The symptoms of fibromyalgia are wide-spread muscle pain, aches in the joints of the elbows and knees, fatigue, depression, abdominal cramping, colitis, generalized weakness, frequent tears, loss of libido, isolation and insomnia. That is why fibromyalgia is a syndrome or collection of symptoms rather than a disease. To make matters worse, there is not one objective change in the muscles of patients with this series of symptoms that could tie it down to a discrete disease state. No virus or bacteria has been implicated as a cause.
Some physicians believe it is associated with mitral regurgitation.
We don't know why, but the disease is seven times as common in women as in men. It is never seen in small children, but is occasionally seen in teenagers. It is never seen in athletes who constantly abuse their muscles or in victims of Parkinson's disease, where the muscles are constantly contracting. With that said, it is necessary to treat victims of fibromyalgia as if they have a true disease state. Fibromyalgia was described in 1820.