Multisensory Hypersensitivity in Women With Fibromyalgia: Implications for Well Being and Intervention

Abstract

Objective To document sensory sensitivities to nonnoxious sensory stimuli in daily life for participants with fibromyalgia (FM). Design Descriptive study of a convenience sample using a self-report survey of sensory processing. Setting Participants were recruited from the general community. The procedure took place in a research room at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Participants Women with FM (n=27) were compared with women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=28) and healthy pain-free women (controls) (n=28) (N=83). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure A self-report measure of sensory sensitivity to stimuli encountered in daily life. Items ask participants if they are sensitive to sensations that do not seem to bother other people or avoid common activities or environments because of sensory stimuli. Results The FM group reported significantly increased sensory sensitivities to both somatic (tactile) and nonsomatic (eg, auditory and olfactory) sensory stimuli compared with the RA and control groups. The RA and control groups did not differ in reported hypersensitivities. Conclusions Women with fibromyalgia reported increased sensitivities to stimuli in the environment and could experience more stress related to sensory conditions in daily life.

Intense pain influences the cortical processing of visual stimuli projected onto the sensitized skin

“…Instead, it may also involve cortical mechanisms affecting other sensory modalities, if the information conveyed by that sensory system is relevant for the injured body part, for instance, visual input predicting imminent contact of an object with that body part. Supporting this possibility, patients with chronic pain often report hypersensitivity to a broad range of stimuli including non-somatosensory stimuli [11,44].…”

Rethinking chronic pain in a primary care setting

“…[32][33][34][35] While no clear consensus presently exists on the terminology, the hallmark of this type of pain appears to be generalized hypersensitivity to a variety of stimuli including mechanical, thermal, olfactory, auditory, and visual cues. [36][37][38][39] Unlike traditional central sensitization triggered by persistent nociceptive and/or neuropathic input, it is often impossible to pinpoint the cause of sensory hypersensitivity. It is thought to occur throughout the CNS and may involve additional mechanisms such as a decrease in descending inhibition and neuroplasticity in pain processing areas of the brain.…”

“…[1,35,37,41,[80][81][82][83] In addition, hyperalgesia and allodynia are often found in patients with neuropathic pain or sensory hypersensitivity, but less so with nociceptive pain.…”

Olfactory impairment in patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome and systemic sclerosis

“…FM patients report increased sensitivity to diverse stimuli among them also nociceptive input, which via different mechanisms converge to hypersensitize the central nervous system and in many manners are similar to patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other affective conditions [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Among other characteristics FM patients tend to report enhanced olfactory acuity [27]. However, not many studies have objectively assessed the olfactory sensitivity in FM patients and one recently published study reported slightly reduced odor identification with no significant differences in smell threshold or discrimination [28].…”