Fibromyalgia may cause sexual dysfunction and depression

A new research shows fibromyalgia may cause sexual dysfunction, depression, and with abnormal hematological parameters, such as lower serum concentrations of testosterone and lower blood hemoglobin.

The study “Depression, sexuality, and fibromyalgia syndrome: clinical findings and correlation to hematological parameters,” published in the journal Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria also points to the possibility of “the involvement of immune-inflammatory mediators” in the disease.

About 83 percent of patients who suffer from fibromyalgia experience sexual and reproductive problems along with common symptoms such as chronic widespread pain and heightened pain response to pressure.

A team of researchers from Brazil compared 19 healthy women with 33 women with fibromyalgia to investigate the issues of sexuality and depression. Results of the study showed sexual dysfunction and depression are more prevalent among women with fibromyalgia compared to healthy women. The women with fibromyalgia showed lower serum concentrations of testosterone, free T4 (related to thyroid gland function), antinuclear factor (to evaluate autoimmune disease), lower blood hemoglobin and hematocrit (the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total blood volume).

“This study showed a significant association between sexual dysfunction and depression in FM patients. Sexual dysfunction can interfere in the quality of life and aggravate FM symptoms and depression, a frequent comorbidity of FM,” the researchers noted.

  

The researchers concluded, “Evidence of inflammatory activity in FM patients,” a possibility that “needs further investigation to understand the role of these findings in the pathophysiological mechanisms of this disease and in its comorbidities.”