Systemic Conditions and Connective Tissue Diseases

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.

The defining symptoms of fibromyalgia are chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and heightened pain in response to tactile pressure Other symptoms may include tingling of the skin prolonged muscle spasms, weakness in the limbs, nerve pain, muscle twitching, palpitations, and functional bowel disturbances.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple chemical sensitivity syndromes (MCS), myofascial pain syndrome (MPS), and other conditions form a family of overlapping syndromes.

The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown. However, several hypotheses have been developed including "central sensitization". This theory proposes that people with fibromyalgia have a lower threshold for pain because of increased reactivity of pain-sensitive nerve cells in the spinal cord or brain

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome with multiple symptoms that commonly occur together, including widespread pain, decreased pain threshold or tender points, incapacitating fatigue, and anxiety or depression. Most laboratory tests are not very useful by themselves for diagnosing fibromyalgia.

Poor lifestyles including being a smoker, obesity and lack of physical activity may increase the risk of an individual developing fibromyalgia. Physical and Psychological approaches could help in managing the pain and also acts as a tool to supress the secondary problems caused by the pain.

Genetic factors can explain a significant amount of the variability in the perception of pain. Fibromyalgia syndrome and related conditions are syndromes characterized by generalized pain sensitivity as well as a constellation of other symptoms. Family studies show a strong familial aggregation of FMS and related conditions, suggesting the importance of genetic factors in the development of these conditions.

Novel approaches could be of any individual treatment or a group of complex factors that could treat and manage the pain caused by the chronic pain syndrome. The life style, food habits, drug abuse, psychological approaches also key factors to help in management of chronic pain.

Interventional pain management or interventional pain medicine is a subspecialty of the medical specialty, pain management, devoted to the use of invasive techniques such as facet joint injections, nerve, neuroaugmentation, vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, nucleoplasty, endoscopic discectomy, percutaneous spine fusion and implantable drug delivery systems.

Developments in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder have led to improvements in treatment, which include prescription medication, behavioural intervention and exercise. Indeed, integrated treatment plans that incorporate medication, patient education, aerobic exercise and cognitive-behavioural therapy have been shown to be effective in alleviating pain and other fibromyalgia-related symptoms.

Advances in understanding of the growing number of pathophysiologic mechanisms that underlie the generation of pain and the influence of the brain on the experience of pain led to the investigation of numerous compounds for treating pain. Improved knowledge of the subjective nature of pain, the variations in the measurement of pain, the mind-body placebo effect and the impact of differences in the conduct of a clinical trial on the outcome have changed approaches to design and implement studies. Careful consideration of how these concepts affect the choice of study population, the randomization and blinding process, the measurement and collection of data, and the analysis and interpretation of results should improve the quality of clinical trials for potential pain therapies.