History of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that affects muscles and skeletal tissue. It is called a syndrome because it involves a group of problems, not just one individual disease. Persons suffering from this syndrome experience pain throughout their body since muscle and connective tissue wrap around the majority of the bones in the body. This syndrome also has been linked to other symptoms such as problems with bowels, breathing and swallowing.

The history of fibromyalgia dates back to biblical days. In Job 7:3-4; 30:16-17, Job describes many agonizing nights of pain and suffering where he could not sleep. He said he felt as if something was gnawing away at his bones. Florence Nightingale also made accounts during the Crimean War, which lasted from. She wrote that she was in so much pain and fatigue that she became bedridden. Initially technology was not advanced enough to tie these symptoms to any causes in the body and doctors begin to believe that maybe the pain experienced was a result of a psychiatric or psychosomatic disorder. This illness took on many names over the years before fibromyalgia was settled upon.

It wasn’t until 1990 that American physicians came up with a set of criteria to diagnose fibromyalgia. More advanced technology came in the 21st century which proved the illness to be a physical disorder caused by a malfunctioning of the central nervous system through brain scans. Unfortunately a cure has not yet been developed but with technology finding the routes and pinpointing the location of the malfunction, which leads to fibromyalgia, scientists are continuing to develop treatments.