Has anyone else seen or read about this research? It sounds promising.
Fibromyalgia solved; A pathology, not in the mind By: Paul Mountjoy - October 17, 2013
"The National Biotechnology Information Center (NBIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released the findings of research funded by grants from Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and Forest Laboratories that claim to have discovered a pathological (the science of cause and effect) cause for fibromyalgia.
The causes of the disease have escaped researchers for year. In fact, the condition was considered by many in the field of medicine as psychosomatic (in the mind) because of the variety of symptoms that could not be clinically pinned down.
Dr. Frank Rice writes of findings at Integrated Tissue Dynamics that has made a major discovery of the cause of fibromyalgia, making diagnosis more certain and explaining the multitude of varied symptoms and effects.
Research has identified alterations in our core body temperature is a culprit, as our blood acts as a coolant in much the same fashion water does in the radiator of a car. Our major organs and active muscles require a constant temperature of about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
If we lose too much heat (hypothermia) or gain too much heat (hyperthermia), our body’s primary thermostat, the hypothalamus, struggles to maintain balance. Our blood is also the means by which our body and brain get nutrients, oxygen and takes away waste.
When we use our muscles, particularly the hands and feet, the blood flow between the skin and muscles must be kept in balance. We have internal thermostats distant from the hypothalamus called aterio-venous shunts or AV shunts that act as valves between arterioles or veins that supply the good stuff and venules which carry away waste.
The smallest part of our blood supply system is the capillaries which are tiny vessels that act as temperature regulators (among many other functions) and either conserve or release heat. Capillaries run throughout or bodies and are highly concentrated in our hands and feet. When damaged, capillaries are a serious issue for diabetics and now it has been discovered when the AV shunt is defective in function and interferes with capillary function, muscle and skin tissue cannot get proper nutrition or waste drawn away. Additionally, temperature regulation becomes an issue affecting nerve fibers.
The result is a build-up of lactic acid in muscle and deeper tissue affecting the muscular system and causes pain that can seem to ‘travel’ from areas of the body one day to the next and cause fatigue.
The sympathetic nervous system which uses the spinal cord for communication and the sensory fibers or nerve fibers that carry signals to the central nervous system, can have their communication disrupted by the results of AV shunt disorder and hypersensitized nerves send pain signals that can ‘travel’ as well. This explains why some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Cymbalta seem to help.
The American Academy of Pain Medicine featured this research on its front cover accompanied by a laudatory editorial from Robert Gerwin of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. To date, the research is confined to women since women seem to suffer from fibromyalgia in greater numbers than men.
According to this research, fibromyalgia has pathology and is not psychosomatic so those who suffer from this ‘syndrome’ can now rest assured it is not all in their minds."
This is great!!!!! A huge step toward making fibro more accepted as a legitimate illness. Hopefully this research will become well-known by our doctors as well as by SSI.
Wow, yet another train of thought! This is certainly important info! I cannot think of a time when my temp was 98.6, but always significantly below this 'norm'. Anyone else?
I wonder if this is why my hands hurt so much. And my feet go crazy hot or crazy cold. This is fantastic news!! Someone out there loves us!!! :) Wow! lactic acid!! Now we just need to know who's working further on this and a cure.
Finally! Now I understand why the changes in season, along with temperatures are absolute torture. These past three weeks with temperatures alternating has created one flare after another. I wonder if wearing gloves or mittens help with even mild changes help
Yes Dozer, wearing gloves helps me when it gets a bit cooler outside. I may be the only person wearing gloves, but that doesn't bother me. It helps with the cold steering wheel of the car too.
it might explain other illnesses as well like trigeminal nueralgia inwhich carry some the same stigmtisms…
inwhich leaves its victoms in horrific agonizing pain hopfully this lead ti many breakthroughs to prove fn and tn are real and the pain is real
Hi Dozer. I wear fingerless gloves autumn thru spring. They keep the fingers available for keys and things and keep the wrist and hand warm. I love them. Have knitted a couple pair, believe it or not!
I read this from facebook earlier today. My fog is kind of bad today and I really don't get it. If it leads to fm becoming a "real" disease and will lead more people to researching a cure or even an accurate treatment, I am on board.
my biggest issue and the cause of untold nerve pain is a kind of burning heat pain on the pads of my hands.
therefore any heat makes my life un bearable.
nobody or no tablet seems to relieve it...
also. the burning "pad of hand" pain is my ONLY pain that i have. no other pain. thats why i was sure its not fms because those symptoms name WIDESPREAD PAIN THROUGHOUT THE BODY
wow! I had not heard this before. Thank you for sharing. It IS promising. Once they find the pathology, it's only a matter of time before they can find a fix. Even if it takes years, at leas knowing the pathology researchers are on the right track to find a fix and its in the works. Not to mention, it's now PROVEN beyonfd any doubt that it is a real disease. Hope is renewed here. I only wish we could get this on the front page of every newspaper in the country. :) (wouldn't that be nice?)
Very interesting. My body temperature is usually around 97.3 ~ 98. and I am always cold. 98.8 feels like fever to me. I wonder how many FM patients have low body temperature. I also have low blood pressure.