Pain

Pain occurs in a wide range of forms in ME/CFS. These include abdominal pain, allodynia, arthralgia (joint pain), carpal tunnel syndrome, chest pain, chronic pain, ear pain, esophageal spasms, eye pain, fibromyalgia, gallbladder pain, headaches, heartburn, migraine, muscle spasms, myalgia (muscle pain), neck pain, proctalgia fugax, sciatica, sinus headache, vein pain and tenesmus.

Pain can also occur as a consequence of common comorbid illnesses such as endometriosis, Sj%C3%B6gren's syndrome, IBS or fibromyalgia.

Symptom recognition

 * In the Canadian Consensus Criteria, pain is a required criteria for diagnosis. It requires that "there is a significant degree of myalgia. Pain can be experienced in the muscles, and/or joints, and is often widespread and migratory in nature. Often there are significant headaches of new type, pattern or severity."