Holiday Depression in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Being sick can be depressing, especially if you’re watching the world around you celebrate while you’re isolated — either physically or emotionally — because of your illness. A lot of us who have fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) battle depression anyway, especially during the winter months.
The Fibro Caregiver’s Biggest Challenge: Finding a Future Replacement
Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the car accident that resulted in Dot’s present condition. During the first six months, it seemed that Dot would slowly heal but suddenly her body crashed and she had a series of non-epileptic seizures that resulted in many visits to the hospital and the ER. She went through a copious series of tests all over her body, had a number of tentative diagnoses and tried oodles of prescription drugs.
Pico-Tesla Starts Pilot Study of Magneceutical(R) Therapy For Fibromyalgia
Pico-Tesla, The Magneceutical® Company, announced today that it has commenced a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of 30 patients who have fibromyalgia. The pilot study seeks to determine whether the application of magnetic fields generated by Pico-Tesla’s patented Resonator™ system can be effective as an adjunctive therapy to oral medications in ameliorating the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
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Holidays & Alcohol With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A champagne toast, a hot buttered rum … these things sound great during the holidays, but for many of us with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, that festive drink can make symptoms a whole lot worse. Sorry I have to be the Grinch here, but I’d rather be the party pooper than have you get caught by surprise. After all, most of us do a lot less socializing now that we’re sick, so you might have developed a problem with alcohol and not even realized it.
Fibromyalgia, Medicine’s Mystery Ailment, Gets Demystified by Leading Functional Medicine Advocate
Although it afflicts about 2 percent of the population nine times as many women as men, ask a doctor on the street about Fibromyalgia and you might hear that this condition doesn’t actually exist or that it’s just a popular name for a psychosomatic syndrome. Among the reasons for casting doubt on existence of the condition is that it doesn’t seem to encompass a single cause or resolve with a single kind of treatment. However, to Dr. Ron Grisanti, founder and director of Functional Medicine University, these difficulties simply indicate the most effective way to relieve the suffering of those who have Fibromyalgia.
Temporal preparation and inhibitory deficit in fibromyalgia syndrome
Cognitive deficits in fibromyalgia may be specifically related to controlled processes, such as those measured by working memory or executive function tasks. This hypothesis was tested here by measuring controlled temporal preparation (temporal orienting) during a response inhibition (go no-go) task.
Development and validation of Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire: FKQ
The objective of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire for evaluating patients’ specific knowledge regarding fibromyalgia. The development of items and questions of the questionnaire was done using four focus group that included physicians, physical therapists, a nurse, and patients with fibromyalgia. Other 30 consecutive patients were recruited to evaluate the questionnaire’s reproducibility (intra- and inter-observer). In order to construct validity, the questionnaire was applied to healthcare professionals with knowledge on fibromyalgia and 20 other patients. To investigate sensitivity to change, the questionnaire was applied to 56 patients before and after an educational program (intervention group) or a waiting list (control group). Eighteen questions fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were understandable for more than 90% of the participants.
Double Checking Test Results With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
I just learned a lesson I wanted to share with all my fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome friends — always double check what your test results mean! I have autoimmune thyroid disease and recently had a flare up of symptoms. My regular doctor is out of town, but I happened to have a check-up with my rheumatologist. When she brought up getting some lab tests done, I asked her to add in a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test. I got a letter in the mail with my results, which said my TSH level was 3.5 and therefore well within the “normal” range of .5 to 5.5.
Crying In the Tub
When it’s not a good day, it can be really bad. I’ve always prided myself on my ways of thinking…Being solution oriented when there is a problem… Smiling at people when they walk in the room…Having people ask my opinion and help with tough situations when they need advise…Being the one that was counted on. And now I’m not. Now I was just in the bathroom taking my normal detox bath, listening to ambient music, and browsing on my phone. I had a thought of what to search…took action to go there… and then gone. Nothing. …. Grey Matter is what I call it. Grey Matter.
Shifting To A More Visible Disability
This is really just a post to say that my walker arrived yesterday. I’ve been after a walker (well, a rollator) for quite some time because my walking sticks, lovely though they are, cannot help me with some of my more pressing issues. Walking sticks are useful if it’s just one of your legs that’s dodgyif it’s just my knee or ankle playing up, for example, a stick will do just fine. And they’ve served me well in the past. However, the fatigue has become considerably more problematic of late, and walking sticks aren’t really much help with fatigue at all, as you end up putting all your weight onto one side of the body and it doesn’t really do anything other than give you a sore shoulder.
Taking Control: My health resolution for 2011I’m not really the type of person who makes new year’s resolutions. I know myself too well I’ll stick to it for a couple of weeks and then it will all fall by the wayside as quickly as it was thought of in the first place. Last year was going quite well I decided to use an exercise ball 2-3 times a week in an attempt to strengthen my core muscles. I went out, bought a ball and DVD and stuck to it for over a month, before my now ex let James play with the ball whilst I was at work. It rolled too close to the fire and burst and melted rather spectacularly. I did buy another ball, but James was now petrified of them, and I didn’t even inflate it until August, when I was in my new house where there is no fire. I used it about 3 times and have now deflated it to make room for our Christmas tree. Oh well.
A ‘Draw’ at the Blood Working Group Meeting
It was exciting, we learned quite a bit but unfortunately little resolution was in sight and in some ways the two sides seem to have dug in deeper. It seems clear, for instance, that Dr. Stoye has made up his mind. Dr. Coffin seems to be more concerned about the possibility of contamination than before and probed Alter/Lo quite strongly but is waiting for more evidence before he makes up his mind. On the other hand Dr. Lo and Alter seemed very confident in their findings and asserted they have done the most sensitive tests for contamination. (Dr. Hansen later reported that she was considering switching to the Lo/Alter mtDNA test). Dr. Lo ended with a strong defense of his findings (and a little swipe at the ‘anecdotal’ evidence presented by Stoye) and with what appeared to be an empassioned appeal for more research into CFS.
FDA advised to turn away blood donors with chronic fatigue syndrome
Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration have recommended a ban on blood donations from those with chronic fatigue syndrome (WSJ). The recommendation, decided by a 9-4 vote during yesterday’s meeting of the Blood Products Advisory Committee, comes as the FDA wrestles with how to handle conflicting results regarding a possible link between chronic fatigue syndrome and murine leukemia viruses, a group of viruses that includes ‘xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus’, best known as XMRV.
How Common is it For Chronic-Fatigue Syndrome Patients to Give Blood?
It’s pretty unusual for a group of people to be pleased when they’re barred from giving blood. But as the WSJ’s Amy Dockser Marcus reports, chronic-fatigue syndrome patients are feeling vindicated by yesterday’s FDA advisory committee recommendation that potential blood donors be excluded from donating if they have a CFS diagnosis. Patients have long felt ignored or denigrated by the medical community; the panel’s decision is seen as an acknowledgment that they may have an infectious disease.
Chronic Fatigue Patients Should Be Barred From Giving Blood, Panel Says
Americans with chronic fatigue syndrome may be barred from donating blood because of concern that the disease is linked to a virus found in prostate cancer. Outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted 9-4 yesterday in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that scientific evidence supports asking prospective donors whether they have chronic fatigue as a basis for preventing donations, Shelly Burgess, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an e-mail. The FDA has the authority to ban certain blood donors, as it has with gay men, and usually follows its panels’ recommendations.
Becky Halstead: Learning to Say No
After a quarter century of “Sir, yes sir!” Becky Halstead had to learn to say “no.” To do so was contrary to the very core of her personality. Relentless discipline had defined her life since early childhood and had helped her shatter one glass ceiling after the next as she marched her way up to the one-star rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army. “My rheumatologist said, ‘Ma’am, the things that made you do really well in the Army, that served you well, are now working against you,’” Halstead recalled.
Lessons From Working With People With Pain
After enduring an experience with chronic pain myself, I’ve since specialized in working with patients with pain in my psychiatric medical practice. I was recently asked to reflect on what I’ve learned from my work treating people with pain and helping them learn to cope with a chronic pain disease. These are some reflections on 10 years of work with patients with pain.
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