a consensus of diagnostic criteria to meet that diagnosis.  The consensus was that 11 out of an agreed upon 18 diagnostic points would be tender to less than approximately 2 lbs. of finger pressure.  These bilateral points were the inner knee, hips, gluteus muscles, trapezius muscles, lower cervical vertebra, lateral epicondyle, second rib anteriorly, occiput bone, and supraspinatus muscles. 

In 1992, The Copenhagen Declaration added that FMS was a painful, non-articular condition.  It is often associated with persistent fatigue, non-refreshing sleep and that women were 10-20 times more likely to suffer from it than men.  It was also associated with headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, cold sensitivity, patterns of numbness and tingling, exercise intolerance and complaints of weakness.  Depression and anxiety are also associated with the diagnosis.  Keep reading