Fibromyalgia and PPS
Question: What is the difference between PPS and fibromyalgia? The symptoms seem very similar.
Dr. Bruno’s Response: Fibromyalgia is a fancy new name for muscle and connective tissue pain, originally called "fibrositis" in 1820.
From the ICD-10 diagnostic classification, fibromyalgia is:
"An acute, subacute, or chronic painful state of muscles, subcutaneous tissues, ligaments, tendons, or fasciae caused by a number of agents such as trauma, strain, occupation, exposure, posture, infection, or arthritis. Fibromyalgia makes you feel tired and causes muscle pain and 'tender points.' tender points are places on the neck, shoulders, back, hips, arms or legs that hurt when touched." (1)
I remember reading Yunus' first paper on fibromyalgia 40-plus years ago. He wrote that if you reported pain when 10 out of 18 "tender points" on your back and pelvis were pressed, you had fibromyalgia. My first thought was the old doctor/patient joke:
Patient: "Doc, it hurts when you press."
Doctor: "OK. I won't press. You're cured!"
For example - If fibromyalgia is caused by trauma from:
surgeries,
strain from muscle weakness and overuse,
your stressful occupation,
cold exposure,
painful posture, or
arthritis
then every polio survivor should have it.
I couldn't understand how good old fibrositis - muscle and soft tissue pain described in 1820 - could become a new "disease" in 1976 until I read the terrible research on Lyrica, which backed into finding the drug an effective treatment. The FDA reported, "The total value of the market for fibromyalgia drugs was $1.2 billion, growing at an annual growth rate of 18.4% per year from 2007 to 2010". Why does it seem that it is it always better to make money on a "new" disease than to treat its causes?
For polio survivors, the cause of muscle and soft tissue pain should be identified and managed, not just diagnosed away.