Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 Feb;37(4):256-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2007.04.008. Epub 2007 Jun 14.

Hypothesis: bipolar illness with complaints of chronic musculoskeletal pain is a form of pseudofibromyalgia

Daniel J Wallace  1 , Jennifer Gotto
Affiliations
Review

Hypothesis: bipolar illness with complaints of chronic musculoskeletal pain is a form of pseudofibromyalgia

Daniel J Wallace et al. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2008 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To present a hypothesis accounting for the differential response of bipolar patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM) to standard therapies, taking into account the markedly statistically significant increase of its prevalence in the syndrome.

Methods: All articles relating to the heading bipolar illness AND fibromyalgia as well as bipolar illness AND pain were searched using PubMed and Medline since 1966. The prevalence of bipolar illness in our last 100 FM consultations was reviewed.

Results: Ten percent of our 100 most recent FM consultations included patients with an established diagnosis of bipolar illness. They had little if no response to traditional FM interventions and appeared to have vague and uncertain tender point examinations.

Conclusions: Bipolar illness may be associated with a form of chronic musculoskeletal pain complaints that is not FM. Studies into the role that neurotransmitters play in bipolar patients with complaints of musculoskeletal discomfort deserve further exploration.

PubMed Disclaimer