Li, Nathan, Cooper, Joshua, Fleming, Tanisha et al. · Psychopharmacology bulletin · 2026 · DOI
This article reviews what doctors and researchers currently understand about fibromyalgia, a chronic condition causing widespread pain and many other symptoms. While the exact causes remain unclear, scientists are finding potential clues in brain imaging, genes, and gut bacteria. The article explains how doctors diagnose fibromyalgia and what treatment options are available, emphasizing that managing it often requires a team approach with different specialists.
Understanding fibromyalgia is clinically important for ME/CFS researchers because the conditions share overlapping symptoms, unclear pathophysiology, and similar diagnostic challenges. This review consolidates current concepts that may inform differential diagnosis, biomarker research, and treatment approaches relevant to both conditions.
This is a review article, not a primary research study, so it does not present new experimental data or prove causation for any fibromyalgia mechanism. The article synthesizes existing literature and does not establish which proposed pathophysiological mechanisms are definitively responsible for fibromyalgia.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Li, Nathan, Cooper, Joshua, Fleming, Tanisha, Lockett, Stewart, Sherman, William, Chami, Azem A, et al. (2026). Current Concepts and Treatment Options in the Management of Fibromyalgia.. Psychopharmacology bulletin. https://doi.org/10.64719/pb.16599
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-li-2026-current-concepts,
author = {Li, Nathan and Cooper, Joshua and Fleming, Tanisha and Lockett, Stewart and Sherman, William and Chami, Azem A and Hasoon, Jamal and Robinson, Christopher L and Imani, Farnad and Kaye, Alan D},
title = {Current Concepts and Treatment Options in the Management of Fibromyalgia.},
journal = {Psychopharmacology bulletin},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.64719/pb.16599},
note = {PubMed: 41821986},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2026-current-concepts},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2026-current-concepts
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