Fibromyalgia, physical and psychological aspects: 107 cases

Fibromyalgia syndrome which is characterized by, widespread musculoskeletal pain, sleep disturbance, fatigue, morning stiffness and tenderness at specific sites is frequently associated with affective dysfunction. The aim of this study is to evaluate patients with fibromyalgia both physically and psychologically. Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, who were admitted to Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation are studied. Of the 107 patients, 96 were female and 11 male. In all patients, tender points, factors modulating the symptoms, associated features, laboratory and radiologic findings were determined. We performed Turkish version of Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire and Zung's Self Rating Depression Scale in patients to evaluate them psychologically. In our study group, the number of tender points varied between 11 and 18. We observed the folio wing associated disturbances: sleep disturbance in 65%, fatigue in 93%, morning stiffness in 72%, subjective paresthesias in 75%, subjective soft tissue swelling in 45%, anxiety in 57%, headache in 73%, irritable bowel syndrome in 43%, widespread pain in 42%, sicca symptoms in 18%, urinary urgency in 24% and dysmenorrhea in 23% (rates). The psychological evaluation of the patients revealed that 43% of them had depressive symptoms and 25% had obsessive-compulsive sings. In conclusion we demonstrated that, besides physical findings, fibromyalgia syndrome is also associated with several psychological symptoms