History of Fibromyalgia

For centuries, there have been reports of people with symptoms similar to fibromyalgia, some as early as the Old Testament's Job, who complained of symptoms having a striking resemblance to fibromyalgia. Many theories have come and gone over the centuries as to the cause and treatment of the disorder.

For years, the problem was considered a muscle disorder due to the symptoms of muscle pain. However, research could not find any problems with the muscles other than the pain. In the early 1820s in Scotland, the symptoms of aches and pains, muscle stiffness, tiredness, and difficulty sleeping, with tender points namely in the neck, back, shoulders, hands, and pelvic girdle were first identified. The symptoms were believed to be of a psychosomatic nature and labeled “muscular rheumatism.” In the mid 1850s, the famous Florence Nightingale became ill with symptoms of muscle pain and fatigue strongly resembling those of fibromyalgia. She never fully recovered. These symptoms caused her to be bedridden most of the rest of her life, until she died in 1910. At one time, fibromyalgia was thought to perhaps be an autoimmune disorder; however, research could find no disturbance in the immune system. It was not until 1976 that the medical field finally gave it the name fibromyalgia, just to have a more identifiable name for its symptoms. New laboratory tests and the brain imaging technology of the twenty first century have proved that fibromyalgia is caused by a malfunction of the central nervous system.

With the validity of fibromyalgia as a real physical disorder, new research is on the horizon to pinpoint the cause of the central nervous system malfunction and how it can be appropriately treated.