Fibromyalgia patients have smaller quantities of used-up serotonin, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep and eases pain. This could mean people with FMS make less serotonin, or that their tissues break it down more rapidly. Another common problem for people with FMS is dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which controls automatic functions such as heart rate and blood pressure. This can produce fibromyalgia-related conditions including migraine or tension headaches, irritable bowel or bladder, noncardiac chest pain, premenstrual syndrome and mitral valve prolapse. Some doctors, although they don't deny that people with FMS suffer real symptoms, nevertheless believe they don't have a specific medical disorder that is helped by giving it a name or treating it medically.
People have to first know that their symptoms are recognized.
Then they can start to think about how to do something about it. When Carol Harris of Hermiston, Oregon, was diagnosed with FMS she found a starting point. It was a relief to know that I wasn't dying, that I had something going on that was treatable. I can do things to make myself feel better. Medication plays a small role in treating FMS, Nies says.