Pathophysiology Associated With Fibromyalgia

Description: Wood PB, Glabus MF, Simpson R, Patterson JC 2nd J Pain. 2009;10:609-618 Article Summary Careful research has demonstrated that fibromyalgia (FM) is a clinical problem that involves much more than pain. The disorder is now increasingly recognized to involve cognitive dysfunction, which is variously characterized by difficulty with short-term recall (working memory), difficulty encoding new information when distracted (multitasking), and slowed speed of mental processing and word-finding. In addition to pain and cognitive symptoms, perceptual disturbances are also recognized, including disturbance in the ability to make figure/ground distinctions, loss of depth perception, and an inability to focus vision and attention. The symptom range of fibromyalgia compels us to pay more attention to this problem with the hope that increased knowledge will lead to better treatment strategies.