Inserm publishes a collective expert report on fibromyalgia, the main symptom of which is bodily pain.
- It is important to prevent drug misuse, in particular by avoiding the prescription of opioids for diffuse pain.
- To better manage pain, Inserm researchers also recommend emphasizing physical activity.
- Experts also recommend not to distinguish to date a juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome in children and adolescents suffering from diffuse chronic pain.
Pain everywhere, all the time. To better manage the pain caused by fibromyalgia, Inserm publishes a new collective expert reportbased on the analysis of 1,600 scientific papers published over the past ten years.
Avoid prescription opioids for diffuse pain
Fibromyalgia, or fibromyalgia syndrome, is a form of diffuse chronic pain associated with other disabling symptoms such as fatigue, sleep and mood disorders, or even cognitive disorders. Between 1.4 and 2.2% of French people are affected, but the absence of a specific biological marker makes the diagnosis difficult to make.
If medications can prove effective against certain symptoms (pain, but also sleep disorders, anxiety or depression, etc.), “it is important to prevent drug misuse, in particular by avoiding the prescription of opioids for diffuse pain, especially in children and adolescents”, the researchers point out.
Focus on physical activity
To better manage pain, scientists also recommend emphasizing physical activity, even if it may seem counterintuitive. Early movement through appropriate physical activity is one of the central aspects of care in order, among other things, to prevent or limit physical deconditioning (psychophysiological process leading to physical inactivity and withdrawal, Editor’s note). “This is why the expert report suggests extending to fibromyalgia the recommendations made in the collective expert report from Inserm on the practice of physical activity in chronic diseases. Such a physical activity program must be supervised regularly by a health professional”, write the experts.
Do not distinguish to date a juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome
Another major expert recommendation: develop and pursue quality research on generalized chronic pain. Furthermore, it is important “to strengthen investigations in young people suffering from diffuse chronic pain and research on the origin and consequences of such pain occurring in childhood and adolescence”. Experts also recommend not to distinguish to date a juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome in children and adolescents suffering from diffuse chronic pain.
Multidisciplinary care
If fibromyalgia is above all associated with fluctuating diffuse chronic pain, a large majority of patients also suffer from persistent fatigue, concentration and attention difficulties and physical deconditioning. Up to 85% of patients present with anxiety-depressive symptoms and 95% of them complain of sleep disorders.
“However, the expertise shows that fibromyalgia is very heterogeneous in its clinical expression with great variability in its severity. It also reports the impact of fibromyalgia syndrome on all dimensions of quality of life and economic cost and social importance associated with it”, report the Inserm researchers, who recommend multidisciplinary care.
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