Functional somatic syndromes, stress pathologies, and epigenetics.

Recently Henningsen, Zipfel, and Herzog described the nature and management of functional somatic syndromes (FSS). They pointed out that functional somatic syndromes are “characterized by patterns of persistent bodily complaints for which adequate examination does not reveal suffi ciently explanatory structural or other specifi ed pathology,” 1(p946) but they are common worldwide and are seen by practically all subspecialties of medicine. They pointed out that the more common FSS described by multiple papers in the literature include the following: • irritable bowel syndrome, • chronic fatigue syndrome, • fi bromyalgia syndrome, • premenstrual syndrome, • non-ulcer dyspepsia, • chronic pelvic pain, • hypoglycemia, • low back pain, • sick building syndrome, • Gulf War syndrome, • tension headache, • temporomandibular joint disorder, • repetitive strain injury, • multiple chemical sensitivity, • interstitial cystitis, • chronic Lyme disease, and • food hypersensitivity.