Fibromyalgia Is Not a Rheumatologic Disease Anymore Medscape

Description: In 1990, The American College of Rheumatology established diagnostic criteria based on the scoring of 18 potential tender points.[2] It turns out, however, that these tender points have nothing to do with fibromyalgia. Biopsy of the tender points shows no pathologic changes, and numerous studies have not shown any abnormalities in the musculoskeletal tissues that are painful. Current evidence points to a neurologic disorder of central pain processing.[3] Fibromyalgia patients experience pain differently and have lower pain thresholds compared to normals. Research has demonstrated that various pain-related processes in the brain and spinal cord are abnormal in fibromyalgia.[4] But more work remains to be done.