Society Logo
ME/CFS Australia Ltd
Please click here to donate ME/CFS South Australia Inc
 
 
Facebook
 
ME/CFS SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC

Registered Charity 3104

Email:
sacfs@sacfs.asn.au

Mailing address:

PO Box 322,
Modbury North,
South Australia 5092

Phone:
1300 128 339

Office Hours:
Monday - Friday,
10am - 4pm
(phone)

ME/CFS South Australia Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.

Disclaimer

ME/CFS South Australia Inc aims to keep members informed of various research projects, diets, medications, therapies, news items, etc. All communication, both verbal and written, is merely to disseminate information and not to make recommendations or directives.

Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this Web site are not necessarily the official views of the Society or its Committee and are not simply an endorsement of products or services.

Become a Member
DOCX Application Form (Word, 198 KB)
Why become a member?

Fibromyalgia Origins Found In Central Nervous System

Tuesday 19 May 2015

 

From the National Pain Report:

 

Brain
 

Fibromyalgia Origins Found in Central Nervous System

By Ed Coghlan
May 17th, 2015

Fibromyalgia is now considered to be a lifelong central nervous disorder, which causes chronic pain.

Daniel Clauw, M.D., professor of anesthesiology, University of Michigan presented findings from his research at the American Pain Society Annual Meeting, in Palm Springs.

“Fibromyalgia can be thought of both as a discreet disease and also as a final common pathway of pain centralization and chronification. Most people with this condition have lifelong histories of chronic pain throughout their bodies,” Dr. Clauw said.

And the pain can be more than physical.

“It takes away your dreams, your hopes, and your happy moments. It makes loved ones grimace when they see you. It makes friends and family disappear. It isolates you into a tiny box until all that was you no longer remains,” Jenny Schwarz of East Helena, Montana told the National Pain Report.

Schwarz uses art – specifically painting to help manage her illness.

He [Dr. Clauw] states that people with fibromyalgia experience pain that comes more from the brain and spinal cord than the locations where their bodies feel the pain. He believes fibromyalgia may be related to how the brain processes pain signals.

Dr. Clauw says physicians should consider a diagnosis of fibromyalgia for people with musculoskeletal pain that is unrelated to an injury. He says treatments with opioids and other drugs do not always work because they do not affect the neurotransmitters in the brain.

“Because pain pathways throughout the body are amplified in fibromyalgia patients, pain can occur anywhere, so chronic headaches, visceral pain and sensory hyper-responsiveness are common in people with this painful condition,” said Clauw.

Darbi Beals Stolk suffers from fibromyalgia. The former registered nurse now coaches people with the disease. She told the National Pain Report that she thinks patients should pay attention to studies like Dr. Clauw’s.

“Educate yourself about your illness and the various studies regarding recovery published by doctors and health experts. Ultimately, recovery is an individual process and you are the only one who can decide what that process looks like, she said.”

Fibromyalgia is the second most common rheumatic disorder behind osteoarthritis and, though still widely misunderstood, is now considered to be a lifelong central nervous system disorder, which is responsible for amplified pain that shoots through the body in those who suffer from it.

“The condition can be hard to diagnose if one isn’t familiar with classic symptoms because there isn’t a single cause and no outward signs,” Dr. Clauw mentioned.

©2015 National Pain Report. All Rights Reserved.

 

The above, with comments, originally appeared here.

 


Arrow right

More Fibromyalgia News

 


 

blog comments powered by Disqus
Previous Previous Page