Dysphagia is a therapeutic term that implies that a patient experiences issues gulping. There are many reasons / conditions that can cause dysphagia. Furthermore, somebody who experiences dysphagia frequently finds that it makes life exceptionally troublesome. Contingent upon their condition, gulping can be extremely excruciating, which makes eating and getting enough sustenance a test. What’s […]
The Sole purpose of this article is to give an idea to our friends and family that “We are not faking it”. Fibromyalgia is a mysterious and hidden disease. On the outside, Person affected with fibromyalgia seems healthy which causes the other people to see us in good shape, While on the inside only fibromyalgia […]
We are raising awareness of fibromyalgia in May and some of the fibro bloggers, in our facebook group, are sharing their quotes about fibromyalgia so that others can understand more about what is it like living with it. Bethan Catherine Jones 'Just because I'm smiling doesn't mean I'm pain free. I live in pain 24/7 but I refuse to let it stop me' Manage Bettina Bier 'Just because I don't look sick doesn't mean i'm not. I still have all my fifty shades of fibro. If you would risk to take a closer look you would see it.' Manage Julie Ryan That I hate missing out on things. So, when I cancel, know that I really didn't want to. I really want to be there with my friends and family. Sue Ingebretson A fibromyalgia diagnosis isn't the finish line, it's the starting gate. Once you know you have it, the journey begins to figure out what's the best way to approach healing for YOU. Rachel Barclift Living with Fibromyalgia is challenging, however I would rather spend my life in positivity and light than negativity and darkness. Manage Lynne Said Fibromyalgia doesn't sit comfortably on the conventional medical path, so when my doctor didn't have the answers my mistake was believing there was nothing else I could do, I was stuck, until I realised that there were many other paths back to health and I took them and so can you. Manage Carol Homer "Focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Forget about the unwritten social rules that dictate how your life should look. Adjust your perspective, be your own advocate and write your own story. You owe it to yourself to keep going for those brighter days." Manage Jennifer Passmore "Life, even without a chronic illness, is simply a constant learning process, and with chronic pain, we are always learning what we can do to improve our quality of life. We’re not going to let the pain defeat us, because we’re going to come out the other side of this, fighting. Not one person’s battle is the same as another, and we’re all fighting something different. Because, that is truly what we are, fighters, each and every one of us." Manage Terri Sutula "I realized early on in this process that I have a choice; I can be bitter about my circumstances, or I can let it make me a better person. I choose better." Manage Mandy Farmer "Don't leave me out of your plans. I may have to say 'no' but please don't give up on me." Manage Alisha Nurse When I say I’m okay, it doesn’t mean I’m not in pain. It just means I’m managing. I’m rarely pain free. Manage Active Now Nikki Albert Pace when you're having a good day and a bad day. Remember coping is a process, not an end game. And remember we can have a life it is just a different looking one; perhaps more mellow and a slower pace but a life nevertheless.
(Credit: Vladislav Muslakov/Unsplash) POSTED BY JULIE ROBERT-MCGILL There are alterations in the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tracts of people with fibromyalgia, report researchers. Fibromyalgia affects 2-4 percent of the population and has no known cure. Symptoms include fatigue, impaired sleep, and cognitive difficulties, but the disease is most clearly characterized by widespread chronic pain. “AS PAIN PHYSICIANS, WE ARE FRUSTRATED BY OUR INABILITY TO HELP…” As reported in the journal Pain, approximately 20 different species of bacteria were found in either greater or lesser quantities in the microbiomes of participants suffering from the disease than in the healthy control group. “We used a range of techniques, including artificial intelligence, to confirm that the changes we saw in the microbiomes of fibromyalgia patients were not caused by factors such as diet, medication, physical activity, age, and so on, which are known to affect the microbiome,” says Amir Minerbi of the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), and first author of the paper. “We found that fibromyalgia and the symptoms of fibromyalgia—pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties—contribute more than any of the other factors to the variations we see in the microbiomes of those with the disease,” Minerbi adds. “We also saw that the severity of a patient’s symptoms was directly correlated with an increased presence or a more pronounced absence of certain bacteria—something which has never been reported before.” At this point, it’s not clear whether the changes in gut bacteria seen in patients with fibromyalgia are simply markers of the disease or whether they play a role in causing it. Because the disease involves a cluster of symptoms, and not simply pain, the next step in the research will be to investigate whether there are similar changes in the gut microbiome in other conditions involving chronic pain, such as lower back pain, headaches, and neuropathic pain. The researchers are also interested in exploring whether bacteria play a causal role in the development of pain and fibromyalgia. And whether their presence could, eventually, help in finding a cure, as well as speed up the process of diagnosis. DIAGNOSIS SOONER? Fibromyalgia has proved difficult to diagnose. Patients can wait as long as 4 to 5 years to get a final diagnosis. But this may be about to change. “We sorted through large amounts of data, identifying 19 species that were either increased or decreased in individuals with fibromyalgia,” says Emmanuel Gonzalez, from the Canadian Center for Computational Genomics and the department of human genetics at McGill University. “By using machine learning, our computer was able to make a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, based only on the composition of the microbiome, with an accuracy of 87 percent. As we build on this first discovery with more research, we hope to improve upon this accuracy, potentially creating a step-change in diagnosis.” A FRUSTRATING DISEASE “People with fibromyalgia suffer not only from the symptoms of their disease but also from the difficulty of family, friends, and medical teams to comprehend their symptoms,” says Yoram Shir, the senior author of the paper and the director of the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit at the MUHC and an associate investigator from the BRaiN Program of the RI-MUHC. “As pain physicians, we are frustrated by our inability to help, and this frustration is a good fuel for research. This is the first evidence, at least in humans, that the microbiome could have an effect on diffuse pain, and we really need new ways to look at chronic pain.” The research was based on a cohort of 156 individuals in the Montreal area, 77 of whom suffer from fibromyalgia. Participants in the study participated in interviews and gave stool, blood, saliva, and urine samples, which researchers then compared with those of healthy control subjects, some of whom lived in the same house as the fibromyalgia patients or were their parents, offspring, or siblings. The researchers’ next steps will be to see whether they get similar results in another cohort, perhaps in a different part of the world, and to do studies in animals to discover whether changes in bacteria play a role in the development of the disease. Funding for the work came from the Louise and Alan Edwards Foundation and the Israeli Society for Musculoskeletal Medicine. The team also included researchers from McGill University and Université de Montréal, as well as others from the Research Institute of the MUHC. Source: McGill University
The Disabled Diva shares her top 3 favorite alternative fibromyalgia treatments. And the favorites of her fellow bloggers too!
Simple mental stressors such as doing math test can activate the back muscles in fibromyalgia and contribute to the upper body pain found there.
When being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, one of the first thoughts to go through your head is, ‘Is this illness progressive?’ Many Doctors have done research into whether Fibromyalgia is a progressive illness like it’s sister illnesses MS and Lupus. However the jury is still out on this and many doctors will tell you that Fibro is ... Read more
Living with fibromyalgia can feel like navigating a maze of pain and fatigue, with no clear way out. But what if I told you that the very products you use every day could be unknowingly exacerbating your symptoms?
Knowing which items in the grocery store are fibro foods (and which are not) will make your fibromyalgia journey much easier in the long run.
Allodynia is a common co-morbid condition which means wearing a bra can literally be a pain. Here's why fibromyalgia and bras do NOT go hand-in-hand. My experience with bras and why I HATE them. Yes - hate them.
I was 28 when I was diagnosed with ADHD. At the age of 30, my doctor now thinks I have Fibromyalgia and it's gotten me to thinking: Is there any connection between the two? It turns out, there IS. In one study, 45% of people with fibromyalgia had co-occurring ADHD. And researchers recommend that anyone
Do you suffer from the chronic pain and fatigue that come with fibromyalgia? The answer to finding relief might be closer than you think -- in your gut.
Pain is not the sole symptom of fibromyalgia. Beyond pain many experience fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, and a long list of symptoms.
The Disabled Diva shares her top 3 favorite alternative fibromyalgia treatments. And the favorites of her fellow bloggers too!
If you have been living with fibromyalgia for a short time, you’re probably aware that there are some things that you can do to help reduce pain and discomfort. You might not know that there is a range of everyday things that can contribute heavily to fibromyalgia flare-ups. What sorts of things might those be?
How many of these gifts are on your wish list? What would you add?
A post about medications that have been useful as fibromyalgia treatments, including the 3 FDA approved ones. + what I've used & my results.
"Deep down, I just knew it was something else."
Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. ~ Arnold H. Glasgow Laughter is a powerful antidote to pain. Time and time again it has been shown that the old adage Laughter is The Best Medicine really has a grounding in the truth. One possible explanation could be that humor activates the release of endorphins and relieves muscular tension. This means it has an effect on pain both a mentally and physically. "...humor helps to reflect pain, thus helping both the patients as well as their carers to deal better with stress," said Professor Willibald Ruch, Zurich University. "Humor can be used specifically as a cognitive technique, for example in terms of a distraction to control the pain and increase pain tolerance." The idea that laughter reduces pain is not new. Dr. James Walsh, an American physician, noted in his 1928 book, Laughter and Health, that laughter appeared to reduce the level of pain experienced following surgery. More recently research has found that people who had recently experienced belly laughs were able to withstand up to 10% more pain than they had done before watching comedy videos. Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, who led the research, believes that uncontrollable laughter releases chemicals called endorphins into the body which, as well as generating mild euphoria, also dull pain. The ability to have a really good belly laugh is unique to humans. Apes can laugh but only humans can guffaw. "It's exactly what happens when we say 'I laughed until it hurt'. It seems to be extremely painful and it's that pain that produces the endorphin effect." Professor Robin Dunbar. Now I'm not saying that the following jokes will send you into wild guffaws but maybe they are just a humorous distraction for a few minutes. Also I am collecting all the chronic illness/ fibromyalgia humor I can find on a Pinterest board called Fibro Funny. Don't forget to share your on Fibro humor on Twitter every Monday with the hashtag #FunnyFibro to be shared to over 10,000 Fibromyalgia people.
