[Fibromyalgia (generalized tendomyopathy) in expert assessment. Analysis of 158 cases]

MEDAS-agencies are medical institutions within the Swiss Disability Insurance, which specialize in assessing the working capacity of candidates who apply for a disability pension. Degenerative and other chronic pain disorders of the musculoskeletal system form the majority of cases that we investigate. Fibromyalgia is one of our most frequent diagnoses (8.6%). We become involved in cases on average 8.5 years after the first onset of painful symptoms and on average 2.5 years after the patients have ceased to work. Our experience, tells us that fibromyalgia is usually associated with psychological disturbances; thus our psychiatrists have found important psychological problems in 86.7% of applicants. They found mainly neurotic and depressive syndromes. Our investigations have shown that psychological disturbances precede the onset of musculoskeletal pain in about 70% of patients. Therefore, we don't consider fibromyalgia syndrome as an entity of its own, but regard it as a pain syndrome in which there are underlying psychological problems in most cases.