Abnormal Processing of Information May Hold Clues to Brain Abnormalities

A report published by Frank Leavitt, PhD and Robert S. Katz, MD, in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, highlights a previously overlooked symptom that affects many fibromyalgia patients.

Sixty-seven FMS patients who complained of a history of memory issues and 51 controls who also had a history of memory loss were tested on how quickly they processed information. There were 10 timed tests run with the patients. The study found that more than 49% of the fibromyalgia patients that were tested scored below average on speed tasks that included reading words and naming colors. When compared with the control patients, the number of FMS patients who showed impairment with reading speed was 2 times greater. The number of FMS patients showing impairment on the color naming speed was 1.6 times more than the control group. When reading words, there was a delay for FMS patients of 203 milliseconds and 285 milliseconds for naming colors.

This finding may lead to examining brain abnormalities in fibromyalgia patients. Leavitt and Katz went on to recommend that FMS patients be given rapid naming tests such as the ones administered in the study so as to document any cognitive abnormalities. Could this be an explanation and link to the fibro fog that so many fibromyalgia patients suffer from?

This study, entitled “Speed of Mental Operations in Fibromyalgia: A Selective Naming Speed Deficit” is another interesting look at the complexity of fibromyalgia and its symptoms.

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