When Anxiety Hurts: A Case of Fibromyalgia in a Young Adult with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Analgesic Intolerance

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_12How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Fibromyalgia; Chronic pain syndrome; Anxiety

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a chronic, multifactorial pain syndrome that significantly affects quality of life, particularly in young adult females. This case describes a 25-year-old female presenting with persistent anxiety and generalized musculoskeletal pain, later diagnosed as fibromyalgia with comorbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The management of her condition was complicated by a history of allergy to analgesics, limiting the use of common pain medications such as NSAIDs and opioids. In response, a treatment plan centred on fluoxetine was initiated to address both anxiety and fibromyalgia-related pain. Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), was chosen not only for its anxiolytic effects but also for its potential to modulate central pain processing through enhancement of serotonergic transmission and possible anti-inflammatory actions. Over time, the patient reported a notable reduction in anxiety symptoms and musculoskeletal pain, as well as improvements in sleep and daily functioning. This case illustrates the value of using fluoxetine as part of a comprehensive, individualized approach to fibromyalgia—particularly when standard analgesics are contraindicated—highlighting the intricate link between psychological well-being and chronic pain perception.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shinly Meivinita Ginting
AU  - Cindy Chias Arthy
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/25
TI  - When Anxiety Hurts: A Case of Fibromyalgia in a Young Adult with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Analgesic Intolerance
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry 2025 (ICONAP 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 73
EP  - 79
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_12
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-966-7_12
ID  - Ginting2025
ER  -