ABSTRACT
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) as a disorder has more than one sign or symptom and has the unfortunate problem of physicians and/or entire countries/cultures who either believe in the reality of the disorder or not. Medicine has dealt with the problem of widespread musculoskeletal and soft tissue pain problems for centuries without having any definitive idea of specific diagnosis. FMS is a common condition that has been associated with significant disability. Patients with FMS complain of widespread pain, frequently stating that they “hurt all over.” Most of these patients also complain of stiffness, pain in the cervical region, the low back, and the major joints, as well as pain in their hands and feet and chest wall. While there may be a higher occurrence of FMS with these disorders, the actual mechanistic relationship between them is unknown. Patients with FMS have psychophysiological evidence of hyperalgesia to mechanical, thermal, and electrical stimulation.
