Fibromyalgia suffers complain of aches all over their body, they have poor sleep patterns, are mentally ‘foggy’ and have tight stiff muscles. They are prone to headaches, dizziness, numbness and tingling, poor concentration and numerous other symptoms. Part of the difficulty in diagnosing fibromyalgia stems from an overlap of other conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome and lowered thyroid function. The American College of Rheumatology classifies fibromyalgia on the basis of a number of criteria that include Pain in at least 11 of 18 specific body checkpoints (which correspond with prominent tendon attachment points Joint inflammation is generally not observable and blood tests for inflammatory conditions are usually negative Poor Sleep Fatigue Poor mental capabilities Lowered mood (although it is considered that depression and anxiety are more often the result than the cause of fibromyalgia). Fibromyalgia was once considered to be an inflammatory condition and later a psychiatric one but neither of these appears to be likely. Scientific evidence appears to favour a physiological aspect to fibromyalgia as traditional and complementary medicine success rates point to the fact that it may be primarily a physiological condition. A current leading theory concerns the lack of deep restorative sleep in fibromyalgia sufferers. Patients often comment that not getting enough sleep or even just staying up later can trigger worse symptoms the following day. Fibromyalgia –type symptoms can be produced in control groups of normal volunteers merely by depriving them of deep sleep for a few days. In addition, low levels of growth hormone have been found in fibromyalgia sufferers that may be significant in maintaining good muscle condition. There is some indication that fibromyalgia may be related to certain immune system changes. The immune system responds as though fighting a virus, rather than an autoimmune kind although no virus has been demonstrated and there is no indication that fibromyalgia is contagious. Scientific disturbance of deep sleep in volunteers can causes similar changes to the immune system which may provide some evidence that the relationship between fibromyalgia and immune system changes may be of secondary importance. Further evidence linking fibromyalgia to sleep patterns comes from a study by Moldofsky et al (1) which produced similar symptoms by depriving healthy volunteers of sleep for three consecutive nights. It thus appears that most fibromyalgia sufferers cannot repair their muscles and connective tissues due to disturbed sleep. (1) Moldofsky et al. “Musculoskeletal symptoms and non REM sleep disturbance in patients with ‘fibrositis syndrome’ and healthy patients”. Psychosomatic Medicine. Vol 37

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