Hmmmm..... sounds interesting... thoughts?
http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/fibromyalgia-mystery-finally-solved/
Showing posts with label studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label studies. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Friday, February 25, 2011
Vitamin D a Chronic Pain: New Research
When I was first diagnosed with fibro one of the initial tests done was checking my vitamin D levels, as it seems for some reason a lot of fibros have low vitamin D. My levels were of course very low, so my doctor put me on 2000 IU's vitamin D/day. Within 3 months I got my levels back up into the normal range, and I continue to take 1000 IU's/day. Its one of the many supplements that I take that I feel makes a difference in my health. (Even if someone does not have fibro keeping your vitamin D levels in check are a good idea!) It may not be a "cure" but I think it is one of the stepping stones in helping me feel better and healthier! Seems like studies are just now being done and coming to the forefront on how these low vitamin D levels relate to our chronic pain and fibro. I love how the article starts off describing "general pain that doesn’t respond to treatment." -- helloooo fibro! :)
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-chronic-pain-link?ecd=wnl_cbp_022411
"Plotnikoff notes that vitamin D is a hormone. 'Every tissue in our bodies has [vitamin] D receptors, including all bones, muscles, immune cells, and brain cells,' he says.
And in March 2009, researchers at the Mayo Clinic published a study showing that patients with inadequate vitamin D levels who were taking narcotic pain drugs required nearly twice as much medication to control their pain as did patients with adequate D levels."
"Plotnikoff says that there is no evidence from randomized, controlled trials that replenishing vitamin D levels will cure chronic pain. 'But it doesn’t hurt to do it,' he notes.
So if you've got chronic pain, it can’t hurt to ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels. 'I believe this is absolutely medically indicated, and it should be the standard of care for everyone with chronic, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain,' Plotnikoff says.
If you have severe vitamin D deficiency, any efforts to boost your D levels should be done by consulting with your doctor. Too much vitamin D can be dangerous and lead to an excess accumulation of calcium in your blood, which can lead to kidney stones.
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-chronic-pain-link?ecd=wnl_cbp_022411
"Plotnikoff notes that vitamin D is a hormone. 'Every tissue in our bodies has [vitamin] D receptors, including all bones, muscles, immune cells, and brain cells,' he says.
And in March 2009, researchers at the Mayo Clinic published a study showing that patients with inadequate vitamin D levels who were taking narcotic pain drugs required nearly twice as much medication to control their pain as did patients with adequate D levels."
"Plotnikoff says that there is no evidence from randomized, controlled trials that replenishing vitamin D levels will cure chronic pain. 'But it doesn’t hurt to do it,' he notes.
So if you've got chronic pain, it can’t hurt to ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels. 'I believe this is absolutely medically indicated, and it should be the standard of care for everyone with chronic, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain,' Plotnikoff says.
If you have severe vitamin D deficiency, any efforts to boost your D levels should be done by consulting with your doctor. Too much vitamin D can be dangerous and lead to an excess accumulation of calcium in your blood, which can lead to kidney stones.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia and Brain Shrinkage
So I was ready an article in a magazine about chronic pain and it mentioned this "...Aging causes the brain to atrophy at a rate of half a percent a year, but chronic pain causes the brain to atrophy twice as fast..." and I kinda freaked. I mean I had seen this somewhere before, but I chose to ignore it, I wasn't ready to face that.
Now I'm facing it.
I wanted a better source on this info, and I found this addressed on the National Fibromyalgia Association website, direct link below. What makes it really good is that the author is also one of the researchers who released this report on fibromyalgia's effects on the brain. It gets a little scientific at times, so I've tried to highlight some of the key points below, but the entire article is well worth the read.
“What Do You Mean, My Brain Is Shrinking?!”
By Patrick B. Wood, MD
http://www.fmaware.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8489&news_iv_ctrl=0
"The Journal of Neuroscience recently published the results of a study that demonstrated fibromyalgia is associated with a loss of volume of brain gray matter.1"
"...we found that the atrophy associated with fibromyalgia was over three times greater than that of normal aging, with each year of fibromyalgia equivalent to 9.5 times the loss of normal aging."
"Intriguingly, the brain centers that undergo accelerated loss of gray matter volume during stress in animal models are also connected to many of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia, including pain."
"Among the most encouraging findings stemming from the work of scientists like McEwen and Sapolsky is the observation that blocking the effects of stress-related chemicals can protect against their damaging impact on sensitive brain structures"
"Another agent that has demonstrated utility in promoting brain health is omega-3 fatty acid, i.e. fish oil. As previously noted, chronic fatigue syndrome is another one of the disorders that has been associated with brain atrophy. A case study from England reported by Puri and colleagues describes the treatment of a woman with chronic fatigue syndrome with omega-3 supplementation, which resulted not only in marked clinical improvement, but also in a reduction in the volume of her lateral ventricles, which suggests she benefited with an increase in brain tissue volume.16 While there is no data in the literature as to whether taking omega-3 may be useful in the treatment of FM per se, there are several other health-related benefits. So, while I recommend taking omega-3 supplements to my patients on a regular basis, it would be very interesting to see how they would perform in a structured clinical trial."
"What remains unknown at this point is whether the reductions in brain volumes in FM are related to actual loss of brain cells, or simply with cell shrinkage—I suspect the latter. And while the mechanisms of these changes are complex and not fully understood, there is reason to believe that they may be prevented and possibly reversed, as we shall see."
"While the proposition that fibromyalgia is associated with accelerated brain atrophy may be unsettling, there is something of a silver lining to the cloud. For years, the medical community has struggled to come to terms with the reality of the disorder or to take it seriously, due in large part to the lack of objective findings to distinguish FM patients from those who don’t have the disorder. The results of our study contribute to what has become the incontrovertible evidence that fibromyalgia is all too real and, I think, inspire a greater sense of urgency regarding the need to develop rational treatments."
Now I'm facing it.
I wanted a better source on this info, and I found this addressed on the National Fibromyalgia Association website, direct link below. What makes it really good is that the author is also one of the researchers who released this report on fibromyalgia's effects on the brain. It gets a little scientific at times, so I've tried to highlight some of the key points below, but the entire article is well worth the read.
“What Do You Mean, My Brain Is Shrinking?!”
By Patrick B. Wood, MD
http://www.fmaware.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8489&news_iv_ctrl=0
"The Journal of Neuroscience recently published the results of a study that demonstrated fibromyalgia is associated with a loss of volume of brain gray matter.1"
"...we found that the atrophy associated with fibromyalgia was over three times greater than that of normal aging, with each year of fibromyalgia equivalent to 9.5 times the loss of normal aging."
"Intriguingly, the brain centers that undergo accelerated loss of gray matter volume during stress in animal models are also connected to many of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia, including pain."
"Among the most encouraging findings stemming from the work of scientists like McEwen and Sapolsky is the observation that blocking the effects of stress-related chemicals can protect against their damaging impact on sensitive brain structures"
"Another agent that has demonstrated utility in promoting brain health is omega-3 fatty acid, i.e. fish oil. As previously noted, chronic fatigue syndrome is another one of the disorders that has been associated with brain atrophy. A case study from England reported by Puri and colleagues describes the treatment of a woman with chronic fatigue syndrome with omega-3 supplementation, which resulted not only in marked clinical improvement, but also in a reduction in the volume of her lateral ventricles, which suggests she benefited with an increase in brain tissue volume.16 While there is no data in the literature as to whether taking omega-3 may be useful in the treatment of FM per se, there are several other health-related benefits. So, while I recommend taking omega-3 supplements to my patients on a regular basis, it would be very interesting to see how they would perform in a structured clinical trial."
"What remains unknown at this point is whether the reductions in brain volumes in FM are related to actual loss of brain cells, or simply with cell shrinkage—I suspect the latter. And while the mechanisms of these changes are complex and not fully understood, there is reason to believe that they may be prevented and possibly reversed, as we shall see."
"While the proposition that fibromyalgia is associated with accelerated brain atrophy may be unsettling, there is something of a silver lining to the cloud. For years, the medical community has struggled to come to terms with the reality of the disorder or to take it seriously, due in large part to the lack of objective findings to distinguish FM patients from those who don’t have the disorder. The results of our study contribute to what has become the incontrovertible evidence that fibromyalgia is all too real and, I think, inspire a greater sense of urgency regarding the need to develop rational treatments."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Xyrem for Fibromyalgia?
Intersting article from About.com about a drug going through trials now for possible approval. Sounds good, the science of it makes sense, but then you get to the "possible serious" side effects and sounds scary!
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2008/06/08/narcolepsy-drug-for-fibromyalgia-treatment.htm
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2008/06/08/narcolepsy-drug-for-fibromyalgia-treatment.htm
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Latest Research Finds link Between IBS and the Brain
Stanford University researchers have argued a case for moving Fibro from the field of rheumatology to neurology since their researchers see Fibro as a neurological problem. Now comes this article (link below) from UCLA that finds the same shrinkage in gray matter in areas of the brain controlling attention and pain for IBS, which many Fibro suffers also experience.
A link between the brain and chronic pain has been identified in other disorders, such as lower back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia and hip pain. The study on IBS suggests that, like these other conditions, the problem may be due to the brain's inability to inhibit the pain response.
http://www.latimes.com/news/health/boostershots/la-heb-bowel-20100722,0,2369726.story
A link between the brain and chronic pain has been identified in other disorders, such as lower back pain, migraines, fibromyalgia and hip pain. The study on IBS suggests that, like these other conditions, the problem may be due to the brain's inability to inhibit the pain response.
http://www.latimes.com/news/health/boostershots/la-heb-bowel-20100722,0,2369726.story
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