Why do patients with fibromyalgia complain of ear-related symptoms? Ear-related symptoms and otological findings in patients with fibromyalgia

While fibromyalgia is frequently associated with ear-related symptoms such as feeling of ear fullness, earache, and tinnitus, the pathogenesis of these ear-related symptoms in fibromyalgia patients is unknown. Here, we focused on clarifying the pathogenesis of ear fullness, a particularly common sym...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical rheumatology 2013-10, Vol.32 (10), p.1437-1441
Main Authors: Iikuni, Fusako, Nomura, Yasuyuki, Goto, Fumiyuki, Murakami, Masato, Shigihara, Shuntaro, Ikeda, Minoru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Audiometry, Pure-Tone - methods
Ear Diseases - complications
Earache - complications
Eustachian Tube - physiology
Female
Fibromyalgia - complications
Humans
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Original Article
Rheumatology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tinnitus - complications
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:While fibromyalgia is frequently associated with ear-related symptoms such as feeling of ear fullness, earache, and tinnitus, the pathogenesis of these ear-related symptoms in fibromyalgia patients is unknown. Here, we focused on clarifying the pathogenesis of ear fullness, a particularly common symptom observed in fibromyalgia patients. Twenty patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia on outpatient psychosomatic treatment complaining of ear-related symptoms answered our questionnaire and underwent neurotological examination, including pure tone audiometry and Eustachian tube function testing. While ear-related symptoms were significantly exacerbated after onset of fibromyalgia, we noted no correlation between the presence or absence of feeling of ear fullness and abnormal findings on neurotological examination. Given our findings, we suspect that onset of ear fullness may be associated not with abnormal findings in the middle and inner ear function tests but with other causes, such as central desensitization.
ISSN:0770-3198
1434-9949
DOI:10.1007/s10067-013-2287-2