The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as,

nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.

I am Karen Nichol, family nurse practitioner, and you are listening to Ichi and Bicci,

a podcast that provides answers to your many unanswered health questions.

I have an acquaintance whose 16-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with something called Amps,

which stands for Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome. And her daughter is seeing a neurologist,

but her current regimen is apparently not providing any symptom relief for her daughter.

I thought since I will be sharing some treatment information with this concerned mother that I

should share it with you too, it could help a lot of children out there who are not getting

diagnosed with this problem. Amps, again, stands for Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome,

and is a condition in which the person has chronic pain in the muscles, joints, or other parts of

the body, and occurs without any underlying injury or inflammation. Today, I'm going to share

information with you specifically about pediatric Amps. This is the syndrome that occurs in children.

Amps pain can affect the entire body, in other words, whole body pain, and this form is often

called fibromyalgia. Amps pain can also be localized to a specific part of the body,

in which case it is sometimes called complex regional pain syndrome or CRPS. Sometimes, in

addition to the pain, the limb involved will have swelling and will become cold and blue.

The pain doesn't have to be present in the muscles or joints specifically, it could also be present

as an abdominal pain, for instance. Other symptoms can include aledinia, which is pain caused by

something that should not really cause pain, like a touch or putting on a sock. Other symptoms are

headaches, cool skin, or skin discoloration, as I mentioned, swelling, difficulty with movement,

stiffness, or tremors. The pain episodes can be intermittent, or they could be constant.

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