Li, Nathan, Cooper, Joshua, Fleming, Tanisha et al. · Psychopharmacology bulletin · 2026 · DOI
This article reviews what doctors and researchers currently understand about fibromyalgia, a chronic condition causing widespread pain and many other symptoms. While the exact causes remain unclear, scientists are finding potential clues in brain imaging, genes, and gut bacteria. The article explains how doctors diagnose fibromyalgia and what treatment options are available, emphasizing that managing it often requires a team approach with different specialists.
Understanding fibromyalgia is clinically important for ME/CFS researchers because the conditions share overlapping symptoms, unclear pathophysiology, and similar diagnostic challenges. This review consolidates current concepts that may inform differential diagnosis, biomarker research, and treatment approaches relevant to both conditions.
This is a review article, not a primary research study, so it does not present new experimental data or prove causation for any fibromyalgia mechanism. The article synthesizes existing literature and does not establish which proposed pathophysiological mechanisms are definitively responsible for fibromyalgia.
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