Fibromyalgia 1997

Who gets Fibromyalgia? Clinical research[1] in Israel showed a thirteenfold probability after cervical spine injury compared with leg fracture.

Given that malfunctioning of the Sympathetic Nervous System appears to be involved in the production of both the muscle tenderness of Fibromyalgia (Medical Litigation News Volume 1, Issue 2) and the headaches of Late Whiplash (Medical Litigation News Volume 2, Issue 2), subtle damage to the Sympathetic nerves in the neck during acceleration-deceleration injury could explain the link.

PRACTICE POINT

Injury to the Cervical Sympathetic Chain could explain the common occurrence of Fibromyalgia after Cervical Whiplash

Another team at Ben Gurion University[2] found that a fifth of sufferers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder fulfilled criteria for Fibromyalgia. The researchers proposed that much of the Chronic Pain common in PTSD was undiagnosed Fibromyalgia.

PRACTICE POINT

The Chronic Pain of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder could be undiagnosed Fibromyalgia

Who seeks compensation for Fibromyalgia? A US team found[3] that it was not the severity of symptoms or functional limitations but a perception that the illness was caused by physical trauma (not emotional) which characterised compensation claimants.

Another US team[4] looked at the mode of onset. Despite similar physical findings, and controlling for compensation status, so-called Post-Traumatic Fibromyalgia patients suffered more pain, disability, life-interference and emotional distress than those who had not experienced preceding trauma. They similarly were more likely to be consuming narcotics and to have tried a variety of pain-killing alternatives.

PRACTICE POINT

Client’s perception of a physical traumatic cause of Fibromyalgia has a major adverse effect on severity of symptoms and degree of disability

As part of a study[5] of Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Canadian psychiatrists analysed the factors in patients which caused physicians to experience patients as frustrating. Somatisation, perception of having no control over illness, and lifetime experience of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder accounted for half the factors.

PRACTICE POINT

Strained relationships with care-givers may be interfering with the recovery Fibromyalgia claimants