Central Pain
Central Pain chronic widespread pain
Widespread pain occurs in 2 out of 10 chronic pain patients.
Symptoms and Causes
It can be
- Total body pain
- Pain in both arms and legs
- Opposite arms and legs.
Fibromyalgia and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is one such disease.
It can flare up due to
- Stress
- Infection
- Reduction in immune system or
- Simply due to changes in weather.
Associated features:
- Mainly females especially young dynamic age group
- Intolerance to certain food stuffs (Irritable bowel syndrome)
- Chronic fatigue
- Irritable bladder
- Peripheral nerve pain
- Poor sleep pattern, memory loss and clumsiness
Diagnosis and Treatment Options
11 out of 18 tender points is the classic diagnosis, however the lack of classic tender points does not rule out this syndrome.
Treatment options:
- Oral medications
- Intravenous infusions: maximum benefit 3-6 months can be repeated 3 monthly
- Western Acupuncture (dry needling) – for flare ups
- Tender point injections
- Support for distressed patients is vital – and talking to a trained team who understand the nature of the disease and disease process is invaluable.