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Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, and mood issues. It increases painful sensations by affecting the way brain processes pain signals. Arthritis or an infection raises chances of fibromyalgia. Emotional or physical abuse can contributes to the condition.
Using positron-emission topography brain imaging, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that glial cells-the central nervous system’s immune cells-are activated in the brains of patients with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome that causes extensive pain in the muscles and joints, severe fatigue, insomnia and cognitive difficulties.
The higher pain sensitivity that is characteristic of the syndrome has been related to functional and structural alterations of brain regions associated with pain processing. Patients with fibromyalgia had elevated levels of certain inflammatory substances (cytokines) in the cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting inflammation of the central nervous system.
Using modern PET (positron-emission topography) brain imaging has now been able to show that the central nervous system’s immune cells, called glial cells, are activated and thus give rise to inflammation of the brain. The brains of the people with the condition are known to have an impaired ability to dampen pain signals, which means that things that are normally painless cause considerable pain.