Lack Of News

When I came up with the idea for this blog, I thought there would be more updates from the medical world on Chronic Fatigue (CFS) and Fibromyalgia. However there are very few on those to exact things. So I have decide to open the blog up to issues that commonly affect people with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. For example Depression, Anxiety, and Arthritis. I wish I could've kept it exclusive to Fibro and CFS but there is simply a lack of news coming from those areas of medicine, mainly because research is underfunded and we are a waste basket diagnosis. Therefore the blog is opening up to a larger area of health problems but they all relate to the title.

Proof That It's Not In Our Heads

Another study came out that validates the fact that Fibromyalgia is real. In patients with fibromyalgia blood flow in the brain is abnormal. The only problem is, we have no idea why or how it became this way. So there is some proof for those non-believers that fibromyalgia is real.

Possible New Treatment For Fibromyalgia

The drug is called Naltrexone (nal_Trex_Own). It is being tested at Stanford by Jared Younger and Sean Mackey. Six of the ten women tested (keep in mind it is just preliminary testing) responded positively.

So you may be asking what is Naltrexone? Naltrexone is used to treat alcoholism and other addictions. It has been around for thirty years.

Sean Mackey, and Jared Younger are currently planning another step in the study, which more people with Fibromyalgia are eligible for.

Neurally Mediated Hypotension, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Neurally mediated hypotension is a miscommunication between the brain and the heart. When a person does something where their blood pressure should go up, the brain tells the heart to lower the blood pressure. This is part of a slightly larger group of blood pressure problems which is called Chronic Orthostatic Intolerance. There is a lot of confusion about how these two are organized. If you have NMH you have Chronic Orthostatic Intolerance.

You may be asking as to what this has to do with Fibromyaglia and CFIDs. The answer is it is commonly associated with them. There is no known explanation as to why it is, but it is.

Some symptoms of Neurally Mediated Hypotension are: Post-excertional malaise, dizzieness, fainting, weakness, blurred vision, naseua, and fatigue (it worsens CFIDS and Fibro), light headedness, and muscle aches. These symptoms most oftenly occur when you are: excersizing, being warm, having upright posture, after eating, and during stressful situations.

Chronic Orthostatic Intolerance (including NMH) is diagnosed by a tilt table test. This is where you are forced to stand still for a certain amount of time. If you faint then you have NMH/Chronic Orthostatic Intolerance.

The treatment is to increase salt intake and drugs that regulate your blood pressure.

What About Physical Education and Fibromyaglia?

I am managing to do physical education with my juvenile fibromyaglia. Technically it's modified PE, and that sucks. IF you don't have fibromyalgia and or chronic fatigue let me try to tell you what it feels like to run (I also have costochronditis which causes some of the following symptoms). I feel like my head is going to explode. My blood pressure becomes so low fromt he neurally mediated hypotension, that I can barely make out what is in front of me. The costochronditis causes my arms and head feel like they are bulging forward, while my is being pushed down. My joints feel like they are grinding. The sore throat from my CFS gets worse cause I'm inhaling pollen.

Those are just the symptoms. What is the worst thing you ask? The fact that you see kid's either A. Running ahead of you with no problem or B. kid's near you are complaining and they have no idea what pain is. I never let myself get weak in public, if you do you are a target. Anyway just watching a pain free kid makes me think about when I didn't have the pain. I took everything for granted. I judged my mother for being affected by it, when I clearly had no clue. I hope this has given you some insight if you don't have any of these disorders as to what excersize is actually like.

A List Of Foods For People With Fibromyalgia To Avoid

1. High Fat dairy (for example yogurt)
2. White Sugar and Flour (pasta, white bread and rice)
3. Fried Foods (That should be for people without fibromyalgia too.)
4. Preservatives, junk food, and salty foods (I'm guilty of this one)
5. Red Meat
6. Carbonated Beverages (including soda.)
7. Alcohol
8. Nutrasweet, saccharine, and aspartame (these stimulate pain receptors for some reason)
9. Nightshade plants (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.)

You Look Fine To Me

Do Symptoms Change Over Time?

Occasionally with fibromyalgia symptoms will change over time. However for the majority of patients, symptoms don't change over the long term. This is according to a study done at Boston University Arthritis Center in 1996. So, if you have been wondering if your symptoms can change, they can. If you were if it's normal for symptoms not to change; it is.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosis Criteria

To meet the criteria, patients must have:
A. Fatigue

Severe, unexplained fatigue that is not relieved by rest, can cause disability, and has an identifiable onset (i.e., not lifelong fatigue). It must be persistent or relapsing fatigue that lasts for at least six or more consecutive months.

B. Four or more of the following symptoms:

•impaired memory or concentration problems
•tender cervical or auxillary lymph nodes in neck region (note: they do not have to be swollen, just tender; this can be a symptom for people with fibromyalgia who have tenderness in these areas as well)
•sore throat (may not show signs of infection)
•muscle pain
•multi-joint pain (not arthritis)
•new onset headaches (tension-type or migraine)
•unrefreshing sleep (wake up in the morning feeling unrested)
•post-exertional malaise (fatigue, pain and flu-like symptoms after exercise

FibroFog

Recently my fibrofog made me forget about turning in a homework assignment. I did it, but I wasn't able to remember to turn it in. Thankfully my teacher accepted it a day late. Here's what is so bad about it, it was school work. I never forget school work. To know that my fibromyalgia is affecting my ability to do work now is devastating. Yes it affected other aspects of my life and that wasn't nearly as bad because school is my thing. I have never in my fourteen years of life forgotten a school assignment.