National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association

The National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA) is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization. They support people with chronic pain illnesses and their families and friends by contributing to caring, professional, and community relationships. Through continuing education, networking with support groups and advocates, and affiliation with professional organizations, the members of the NFMCPA have a place to be informed, get involved, and recognize achievements.

The NFMCPA addresses the controversies, prejudices, and the life-altering effects of fibromyalgia and overlapping chronic pain conditions that millions of people experience. Combined with the recent shift in the American College of Rheumatology’s FM diagnostic criteria that now includes 42 symptoms in the patient medical assessment, these issues–all part of FM co-existing conditions–are at the core of the Association’s work to provide resources to help people live better with fibromyalgia and chronic pain conditions.

The shift in the scientific community, partially a result of the Decade of Pain (2000-2010) initiative, regarding recognition and treatment of pain related illnesses has encompassed FM and drawn it into the chronic pain conditions arena, dimming the identity of this disorder and encapsulating it in a more general designation. Because FM accompanies so many painful conditions, i.e. irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, temporomandibular joint disorder, migraine headache, Lupus, etc., it was judicious to create and launch a new nonprofit that more closely represents modern FM concepts including its association with other co-morbid conditions.