Implications have been made that victims of FM are nuts and think too much of their pain. Now it seems that subjects with FM are no better in awareness of changes in tactile stimulation – suggesting hypervigilance is not present.
Eur J Pain. 2014 Sep [Epub ahead of print]
Hypervigilance for innocuous tactile stimuli in patients with fibromyalgia: An experimental approach.
Van Damme S(1), Van Hulle L, Spence C, Devulder J, Brusselmans, Combez G.
- 41 fm cases and 40 controls
- ability to detect whether there was a change between two consecutively presented patterns of tactile stimuli presented to various body locations
- no better
Another study:
Eur J Pain. 2015 May;19(5):706-14. doi: 10.1002/ejp.593.
Hypervigilance for innocuous tactile stimuli in patients with fibromyalgia: An experimental approach.
Van Damme S(1), Van Hulle L, Spence C, Devulder J, Brusselmans G, Crombez G.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25252089
“No evidence was found to support the claim that patients with fibromyalgia display somatosensory hypervigilance.”
Comment – another myth bites the dust.