Mind-Body Therapy Possibly Promising Treatment for Fibromyalgia

A study with 45 female Fibromyalgia patients revealed that those who learned a mind-body therapy technique known as “affective self-awareness” were more likely to show a significant pain reduction over a 6-month time period.  According to the recent article on Reuter’s Health:

A form of ‘mind-body’ therapy that focuses on the role of emotions in physical pain may offer some relief to people with fibromyalgia, a small clinical trial suggests.

Overall, 46 percent of the women had a 30-percent or greater reduction in their pain severity, as measured by a standard pain-rating scale. In contrast, of study participants who were assigned to a wait-list for therapy, none showed a similar decline in pain.

Those of us who have suffered from Fibromyalgia for years know and understand that our brains perceive differently than the average person’s brain perceives pain.  Someone can touch us lightly on the back or any part of our body and it can hurt like crazy, make us jump, or feel like we were hit really hard.  Doctors will prescribe painkillers, antidepressants, Lyrica, and other drugs to try and help fight the pain.  Normally all we get done doing is taking more pills because nothing helps with the pain.  Cognitive behavior therapy and exercise are also used to help treat Fibromyalgia.  Light exercise helps me with my Fibromyalgia pain – I just have to watch what I do very closely because of the CFS. 

The researchers on this study say that all of these other painkillers and prescription drugs aren’t helping Fibromyalgia patients because they do not “specifically address the role psychological stress and emotions can play in triggering people’s pain.”

That is not to say that the pain people with fibromyalgia feel is “all in their head,” stressed Dr. Howard Schubiner, of St. John Health/ Providence Hospital and Medical Centers in Southfield, Michigan.

“The pain is very real,” Schubiner said in an interview. But, he explained, pain and emotions are “connected in the brain,” and emotional factors may act to trigger “learned nerve pathways” that give rise to pain.

This was the first study to test affective self-awareness for Fibromyalgia.  The study did have several limitations with one of them being the small size of the control subjects and the control received no active therapy to serve as a comparison.  

That is important because it is possible for patients to benefit from simply receiving attention from a healthcare provider, or being part of small-group sessions with other people suffering from the same condition, for example.

Schubiner also acknowledged that this general “model” for understanding and addressing fibromyalgia pain is controversial.

Affective self-awareness, a technique Schubiner developed and uses in treating certain chronic-pain conditions, involves an educational component where patients learn about the emotion-pain connection. They learn specific techniques — including mindfulness meditation and “expressive” writing — for recognizing and dealing with the emotions that may be contributing to their pain. Patients are also encouraged to get back to any exercise or other activities that they have been avoiding due to pain.

Affective self-awareness and cognitive behavior therapy are similar in that they both teach patients they have the power to improve their own health.  The main difference is that affective self-awareness asks people to “directly engage” the emotions that may be helping to drive their symptoms.

Source

Is Anyone Using Medifast?

I have a niece who just became a health coach for Medifast and she was curious if I knew of anyone who uses Medifast.  She has lost 50 lbs. on the program and she said a woman at her meeting who has CFS & FM has seen improvement since using the products.  This was what she sent to me via email:

Last night at the Take Shape for Life meeting one of the ladies shared that she has fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. She works 5 hours a day and when she would come home she would sleep or be in bed very early. Since starting the program she stated she has so much more energy, even her husband commented about it. She says now she is up to 10 or 11 at night and feels great!

I told her that I did not know of anyone using Medifast but I would find out by posting about it on here.  If you would like to check out Medifast, you can view her site by clicking here.   I know nothing about the products but I am going to a tasting in June so I might have more information by then.  Please comment if you have tried it, if Medifast has helped or if you know of someone who has used it.

Natural Fibromyalgia Treatment Alternatives

The National Fibromyalgia Association has a great magazine that I subscribe to and this month they are offering some natural treatment ideas for Fibromyalgia.  Here are some of their suggestions:

The NFA says that studies have shown that taking a combination of 300 mg. – 600 mg. of magnesium daily, along with malic acid, may help reduce the number of tender points significantly & the pain felt at the those that remain.  They also recommend B vitamins.

The NFA suggests that eating more omega-3 fatty acids & fewer saturated fats has shown promise in Fibromyalgia patients.  Limit red meat & saturated fats and increase omega-3 fatty acids by adding more fish, flax and walnut oils to your diet.  Fatty acid deficiencies can interfere with the nervous system and brain function and cause depression, poor memory and concentration problems.

Improving the quality of sleep can help reduce fatigue.  The NFA suggests limiting caffeine intake especially before bedtime and reduce computer and TV time.  If you do watch TV in the evening, the NFA recommends watching relaxing, funny programs and steering away from programs that are violent and disturbing.   They also recommend asking your doctor for other natural remedies for sleeping issues.

Managing stress can help with depression and anxiety, which are both common in chronic illness.  The NFA says that cognitive behavior therapy has shown to be helpful in Fibromyalgia patients. 

If you are trying to find exercises that you can do with Fibromyalgia, the NFA recommends tai chi, yoga and pilates.  These all offer mild stretching, relaxation and breathing techniques which could benefit FM.

New Formulation For Oxycontin Approved By FDA

The FDA has approved a new forumlation for controlled-released Oxycontin, a powerful pain medication that is typically prescribed severe, chronic pain.   The goal of this new Oxycontin formula is to help discourage abuse and overuse of the drug.  This could be really good news for chronic pain sufferers who have doctors who are afraid to prescribe the drug because of the previous threat of misuse.  This new formula should put doctors at ease when prescribing Oxycontin and more patients who are legitimately suffering from pain should be able to get the drug.  

The new Oxycontin formulation will be created in a way that the medication cannot be crushed for snorting or liquified for shooting up.  If the new formula gets wet or someone tries to dissolve it, the drug will become gummy.  Because there is just a reformulation of the drug, the timetable for a potential generic version hasn’t changed.   More good news.

The Interstitial Cystitis Association was involved in the stakeholder teleconference FDA held on Wednesday, April 7 to announce approval of the new formulation. The ICA reports:

During that teleconference, FDA’s Bob Rappaport, MD, explained that the agency will require the company to do a postmarketing study to collect data on how much the new formulation reduces abuse and misuse of this opioid. In addition, he said, FDA is requiring a “Risk Evaluation and Management Strategy” (REMS). This REMS will be a straightforward one that applies to this drug only: a medication guide will be issued to patients, and prescribers will be required to be educated about the appropriate use of opioid analgesics in the treatment of pain.

FDA didn’t take this opportunity to issue a REMS for all opioids. That’s still open for comment from legitimate pain patients like you who need these medications. Please continue to tell FDA how important your access to these medicines is and that you don’t need more barriers to receiving them.

Would You Use Marijuana To Treat Fibromyalgia Pain?

I have been seeing a lot of stories on television lately about people who are using marijuana for medical purposes, particularly pain.  Just today I read an article on Health.com that medical marijuana mey help fibromyalgia pain.   Marijuana has been used for quite some time to help cancer patients with their pain.  From what I was watching on The Doctors regarding medical marijuana use, there are benefits to using it over prescription medications, but there are also some negative effects you have to consider as well.  For one, if you are using marijuana for medical reasons, if it is not legal in your state, you can get into big trouble with the law.   Even if our prescription pain meds aren’t good for us, at least they are legal, as long as we are using them as prescribed. 

With marijuana, there are different grades that will determine the effects the person will get when using it.   The Health.com article says this about marijuana use for pain:

It seems logical — why shouldn’t fibromyalgia sufferers try marijuana for their symptoms, if they live in a state where medical marijuana is legal?

But there are two problems with herbal cannabis, Silverman and other critics say: It’s a complex natural substance that contains about 60 different compounds with potentially medicinal effects, some of which may interact with one another. The other problem is that the amount of these various compounds may vary by batch, as marijuana is not synthesized but grown.

While Silverman says he has great hopes that synthetic medicines based on individual compounds in cannabis may one day help fibromyalgia patients (after appropriate randomized controlled clinical trials have been done), he argues that the real thing today is just too inconsistent.

“We think that there’s probably a role for that class of compounds, the cannabinoids in general, and it’s just a question of working out how that’s going to be put into practice,” says Mark Ware, M.D., an assistant professor in family medicine and anesthesia at McGill University, in Montreal, and the executive director of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids.

I don’t know if marijuana is something I would try even if I could get it legally.  I guess there is just this huge stereotype surrounding marijuana and when I think of it, I think of Cheech and Chong.   That’s what pot reminds me of.   But if it works for people who can get it legally, then more power to them. 

If you want to see a guide that lists marijuana laws state by state, click HERE.

I Gained 8 Pounds On Lyrica in One Month

I started taking Lyrica the beginning of December and in a month’s time I have gained 8 pounds.  I knew that weight gain was one of the side effects of Lyrica, but I didn’t worry about it because I have never gained weight on any other medications that had weight gain as a side effect (not that I can remember).   This is very frustrating for me because I have been working out at the gym for the past month in order to lose weight.  So if I wasn’t working out it’s hard to tell how much more weight I would have gained on the drug.  When I gained 2 – 3 pounds I assumed it was from working out, turning fat into muscle.  But last week when I was getting ready for work I noticed that my pants were really snug when normally I have to wear a belt with them.   When I weighed myself, I had gained another five pounds in just a matter of a week.  

That was the end of Lyrica for me.  I’m sad to have to quit taking it because I was feeling more energy while on it.  But I am already overweight and I can’t afford to gain anything else.  I am also faithfully attending the gym 3 – 4 days a week to lose weight and get in shape.  I really don’t need this setback right now.  I would love to hear from other Lyrica users to see if weight gain was a problem for you.  From what I’ve been reading online, weight gain has been a major setback for what was supposed to be the Fibromyalgia wonder drug.  I haven’t experienced any other side effects from Lyrica besides the weight gain.  I’ll miss taking it because I was able to sleep better while taking Lyrica. 

Before stopping Lyrica or any other drug, please consult with your doctor and don’t stop taking Lyrica cold turkey.  You will need to taper off of the medication, as with a lot of medications.

Lyrica Side Effects

Allergic reaction signs:

• hives
• breathing difficulty
• swelling of face, lips, tongue, throat

Call your doctor ASAP if you have any new or worsening symptoms such as:

• depression
• anxiety
• mood/behavior changes
• anxiety
• feelings of agitation, hostility, physically or mentally hyperactive
• thoughts of suicide or hurting self
• muscle pain and/or weakness (particularly if you feel tired and also have a fever)
• easy bruising and/or bleeding
• swelling of hands/feet
• rapid weight gain

Less severe side effects may include:

• dizziness
• drowsiness
• loss of balance or coordination
• memory or concentration problems
• skin rash/itching
• dry mouth
• stomach pain/constipation
• increased appetite

Professor Says Chiropractic Care “Insufficient” In Treating Fibromyalgia

According to an article I recently read on the Arthritis Research Campaign website, a recent study revealed that there is no evidence to suggest chiropractic care is effective in treating Fibromyalgia. Professor Edzard Ernst of the Peninsula Medical School at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, who was in charge of the study said:

“Many patients use chiropractic as a treatment of fibromyalgia and many chiropractors seem to be convinced that it is effective for that condition. The aim of the study was to conduct a systematic review of randomised clinical trials testing the effectiveness of chiropractic care for fibromyalgia.”

In his study, Professor Ernst used three research articles on the effect chiropractic care has on Fibromyalgia. He found these through online databases. Ernst reports that:

“The three studies were judged to have “poor” methodological quality and they generated no evidence to suggest that chiropractic care is effective for fibromyalgia. Currently, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that chiropractic is an effective treatment for fibromyalgia.”

I have personally found that I feel worse after seeing a chiropractor. I have tried going different times over the years and I would try each time to go for months or at least a year. I would not see any improvement and my body would hurt worse and my back would go out more during these times. I have heard other people say that they have had improvement with their Fibromyalgia since going to the chiropractor.

If you have tried chiropractic care for your Fibromyalgia, has it worked or did you feel worse?

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