When comparing healthy vs FM patients, it was noted that:
- Both groups contained the same volume of white matter in the brain.
- FM patients however had significantly less grey matter.
What does this mean?
White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of grey matter within the nervous system. Using a computer network as an analogy, the grey matter can be thought of as the actual computers themselves, whereas the white matter represents the network cables connecting the computers together.
It has been found that every year of fibromyalgia was equal to approximately 9.5 times loss in the normal ageing process.
What is the implication of this?
- The brain undergoes structural changes in response to chronic pain and stress.
- This means our brains for those of us with fibromyalgia, could potentially be 20 years older than our actual age.
Read more at: www.examiner.com/article/brain-grey-matter-atrophy-seen-fibromyalgia