Aha! Proof that fibromyalgia *is* a “real” disease

I can’t imagine how tiresome it must be for people who are living with fibromyalgia to know that there are people who don’t believe their disease exists. There they are, living with pain, fatigue and other medical problems, and people are telling them it’s in all their head.

Now, those with fibro may be able to fight back as researchers in France used an advanced imaging system called SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) to scan the brain of people with fibro. When the researchers examined the scanned images, they found that there were abnormalities in the brain where pain is processed.

This backs up findings of earlier studies that also found differences in blood flow to the brain in people who have fibro.

No-one wants to have a disease or syndrome like fibromyalgia, but if you do have it, it’s nice to know that research is getting closer to finding out more about the illness and with that, diagnosis will become easier and perhaps treatments won’t be far behind.

~~~~

Tags: chronic pain blog, pain blog, living with pain, fibromyalgia, fibro, SPECT, single photon emission computed tomography