title: Is fibromyalgia a distinct clinical syndrome?
abstract: The validity of the fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) as a distinct clinical entity has been challenged for several reasons. Many skeptics express concern about the subjective nature of chronic pain, the subjectivity of the tender point (TeP) examination, the lack of a gold standard laboratory test, and the absence of a clear pathogenic mechanism by which to define FMS. Another expressed concern has been the relative nature of the pain-distress relationship in the rheumatology clinic. The apparently continuous relationship between TePs and somatic distress across a variety of clinical disorders is said to argue against FMS as a separate clinical disorder. The most aggressive challenges of the FMS concept have been from legal defenses of insurance carriers motivated by economic concerns. Other forms of critique have presented as psychiatric dogma, uninformed posturing, suspicion of malingering, ignorance of nociceptive physiology, and occasionally have resulted from honest misunderstanding. It is not likely that a few paragraphs of data and logic will cause an unbeliever to change an ingrained opinion. Therefore, this review describes the clinical manifestations of FMS, responds to some of the theoretic arguments against it, and discusses some possible pathophysiologic mechanisms by which FMS may develop and persist as a unique syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, Mail Code 7868, The University of Texas Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rau
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D003710:Demography; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009619:Nociceptors / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013373:Substance P / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D013373:Substance P