Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by intracranial hypertension

What is it about?

The pathological mechanisms that cause both fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are incompletely understood. FM and CFS share very similar symptoms with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IICH), a condition characterized by an increase in intracranial pressure (ICP) due to an unknown cause. The authors reviewed the literature to explore these common symptoms and to link them to the hypothesis that increased intracranial and spinal fluid pressure is the possible mechanism that initiates the multitude of symptoms in these conditions. The symptoms include neck pain, back pain, pain in arms and legs, numbness/tingling, headaches, fatigue, cognitive impairment, gradual loss of gray matter, in addition to symptoms involving cranial nerves, overload of the lymphatic system in the nasal mucosa and disturbance of the autonomic nervous system. Other shared characteristics include higher frequency in females and family members, and an association with obesity and Ehlers Danlos syndrome (a connective tissue disorder).

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Why is it important?

The findings are relevant as they provide an alternative hypothesis concerning the pathological mechanisms in FM and CFS.

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