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Although chronic widespread pain is the defining feature of FM, sleep
disturbances, fatigue, morning stiffness, and tenderness may also be present.1
Patients often describe the pain of FM as aching, exhausting, nagging, and hurting2
Wolfe et al demonstrated that fatigue and morning stiffness were present in >75% of FM patients3
FM is commonly associated with sleep disturbances characterized by prominent alpha wave intrusion and nonrestorative sleep4-5
The sleep disturbances and chronic stress associated with FM may lead to fatigue, cognitive difficulties, and other stress-related symptoms6
FM patients performed poorly in cognitive tests compared with age- and education-matched controls. FM patients had deficits in working memory, free recall, verbal fluency, and verbal knowledge compared with controls
