An estimated 2-4% of people worldwide have fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder characterized by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and issues with mood, sleep, and memory. This disorder, which affects women more than men, has also been associated with brain fog, tension headaches, anxiety and depression, and irritable bowel syndrome. 

Currently, doctors don’t know what causes fibromyalgia, though they have a few ideas. It is believed that nerve stimulation changes the brain and spinal cord, which leads to more pain-causing chemicals and sensitized pain receptors in the brain. Because of this, more research on fibromyalgia has focused on the neurological angle. 

A Study on Fibromyalgia

Neuroscience News recently reported on one such study, the results of which were published in Arthritis Research & Therapy. In the past, studies have identified morphometric brain alterations—specifically related to gray and white matter—in people with fibromyalgia. Further, these studies have identified that these abnormalities occur in areas of the brain that control how your body processes different sensory inputs and pain. 

In this study, the research team sought to build on past research and develop a better understanding of these morphometric changes. To begin, they used voxel-based morphometry and diffusion-tensor imaging to explore brain imaging for 21 healthy individuals and 23 individuals with fibromyalgia. 

The Findings

After analyzing the results, the research team found that people with fibromyalgia had less gray matter in areas of their brain such as the: 

• Left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
• Right putamen
• Bilateral middle temporal gyrus
• Parahippocampal gyrus
• Right caudate nucleus
• Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex 

Interestingly, their bilateral cerebellum and left thalamus had higher-than-normal gray matter volume. Additional structural alterations were found near the thalamus, corpus callosum, and medial lemniscus. 

This is all a bit technical — but in more basic terms, this showed that gray matter was missing or reduced in areas of the brain that correlate with the way we process pain. The thalamus also plays a role in how we process pain. Since people with fibromyalgia have thalamic changes alongside issues with their gray matter, their pain signaling is abnormal. This leads them to be in more pain than individuals with normal levels of gray matter. 

The study also found that these brain changes could possibly be slowed or even reversed. For example, patients who experienced depression had lower putamen volume compared to those who did not have depression. People with active lifestyles also had higher gray matter volume than people with less active lifestyles. According to researchers, this suggests that managing mental health and physical activity could not only help with pain but could impact your brain.