Researchers Find Neurological Abnormality in Fibromyalgia
Scientists at the University of Florida's College of Medicine and Brain Institute have found an abnormal central nervous system reaction in FM patients the body magnifies ordinary repetitive stimulation into an experience of crippling pain. Dr. Roland Staud presented these findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, and was recently awarded an NIH grant of nearly $800,000 to continue his studies. His team theorizes that an injury to the central nervous system or an infectious agent might be responsible for triggering FM in people who have inherited susceptibility.
They found the abnormality by repeatedly placing warm plates on the hands and arms of FM patients and healthy controls. The healthy subjects felt the plates but did not perceive them as painful. FM subjects found the sensation magnified with each repetition into an experience of crippling and unbearable pain. "When a sensation signal reaches the spinal cord, the signal can be omitted, changed or augmented," Staud said. "If it is augmented, then something that is innocuous, such as light pressure on the skin, can be perceived as painful stimulus."
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