onawah
27th February 2016, 19:57
I have fibromyalgia and the only thing that has kept me going is my little TENS unit, (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) which I have to use for at least one hour every day (although of course, diet, supplementation and exercise are important too, but don't get rid of the pain). According to the second article following, Hyberbaric Oxygen treatments are reversing the condition in some cases, though requiring maintenance in others.
http://dailymedicalresearch.com/little-known-high-tech-treatment-could-be-answer-to-fibromyalgia-mystery-researchers-say/
Fibromyalgia is a well known, chronic disorder that is most associated with debilitating symptoms of pain and fatigue, but it is also shrouded in mystery, even as the number of patients keeps growing.
It is estimated that about 5 million Americans are affected by this disease, and many people struggle with ineffective conventional treatments. While the exact cause of it is unknown to mainstream medicine, it has been linked to a result of a traumatic effect – physical or emotional. Diet can also play a strong role, especially in regards to gut bacteria), and an abnormality in the blood vessels of a person’s palm has also been linked to the disease.
Currently Western medicine’s approach mostly relies on a combination of medications: pain drugs, anti-inflammatories, and a variety of other potentially dangerous prescription medications that may have been approved for purposes other than fibromyalgia (off-label drug use).
Alternative medicine, however, is always looking for new ways to treat so called “incurable” diseases such as fibromyalgia. Many patients have had success incorporating a variety of therapies into their healing strategy for fibromyalgia: massage, the Feldenkrais method, chiropractic, acupuncture, and herbs and supplements that can be chosen by a naturopathic doctor. One of the most recent alternative methods that showed success in treating fibromyalgia is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
Researchers Discover Possible Cause of Fibromyalgia
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered that using HBOT greatly reduced or even eliminated pain symptoms in women with fibromyalgia, making it possible for many to quit their pain medication.
After this discovery, a group of researchers from different universities worked together to explore if this information can provide us more answers about the disease. Based on this new knowledge, they believe that the cause of fibromyalgia is an inability of the brain to properly process pain.
“[T]he most important finding for me is that 70 percent of the patients could recover from their fibromyalgia symptoms. The most exciting finding for the world of research, however, is that we were able to map the malfunctioning brain regions responsible for the syndrome,” said Dr. Shai Efrati of TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
This is not the first time researchers have noticed a different response to pain in fibromyalgia patients compared to other patients. A 2013 study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism found that fibromyalgia patients had disruptions of brain signals that contribute to pain sensitivity, and that provided some explanation to why pain medications have been ineffective for this condition.
“Our findings suggest that fibromyalgia patients exhibit altered brain responses to punishing and rewarding events, such as expectancy of pain and relief of pain,” stated Dr. Marco Loggia.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Fibromyalgia
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers provide patients with pure oxygen at higher-than-atmospheric pressures. Usually this treatment is used on patients with carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, decompression sickness and embolisms (obstructions in a blood vessel).
A clinical trial published in PLoS ONE by Tel Aviv University researchers treated 60 women with fibromyalgia with HBOT for 2 months and found significant reduction in symptoms and changes in the brain activity in 70% of women.
“The intake of the drugs eased the pain but did not reverse the condition. But hyperbaric oxygen treatments did reverse the condition,” said Dr. Efrati.
Researchers have found that the treatment works best for patients with traumatic brain injuries. For those whose fibromyalgia was triggered by other causes, patients needed maintenance treatment.
“The results are of significant importance. Hyperbaric oxygen treatments are designed to address the actual cause of fibromyalgia—the brain pathology responsible for the syndrome. It means that brain repair, including neuronal regeneration, is possible even for chronic, long-lasting pain syndromes, and we can and should aim for that in any future treatment development,” said Dr. Efrati.
Where to Receive Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
HyperbaricLink.com has lists of centers for every state that offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy, including some hospitals, outpatient centers and independent clinics.
Hospitals (such as Beaumont in Michigan) can only perform the hyperbaric oxygen treatment on patients whose conditions have been approved by the FDA to receive this therapy. Fibromyalgia is not currently one of them. The FDA approved HBOT for diabetic ulcer of the lower extremity, chronic refractory osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, soft tissue radionecrosis, compromised grafts and flaps, crush injuries, and carbon monoxide poisoning, and a few other conditions.
Independent centers do offer HBOT for “off-label use.” One such center Oxford Recovery Center in Michigan uses HBOT for dozens of conditions, including fibromyalgia.
source : http://althealthworks.com/8794/researchers-discover-cause-and-successful-treatment-for-fibromyalgiayelena/
Researchers Find Main Source of Pain in Blood Vessels
http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fibromyalgia.jpg
http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fibromyalgia.jpg
http://dailymedicalresearch.com/fibromyalgia-mystery-finally-solved-2/
Researchers have found the main source of pain in Fibromyalgia patients, and contrary to what many believe, it does not stem from the brain. The findings mark the end of a decades-old mystery about the disease, which many doctors believed was conjured in patients’ imaginations. The mystery of Fibromyalgia has left millions of sufferers searching for hope in pain medications. Up until recently, many physicians thought that the disease was “imaginary” or psychological, but scientists have now revealed that the main source of pain stems from a most unlikely place- excess blood vessels in the hand.
The discovery may lead to new treatments and perhaps even a total cure in the future, bringing relief to as many as 5 million Americans thought to have the disease. To solve the Fibromyalgia mystery, researchers zeroed in on the skin from the hand of one patient who had a lack of the sensory nerve fibers, causing a reduced reaction to pain. They then took skin samples from the hands of Fibromyalgia patients and were surprised to find an extremely excessive amount of a particular type of nerve fiber called arteriole-venule (AV) shunts.
Up until this point scientists had thought that these fibers were only responsible for regulating blood flow, and did not play any role in pain sensation, but now they’ve discovered that there is a direct link between these nerves and the widespread body pain that Fibromyalgia sufferers feel.
The breakthrough also could solve the lingering question of why many sufferers have extremely painful hands as well as other “tender points” throughout the body, and why cold weather seems to aggravate the symptoms. In addition to feeling widespread deep tissue pain, many Fibromyalgia patients also suffer from debilitating fatigue.
Neuroscientist Dr. Frank L. Rice explained: “We previously thought that these nerve endings were only involved in regulating blood flow at a subconscious level, yet here we had evidences that the blood vessel endings could also contribute to our conscious sense of touch… and also pain,” Rice said. “This mismanaged blood flow could be the source of muscular pain and achiness, and the sense of fatigue which are thought to be due to a build-up of lactic acid and low levels of inflammation fibromyalgia patients. This, in turn, could contribute to the hyperactivity in the brain.”
Current treatments for the disease have not brought complete relief to the millions of sufferers. Therapies include narcotic pain medicines; anti-seizure drugs, anti-depressants and even simple advice such as “get more sleep and exercise regularly.” Now that the cause of Fibromyalgia has been pinpointed, patients are looking forward to an eventual cure. Other expressed frustration about how much they had suffered already:
“When are they ever going to figure out that things are never “all in your head?” said one commenter. “Whenever something doesn’t fit in their tiny little understanding, they belittle the patient and tell them they are crazy. People have suffered through this since they were invented. Prescribing SSRIs for everything is not the answer any more than a lobotomy or hysterectomy was.”
The announcement has the potential to unlock better future treatments and undoubtedly has patients all over the world rejoicing that the mystery of Fibromyalgia has finally been solved.
Source: http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/fibromyalgia-mystery-finally-solved/
http://dailymedicalresearch.com/little-known-high-tech-treatment-could-be-answer-to-fibromyalgia-mystery-researchers-say/
Fibromyalgia is a well known, chronic disorder that is most associated with debilitating symptoms of pain and fatigue, but it is also shrouded in mystery, even as the number of patients keeps growing.
It is estimated that about 5 million Americans are affected by this disease, and many people struggle with ineffective conventional treatments. While the exact cause of it is unknown to mainstream medicine, it has been linked to a result of a traumatic effect – physical or emotional. Diet can also play a strong role, especially in regards to gut bacteria), and an abnormality in the blood vessels of a person’s palm has also been linked to the disease.
Currently Western medicine’s approach mostly relies on a combination of medications: pain drugs, anti-inflammatories, and a variety of other potentially dangerous prescription medications that may have been approved for purposes other than fibromyalgia (off-label drug use).
Alternative medicine, however, is always looking for new ways to treat so called “incurable” diseases such as fibromyalgia. Many patients have had success incorporating a variety of therapies into their healing strategy for fibromyalgia: massage, the Feldenkrais method, chiropractic, acupuncture, and herbs and supplements that can be chosen by a naturopathic doctor. One of the most recent alternative methods that showed success in treating fibromyalgia is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
Researchers Discover Possible Cause of Fibromyalgia
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered that using HBOT greatly reduced or even eliminated pain symptoms in women with fibromyalgia, making it possible for many to quit their pain medication.
After this discovery, a group of researchers from different universities worked together to explore if this information can provide us more answers about the disease. Based on this new knowledge, they believe that the cause of fibromyalgia is an inability of the brain to properly process pain.
“[T]he most important finding for me is that 70 percent of the patients could recover from their fibromyalgia symptoms. The most exciting finding for the world of research, however, is that we were able to map the malfunctioning brain regions responsible for the syndrome,” said Dr. Shai Efrati of TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
This is not the first time researchers have noticed a different response to pain in fibromyalgia patients compared to other patients. A 2013 study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism found that fibromyalgia patients had disruptions of brain signals that contribute to pain sensitivity, and that provided some explanation to why pain medications have been ineffective for this condition.
“Our findings suggest that fibromyalgia patients exhibit altered brain responses to punishing and rewarding events, such as expectancy of pain and relief of pain,” stated Dr. Marco Loggia.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Fibromyalgia
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers provide patients with pure oxygen at higher-than-atmospheric pressures. Usually this treatment is used on patients with carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, decompression sickness and embolisms (obstructions in a blood vessel).
A clinical trial published in PLoS ONE by Tel Aviv University researchers treated 60 women with fibromyalgia with HBOT for 2 months and found significant reduction in symptoms and changes in the brain activity in 70% of women.
“The intake of the drugs eased the pain but did not reverse the condition. But hyperbaric oxygen treatments did reverse the condition,” said Dr. Efrati.
Researchers have found that the treatment works best for patients with traumatic brain injuries. For those whose fibromyalgia was triggered by other causes, patients needed maintenance treatment.
“The results are of significant importance. Hyperbaric oxygen treatments are designed to address the actual cause of fibromyalgia—the brain pathology responsible for the syndrome. It means that brain repair, including neuronal regeneration, is possible even for chronic, long-lasting pain syndromes, and we can and should aim for that in any future treatment development,” said Dr. Efrati.
Where to Receive Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment
HyperbaricLink.com has lists of centers for every state that offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy, including some hospitals, outpatient centers and independent clinics.
Hospitals (such as Beaumont in Michigan) can only perform the hyperbaric oxygen treatment on patients whose conditions have been approved by the FDA to receive this therapy. Fibromyalgia is not currently one of them. The FDA approved HBOT for diabetic ulcer of the lower extremity, chronic refractory osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, soft tissue radionecrosis, compromised grafts and flaps, crush injuries, and carbon monoxide poisoning, and a few other conditions.
Independent centers do offer HBOT for “off-label use.” One such center Oxford Recovery Center in Michigan uses HBOT for dozens of conditions, including fibromyalgia.
source : http://althealthworks.com/8794/researchers-discover-cause-and-successful-treatment-for-fibromyalgiayelena/
Researchers Find Main Source of Pain in Blood Vessels
http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fibromyalgia.jpg
http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fibromyalgia.jpg
http://dailymedicalresearch.com/fibromyalgia-mystery-finally-solved-2/
Researchers have found the main source of pain in Fibromyalgia patients, and contrary to what many believe, it does not stem from the brain. The findings mark the end of a decades-old mystery about the disease, which many doctors believed was conjured in patients’ imaginations. The mystery of Fibromyalgia has left millions of sufferers searching for hope in pain medications. Up until recently, many physicians thought that the disease was “imaginary” or psychological, but scientists have now revealed that the main source of pain stems from a most unlikely place- excess blood vessels in the hand.
The discovery may lead to new treatments and perhaps even a total cure in the future, bringing relief to as many as 5 million Americans thought to have the disease. To solve the Fibromyalgia mystery, researchers zeroed in on the skin from the hand of one patient who had a lack of the sensory nerve fibers, causing a reduced reaction to pain. They then took skin samples from the hands of Fibromyalgia patients and were surprised to find an extremely excessive amount of a particular type of nerve fiber called arteriole-venule (AV) shunts.
Up until this point scientists had thought that these fibers were only responsible for regulating blood flow, and did not play any role in pain sensation, but now they’ve discovered that there is a direct link between these nerves and the widespread body pain that Fibromyalgia sufferers feel.
The breakthrough also could solve the lingering question of why many sufferers have extremely painful hands as well as other “tender points” throughout the body, and why cold weather seems to aggravate the symptoms. In addition to feeling widespread deep tissue pain, many Fibromyalgia patients also suffer from debilitating fatigue.
Neuroscientist Dr. Frank L. Rice explained: “We previously thought that these nerve endings were only involved in regulating blood flow at a subconscious level, yet here we had evidences that the blood vessel endings could also contribute to our conscious sense of touch… and also pain,” Rice said. “This mismanaged blood flow could be the source of muscular pain and achiness, and the sense of fatigue which are thought to be due to a build-up of lactic acid and low levels of inflammation fibromyalgia patients. This, in turn, could contribute to the hyperactivity in the brain.”
Current treatments for the disease have not brought complete relief to the millions of sufferers. Therapies include narcotic pain medicines; anti-seizure drugs, anti-depressants and even simple advice such as “get more sleep and exercise regularly.” Now that the cause of Fibromyalgia has been pinpointed, patients are looking forward to an eventual cure. Other expressed frustration about how much they had suffered already:
“When are they ever going to figure out that things are never “all in your head?” said one commenter. “Whenever something doesn’t fit in their tiny little understanding, they belittle the patient and tell them they are crazy. People have suffered through this since they were invented. Prescribing SSRIs for everything is not the answer any more than a lobotomy or hysterectomy was.”
The announcement has the potential to unlock better future treatments and undoubtedly has patients all over the world rejoicing that the mystery of Fibromyalgia has finally been solved.
Source: http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/fibromyalgia-mystery-finally-solved/