Fibromyalgia - Highlights

Highlights

Risk Factors:

As many as 6 million Americans have fibromyalgia. Risk factors include being female, having had difficult experiences in childhood, having a psychological vulnerability to stress, and coming from a very stressful culture or environment.

Fibromyalgia and PTSD:

Studies have reported a greater number of severe experiences of abuse in patients with fibromyalgia, compared with the general population. This suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or chronic stress may play a strong role in the development of fibromyalgia in some patients.

Drug Research News

• Milnacipran, an antidepressant not yet approved in the U.S., is in Phase III trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Though results from the first Phase III trial did not show a significant benefit for this drug, the manufacturer is undergoing a second, longer, and larger trial.
• Study results, presented in November 2006, show pregabalin cut fibromyalgia pain by at least 50% in 63% of patients, and the effect was long-lasting.
• Pramipexole, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease and restless legs syndrome, may cut fibromyalgia-related pain symptoms in half, according to a study published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

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Research:

• A 2004 report, published in the journal Sleep, found that sleep disorders that cause breathing problems are common in women with fibromyalgia.
• Areas in the brain that are responsible for the sensation of pain are different in fibromyalgia patients from the same areas in healthy people, according to research published in the December 2006 issue of Current Pain and Headache Reports.

Review Date: 12/15/2006
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital