Normalizing fibromyalgia as a chronic illness

ABSTRACT

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex chronic disease that affects 3–10% of the general adult population and is principally characterized by widespread pain, and is often associated with disrupted sleep, fatigue, and comorbidities, among other symptoms. There are many gaps in our knowledge of FM, such that, compared with other chronic illnesses including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, it is far behind in terms of provider understanding and therapeutic approaches. The experience that healthcare professionals (HCPs) historically gained in developing approaches to manage and treat patients with these chronic illnesses may help show how they can address similar problems in patients with FM. In this review, we examine some of the issues around the management and treatment of FM, and discuss how HCPs can implement appropriate strategies for the benefit of patients with FM. These issues include understanding that FM is a legitimate condition, the benefits of prompt diagnosis, use of non-drug and pharmacotherapies, patient and HCP education, watchful waiting, and assessing patients by FM domain so as not to focus exclusively on one symptom to the detriment of others. Developing successful approaches is of particular importance for HCPs in the primary care setting who are in the ideal position to provide long-term care for patients with FM. In this way, FM may be normalized as a chronic illness to the benefit of both patients and HCPs.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• fibromyalgia
• non-drug therapy
• pharmacotherapy
• symptom domain

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Andrew Clair of Pfizer for initial discussions on potential topics for inclusion and Dr Lesley Arnold of University of Cincinnati College of Medicine who provided comments on a previous version of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

Daniel Clauw has performed consulting services for Pfizer Inc, Eli Lilly & Company, Pierre Fabre Laboratories, Aptinyx Inc, Cerephex Corporation, IMC Pharma, Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Samumed LLC, and received research support from Pfizer Inc, Forest Laboratories, and Cerephex Corporation. Yvonne D’Arcy has been on advisory boards for Purdue Pharma, Egalet, received book royalties from Springer Publishing, and been a speaker for Ortho-McNeil, Practicing Clinicians exchange, and Purdue Pharma. David Semel and Lynne Pauer are employees of Pfizer and have stock or stock options with Pfizer. Medical writing support was provided by David Cope, PhD, of Engage Scientific Solutions and funded by Pfizer. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

Authors received no funding in the preparation of this article.