Weather conditions and complaints in fibromyalgia.

Patients with musculoskeletal disorders, including fibromyalgia syndrome (FS), often state that weather conditions modulate their complaints. There have been a few studies concerning this issue, but the results appear to be contradictory. We tried to relate the subjective symptoms of pain, stiffness, sleep and mood in patients with FS to objective meteorological factors. Correlation analyses showed no relation between the subjective complaints and the meteorological factors. The symptoms pain, stiffness and fatigue, however, showed a strong intercorrelation.

Psychological aspects of fibromyalgia compared with chronic and nonchronic pain.

The description of psychological aspects of fibromyalgia are similar to those of other patients with chronic pain. Three groups, a chronic pain group (n = 99), a nonchronic pain group (n = 34) and a fibromyalgia group (n = 36) were compared, using a standardized interview and psychological questionnaires (SCL-90R, IBQ and CIPI). It appeared that the chronic pain group and the nonchronic pain group could be easily distinguished from each other with these variables. The scores of the fibromyalgia group and the chronic pain group were very similar. This leads to the conclusion that many psychological aspects of fibromyalgia can be considered as psychological aspects of chronic pain.

In vivo 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of tender points in patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome.

31P Magnetic Resonance-Spectroscopy was performed at the site of tender points in the trapezius muscle of patients with primary fibromyalgia syndrome. Earlier, in vitro studies have reported changes in the high energy phosphate-metabolism in biopsies taken from tender points of fibromyalgia patients. The observed alterations could not be confirmed with in vivo Magnetic Resonance-Spectroscopy.