|
 |
Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) Defined Fibromyalgia is a clinical syndrome defined by chronic widespread muscular pain, fatigue, achiness around joints, tenderness and may often include heightened sensitivity of the skin (that may make the touch of clothing painful). Many people with fibromyalgia also experience additional symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder, cognitive and memory problems (often called “fibro fog”), temporomandibular joint disorder, pelvic pain, restless leg syndrome, sensitivity to noise and temperature, and anxiety and depression. These symptoms can vary in intensity and, like the pain of fibromyalgia, wax and wane over time. (Source: American College of Rheumatology).
The direct cause of fibromyalgia is uncertain, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that chronic emotional, psychological and/or physical stress play a primary role in the development of FMS. Inmedix believes, as do other prominent FMS researchers, that chronic stress causes physiological changes in certain brain centers, including the hippocampus and locus ceruleus which in turn reduce the brain’s ability to maintain normal autonomic balance of homeostasis. These regulatory functions are dopamine dependent. Significantly reduced brain dopamine synthesis causes many symptoms including those associated with Fibromyalgia. Both ropinirole and pramipexole are dopamine agonists which can, over time, restore the brain’s ability to produce a normal level of dopamine, restore autonomic regulatory function and reverse fibromyalgia. Conservative estimates place the U.S. FMS market between 4 and 6 million however, experts believe the true number is closer to 10 million.1 An estimated 80% of those diagnosed are women, most of them working age, so FMS has obvious consequences in terms of employment and family stress. FMS also occurs in all other age groups as well as in men, and it exists in all races worldwide2. It is estimated that Fibromyalgia affects 2-4% of the population worldwide.
|
