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Query: UMLS:C0016053 (fibromyalgia)
 4,687 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This study tested the hypothesis that fibromyalgia patients display hypervigilance for somatosensory signals. Hypervigilance was operationalized as the detection of weak electrocutaneous stimuli. Innocuous electrical stimuli gradually increasing in strength were administered to one of four different body locations. A reaction time paradigm was used in which subjects had to respond as fast as possible to stimulus detection by pressing a button corresponding to the correct body location. The detection task was presented first under single task conditions and subsequently under dual task conditions, in combination with a second (visual) reaction time task. It was predicted that hypervigilance would be most prominent under dual task conditions, where subjects can choose to allocate attention selectively to one of the tasks. Questionnaires on general body vigilance, pain vigilance, pain related-fear and pain catastrophizing were also administered. Thirty female fibromyalgia patients were compared to 30 healthy controls matched on age, sex and educational level. No evidence for hypervigilance for innocuous signals was found: patients did not show superior detection of electrical stimuli either under single or dual task conditions. Also, no differences were found between patients and controls on the body vigilance questionnaire. Detection of electrical stimuli was, however, predicted by pain-related fear and pain vigilance.
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PMID:Do fibromyalgia patients display hypervigilance for innocuous somatosensory stimuli? Application of a body scanning reaction time paradigm. 1081 58

According to the Generalized Hypervigilance Hypothesis (GHH) of McDermid et al., the unpleasantness of sensory stimuli, rather than their modality, determines whether they will be perceptually amplified in hypervigilant persons. In a test of this idea, ratings of the intensity of sensations evoked by cutaneous and auditory stimuli were obtained from individuals with chronic myofascial pain (fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders), and from (less hypervigilant) healthy control participants. In each modality, the stimuli spanned a wide intensity range, with the weakest stimuli being affectively neutral and the strongest being distinctly unpleasant, as determined by unpleasantness ratings. The pain patients showed robust perceptual amplification of the cutaneous pressure stimuli, and modest amplification of the auditory stimuli. In both cases, perceptual amplification extended to even the lowest stimulus intensities, a result that is not consistent with the predictions of the GHH. An alternative formulation, the attentional gain control model of hypervigilance, is proposed, according to which those types of stimuli that are associated with pain are amplified because of the attention that is habitually directed toward them.
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PMID:Perceived intensity and unpleasantness of cutaneous and auditory stimuli: an evaluation of the generalized hypervigilance hypothesis. 1950 Sep 7

This study investigated the effects of observing pain in others upon vicarious somatosensory experiences and the detection of somatosensory stimuli in both fibromyalgia (FM) patients and controls. The putative modulatory role of dispositional empathy, hypervigilance to pain, and central sensitization was examined. FM patients (n = 39) and controls (n = 38) saw videos depicting pain-related (hands being pricked) and non-pain-related scenes, while occasionally experiencing vibrotactile stimuli themselves on the left, right, or both hands. Participants reported the location at which they felt a somatosensory stimulus. Tactile and visual scenes were presented in the same spatial location (congruent; e.g., left-left) or from opposite locations (incongruent; e.g., left-right). We calculated the proportion of correct responses, vicarious somatosensory experiences (i.e., trials on which an illusory somatosensory experience was reported while observing pain-related scenes), and neglect errors (i.e., reporting only the site congruent to the visual pain-related information when both hands had been stimulated). Observing another in pain resulted in an equal numbers of vicarious somatosensory experiences in both groups and facilitated the detection of tactile stimuli, especially during spatially congruent trials. Counter to our expectations, this facilitation was not moderated by group. FM patients made fewer neglect errors. Hypervigilance for pain, dispositional empathy, and central sensitization did not exert a modulatory role. Observing pain facilitates the detection of tactile stimuli in FM patients and controls. Overall, a low incidence of vicarious experiences was observed. Further research is needed to understand the role of attentional body focus in the elicitation of vicarious experiences.
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PMID:Fibromyalgia patients and controls are equally accurate in detecting tactile stimuli while observing another in pain: an experimental study. 2499 Apr 7