The Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Clinical Case Definition for Practitioners (Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain,)

Discover the latest information for correctly diagnosing FMS at your practice

The National Fibromyalgia Association estimates that about 10 million Americans and approximately 3% of the population worldwide suffer with fibromyalgia syndrome, yet the criteria used by doctors to diagnose fibromyalgia is 14 years out of date. The Fibromyalgia Syndrome examines the expert consensus developed by the Health Canada Fibromyalgia Syndrome Committee with the goal of helping practitioners distinguish FMS from other syndromes/illnesses that exhibit chronic body pain. The text encompasses a very broad scope of FMS, including its clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment.

This resource provides you with:

• a new approach to case definition
  
• proposed research to validate the new case definition
  
• a practical approach to assessment of severity
  
• empathetic management
  
• what is known about pathogenesis
  

This book meets the growing need for up-to-date information about objective abnormalities in people with FMS and for an integrated approach to its diagnosis and management by primary care physicians. The Fibromyalgia Syndrome will also encourage the scientific and academic communities to actively research the clinical care of people with FMS, ensuring that more effective therapies and medications will be available in the future. These guidelines present a flexible framework that includes the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria and encompasses more of the potential symptomatic expression of patients.

The Fibromyalgia Syndrome provides several appendices to help you find crucial information at a moment’s notice, including:

• a glossary of acronyms
  
• a list of both commonly and rarely seen signs and symptoms of FMS
  
• a fibromyalgia syndrome clinical worksheet
  
• differential diagnoses of the symptoms of FMS
  
• a Symptom Severity and Hierarchy Profile (SSHP) worksheet
  
• the Pain Visual Analog Scale (PAIN VAS) and Body Pain Diagram
  
• and more
  

The Fibromyalgia Syndrome offers proposed methods and studies to develop and validate the clinical case definition to ascertain its applicability to the clinical practice setting. With better education and increased awareness of FMS, physicians can make a diagnosis earlier in the patient’s course and initiate valuable outpatient care, lessening expensive hospitalization and associated costs.

I. Jon Russell, MD, PhD. is Associate Professor of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where he is also Director of the University Clinical Research Center. He is the founding Editor of the Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain and has guided its progress since 1993. He was Founding President of the International MYOPAIN Society and currently serves as a Board Member of that organization. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Pain Watch. Dr. Russell is an internationally recognized researcher and clinical practitioner caring for patients with a wide variety of musculoskeletal pain disorders but with emphasis on the fibromyalgia syndrome. He serves on expert panels for fibromyalgia syndrome support organizations in the United States, Canada, and France. Dr. Russell has twice been the National Chairman for the American College of Rheumatology's Nonarticular Rheumatism Study Group and has been a Counselor for the Central Region of the American College of Rheumatology. He has served on the Research Grants Committee for the Arthritis Foundation and on the Research and Development Grants Committee of the Audie Murphy Veterans Administration Hospital. Dr. Russell has been honored by listings in The Best Doctors in America, The Best Doctors in America: Central Region, The Best Doctors in the South and Southwest, and The Best 2000 Doctors in America. His service to the South Texas community was acknowledged with the Humanitarian of the Year Award [ 1994] by the South Central Texas Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. Dr. Russell is the author of over 85 original publications and over 30 chapters in medical textbooks. He is co-author of The Fibromyalgia Help Book, and producer of the video documentary ''Fibromyalgia and You," two educational resources for people with fibromyalgia. He travels extensively, speaking to medical and lay audiences about musculoskeletal pain and medical education issues. With a doctorate in biochemistry and nutrition, a medical degree, residency in internal medicine, subspecialty in rheumatology, 25 years of pain research, and an experienced world view, Dr. Russell brings to this journal an interdisciplinary perspective and background to emerging issues in both research and clinical practice.