Fibromyalgia Startling Evidence of Neuropathy (Nerve Damage) in Fibromyalgia

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Complete_neuron_cell_diagra.jpg


Study finds reduced nerve density (small fiber neuropathy) in the cornea of the eyes in FM patients. Why is this big news? Because it suggests that small fiber neuropathy may be present in nerves all over the body - not just in the skin as has previously been found. They apparently went after the nerve fibers in the eye because they are particularly dense there. I'm trying to get in touch with Martinez-Lavin. He's the author of When Stress Causes Distress - about FM. He believes sympathetic nervous system activation is a key player in FM.


Small fiber neuropathy in women with fibromyalgia. an in vivo assessment using corneal confocal bio-microscopy

Abstract:

Objective: A consistent line of investigation suggests that fibromyalgia is a neuropathic pain syndrome. This outlook has been recently reinforced by several controlled studies which describe decreased small nerve fiber density in skin biopsies of patients with fibromyalgia. The cornea receives the densest small fiber innervation of the body. Corneal confocal bio-microscopy is a new noninvasive method to evaluate small nerve fiber morphology. Our objective was to assess corneal small nerve fiber morphology in patients with fibromyalgia, and to associate corneal nerve microscopic features with neuropathic pain descriptors and other fibromyalgia symptoms.

Methods: We studied 17 female patients with fibromyalgia and 17 age-matched healthy control subjects. All the participants completed different questionnaires in regards to the symptoms of fibromyalgia including a neuropathic pain survey. A central corneal thickness scan was obtained with a confocal microscope. Nerve measurements were made by a single ophthalmologist without knowledge of the clinical diagnosis. Stromal nerve thickness was defined as the mean value between the widest and the narrowest portion of each analyzed stromal nerve. Corneal sub-basal plexus nerve density was also assessed.

Results: Patients with fibromyalgia had stromal nerve thickness of 5.0 ± 1.0 micrometers (mean ± standard deviation) significantly different from control’s values (6.1 ± 1.3) p = 0.01. Patients also had decreased sub-basal plexus nerve density per square millimeter (85 ± 29) vs. 107 ± 26 of controls p = 0.02. When controls and patients were grouped together, there was an association between stromal nerve slenderness and neuropathic pain descriptors (Fischer’s exact test p = 0.007).

Conclusion: Women suffering from fibromyalgia have thinner corneal stromal nerves and diminished sub-basal plexus nerve density when compared to healthy controls. Nerve scarcity is associated with neuropathic pain descriptors. Small fiber neuropathy may play a role in the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia pain. Corneal confocal microscopy could become a useful test in the study of patients with fibromyalgia.

Source: Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism, March 21, 2015. By Manuel Ramírez, MD, Laura-Aline Martínez-Martínez, Everardo Hernández-Quintela, MD, Jorge Velazco-Casapía, MD, Angélica Vargas, MD and Manuel Martínez-Lavín, MD. Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera and Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, México.
 

Sheryl

New Member
I have had "idiopathic " neuropathy in my left foot for years. And parts of both legs are numb. I do belive ALL parts of our bodies are affected because there are so many strange tag-alongs with this illness.
 

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