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Why do patients with fibromyalgia complain of ear-related symptoms? Ear-related symptoms and otological findings in patients with fibromyalgia

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Abstract

While fibromyalgia is frequently associated with ear-related symptoms such as feeling of ear fullness, earache, and tinnitus, the pathogenesis of these ear-related symptoms in fibromyalgia patients is unknown. Here, we focused on clarifying the pathogenesis of ear fullness, a particularly common symptom observed in fibromyalgia patients. Twenty patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia on outpatient psychosomatic treatment complaining of ear-related symptoms answered our questionnaire and underwent neurotological examination, including pure tone audiometry and Eustachian tube function testing. While ear-related symptoms were significantly exacerbated after onset of fibromyalgia, we noted no correlation between the presence or absence of feeling of ear fullness and abnormal findings on neurotological examination. Given our findings, we suspect that onset of ear fullness may be associated not with abnormal findings in the middle and inner ear function tests but with other causes, such as central desensitization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Nihon University School of Medicine, 30-1, Oyaguchi-kamicho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8610, Japan

    Fusako Iikuni, Yasuyuki Nomura, Shuntaro Shigihara & Minoru Ikeda

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, National Hospital Organization Tokyo Medical Center, 2-5-1, Higashigaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-0021, Japan

    Fumiyuki Goto

  3. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine Itabashi Hospital, 30-1, Oyaguchi-kamicho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8610, Japan

    Masato Murakami

Authors
  1. Fusako Iikuni
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  2. Yasuyuki Nomura
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  3. Fumiyuki Goto
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  4. Masato Murakami
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  5. Shuntaro Shigihara
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  6. Minoru Ikeda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasuyuki Nomura.

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All figures are made by MS Excel and Power Point software.

Fusako Iikuni, Yasuyuki Nomura, and Fumiyuki Goto contributed equally to this work.

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Iikuni, F., Nomura, Y., Goto, F. et al. Why do patients with fibromyalgia complain of ear-related symptoms? Ear-related symptoms and otological findings in patients with fibromyalgia. Clin Rheumatol 32, 1437–1441 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2287-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2287-2

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