Fibromyalgia, Inflammation, and the Inflammatory Response
Posted on Monday, May, 14th, 2012 by in Chronic Disease | Fatigue | Immune Homeostasis (Immune Balance) | InflammationThrough the years, I have spoken with many individuals, usually, women, who have now been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a condition in which individuals suffer from chronic pain, and have tenderness in about a dozen different spots in the body, and have “brain fog”. They suffer from unremitting fatigue, bowel problems, difficulty in sleeping through the night, and waking up unrefreshed. As would be expected, they are depressed and anxious as well.
There are some physicians, even now, that think fibromyalgia “is all in the minds” of their patients. Some studies have shown, that compared to the general population, individuals with fibromyalgia have significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety. [Now why someone who is in pain and tired much of the time, would be depressed is beyond me.]
I once spoke to a male physician who said that he always thought that fibromyalgia was “just” a psychological problem, having nothing to do with biology. I asked him why he used the past tense, and he said to me, “because I got it!”.
Now that the pharmaceutical industry has come out with at least three FDA-approved medications for fibromyalgia, it evidently means that fibromyalgia can now be classified as a disease, and many clinicians treat it as such.
Many patients have differing success when using these prescription medications. The three pharmaceuticals reduced pain symptoms by only 30%. Some of the medications made a difference in fatigue, but not in sleep patterns. Many of these medications result in side effects ranging from insomnia (which they were trying to combat in the beginning!), nausea, and diarrhea. Unfortunately for individuals suffering with fibromyalgia, many patients find that if the medication does work for them, too often it is for only a short-period of time, for as little as six months total.
Most clinicians state that the cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, but that “painful tissues” are not associated with inflammation.
I respectfully suggest that inflammatory responses are major contributors to the pain and discomfort those individuals with fibromyalgia experience. Indeed, I cannot imagine that a person can feel pain, in the absence of inflammation.
Increasingly, the literature suggests that fibromyalgia, and other neuromuscular conditions are characterized by low-grade inflammation. Inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha and IL-1, and other immunological factors, have been found to be at higher levels than “normals” and may be resulting in the fatigue and flu-like illness experienced by individuals with fibromyalgia.
Controlling run-away inflammation by returning to immune homeostasis, immune balance, has, in my experience, resulted in dramatic differences in the quality of life of individuals suffering with fibromyalgia. These individuals have tried other approaches with only limited success, so why not support balanced immune responses?
Medscape Family Medicine 2012 WebMD, LLC
www.actabiomedica.it/data/2007/2_2007/fietta.pdf
www.medicinenet.com/fibromyalgia/article.htm
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21975140
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19957871
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Hi, I was just looking through the internet looking for some information on fibromyalgia and came across your site. I am impressed by the ideas that you have. .
Great resource on fibro. I really liked this article. Bravo!
Hello. I just ran across your website. I have had fibro for 3 years. I have had 4 back and/or neck surgeries – all of which had been done to get rid of the pain I was feeling due to fibro. So basically, what I am suggesting, is that I had 4 back/neck fusions that where not needed, simply because I went straight to an orthopedic surgeon to heal this pain, – and because the surgeon dd not know anything about my illness, I am swimming in a sea of debt and still not getting any pain releif. I am on the max of Fentynl and the max of percocet (Roxicodone) I have scripts for gabapentin (that too is taken at the max 27,000 mg daily) and sleep meds too which I take occasionally.
I am really saddened by the lack of knowledge about this phanteom disease. Why the heck can’t we all get some answers? The only real doctor I have found who really seems to know what he is talking about is Dr Daniel Dantini, who has fibromyalgia himself. So because he had a vested interest in getting to the root of the cause, he was able to get some answers (maybe) I paid him close to $1000 to have him draw food allergy test and virus loads – which did come back with 2 high viral loads for HHV-6 (herpes) and Ebstein Barr as well. Not only that, but I found out that my body was fighting some of the foods I was eating, and my immune system was going haywire due to these food allergies. So, I am in the process of removing some of the foods from my diet. we shall see what happens…. But I was curious, does anyone know about viruses and fibro and possibly taking high doses of anti-viral meds to get rid of fibro? Just curious, if so, please respond. I am so fed up- after this trial with this doctor – if I can not get some relief, then I am done! Done spending my time and money trying to get better. If the anti-virals don’t work, then I am resigned to the fact that I will probably never get better, and just face the disease as a life long thing I will have. Sorry for sounding so depressed, but I am so fed up with my health. So sad to feel this way at 38 – I have my whole life in front of me – and I don’t want this disease to get in my way. ~ Sharon O.
You have brought up a really good points. Regards for the post.
So very very cool! I am glad I came across your site! Some points I completely agree with and knew about, but some stuff I had not thought about! Thanks!
Fascinating post. I wonder where you get all the information from…..
Yet another fantastic read. thx, you’ve made my day:)
I heard a couple of people talking about this at work today. Interesting!
I have bookmarked your blog at Reddit so my friends can see it this post on fibromylagia. Exceptionally informative. Thanks.
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I have had fibromyalgia for seeavrl years and they have tried just about everything on me. I have been to one specialist after another and finally found one at Toronto Western Hopspital who deals mainly with people who have fibro. This guy is fantastic he told me things that were happening to me that I didn’t tell anyone before. This Doctor does a lot of research in fibro and has been written up in the docors journals. I told him all the meds I was on and his response was this Lyrica works for the pain it has to be taken every twelve hours to work effectively, As I have difficulty with depression (due to poor sleep) I take Effexor at night, this is also a sleep aid; because i have insomina I also take a sleeping pill. Now the result is these do knock me out for a good eight hours, however he also told me that because I have fibro no matter how long I sleep I do not get a proper or normal sleep, I find this to be very true. I have found something that gives me energy and it is not a perscribed medication, now for me it works and it is finally nice to be able to do things on my own without help. Now I live in Canada and I am 52 years old and have lived and fought this disease for almost half of my life. I have been diagnosed with Cronic Fibromyalgia, and with comes IBS, Insomnia, depression not to mention all that lovely pain. I have finally found ways to work with all of this. While there will always be some medication that I have to take there is also the holistic way that is much healthy for me. The less chemicals I put in my body the better I am.I watch my diet very carefully, staying away from all processed foods and dairy and breads/pasta, incuding potatoes they are a killer. It’s not always easy to do this but if you can avoid as much of these as possible I think you will find it will help you. Good Luck.
Thanks for taknig the trouble inofferring this kind of post.
Awesome blog! I am going to bookmark it for future reference. . Thanks again for the great article.
Not what I was hunting for, but awesome anyway! Congrats!
I am from the UK, and just wanted to let you know, your information is very interesting. It was just what I was searching for!
I wish to express my appreciation in your determination to provide other approaches and your valuable information. Cheers.
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Very interesting info! Perfect! just what I was looking for!
I was diagnosed with fibro about 7 years ago, actually have had it for at least 12 years, and it is a long haul for sure. There is a huge amount of symptoms that go with fibro., and I seemed to have them all, at one time or another. Every time I went to the Dr., I would take my list of symptoms with me, and eventually ended up on a bunch of scripts, a lot of vitamins, and supplements. I was so tired of being sick and tired all the time, that I decided to start doing a lot of research. I started reading books, and reading everything on line that I could find. Fibro is an autoimmune disease, so I looked for things that would help build my immune system, what things break it down. Getting enough sleep is of course a big one, trying very hard to stay on a schedule helps. Even if you are not sleeping, getting quality rest helps too. Do not drink caffeine drinks, this can affect your sleep, and your muscles. Getting a really good mattress, so you can be comfortable, or soft padding that you can be comfortable in. I sleep on my sides, and always use a pillow between my legs, that seems to help. Light stretching helps, light exercise helps, but do not over do it. Eating properly helps, trying to stay away from fast foods, and foods with preservatives in them, try to stay away from white flour and sugar. A good fiber will help the IBS, you have to start it, and stay on it. Most people do not get enough fiber in their system, and that can cause lots of health problems, and can cause the dizziness. I have so much info. that I have found that helped me through this, but the research that I did came up with a lot of information that I had never heard of before, but made so much sense. The thing that builds your immune system is really good vitamins, and supplements, and of course good food. The things that break it down are chemicals. Chemicals are every where, in your fresh fruits and veg., and if they are imported the pesticides are even higher. I found that there are so many toxic chemicals in all of our home and personal products, and it really affects fibromyalgia. My home cleaners, like bath room cleaners, kitchen cleaners, all purpose cleaners, and air fresheners all had a lot of harmful chemicals in them. My laundry detergent, pre spot, bleach, and fabric softener were all very harmful. Personal care items for bath soaps, lotions, shampoo, hair conditioner, and my beauty products all had a bunch of chemicals in them. Many of these chemicals affect the central nervous system, and that is where fibro stems from. These chemicals get into our blood and cells, as well as our nervous system. They affect some people more than others, and come out in peoples health in many different ways, fibro being one. I have changed all of my home, and personal care products over to safer more natural products. Since doing these changes, my life is so much better. I am off all scripts for fibro. now, and feel 20 years younger. I would highly recommend it.
Hello all, I am new to this but was diagnosed with fiiblmyaogra 12 years ago by a DR that didn’t want to do anything to help me. I recently went to an arthritis DR and he prescribed 75mg Lyrica to me. I took the first one Monday night and slept like a baby. I haven’t slept more than 3-4 hours at the most for years and years. I slept from 9:30 that night till 5 am Tuesday morning. Next week I will start with 1 in the morning and one at bedtime, the next week 1 in the am and two at bedtime then the 4th week I will take 2 in the am and two in the pm . I fell much better at night, but the pain comes back during the day. I am hoping when I can take one in the morning that the day pain will stop also. I hear it doesn’t work for everyone, I sure hope I am one that it works on I am 49 years old white female and live in Northeast Louisiana.
I have suffered with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue for over 10 years. I agree with you about the inflammation. I have been on pretty much every prescription medication imaginable and still no significant improvement. My rhuematologist was always concerned about the inflammation level from my blood work. I found out about a healthy chocolate at a health food store a few years back that lowers inflammation because of the amount of antioxidants in the product. It is the only healthy chocolate available. One piece is just 33 calories and is cold pressed to keep in the antioxidants and does not include waxes and fillers like candy chocolate. I have been eating this chocolate, including a chocolate protein shake with 56,000 ORAC fn antioxidants and it has helped me. I just started high- antioxidant cacao capsules that also include the cold pressed chocolate. There are three capsules that I am taking, one is for energy-immunity with the cold pressed chocolate, shiitake, maiitake mushroom, panax ginseng root, quercertin Dihydrate,L-Arginine & milk thistle seed extract. Then I take one for antioxidant power that includes grape seed extract, resveratrol, vitamin D and cold pressed cocoa. Also taking heart and brain health that includes the cold pressed cocoa, conenzime Q-10, phosphatidylserine, pomegranate, hawthorne berry and vitamin E. For some reason this combination I am taking daily is significantly helping with the bone pain. I also used to get sick constantly and since increasing the antioxidant content, that has decreased significantly. I am not a doctor so I don’t know why this is working but if you are dealing with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, you don’t have much to lose in trying it.
Lynette: With all due respect, instead of taking all of these products, it can’t be inexpensive, why don’t you just try to balance all of your inflammatory responses. Your immune system responses are overactive. If youcontact me directly, I an be of greater help to you. Cordially, Dr. Hellen DrHellen@DrHellenGreenblatt.info
Years ago I was on Elavil to help me sleep and it did the trick, but I rezalied I was becoming more and more dependent on it to go to sleep (without it I would stare at the ceiling for hours on end). I also could not explain my weight gain, which later I learned is a side effect of Elavil. I took myself off of it slowly, lost weight but now can’t sleep a full night without constantly waking up. What to do? I need help. What sort of Dr should I be looking for? We are moving to SC end of the month and I will find a new Dr out there. Thanks for any help.
Hi Alan. Give me a call at 302.265.3870 or contact me at DrHellen@DrHellenGreenblatt.info .
It was great plasuere finding your site yesterday. I hoped to get some new ideas and I was not disappointed. Your ideas about new approaches on this condition is helpful. Your subject material insightful and a great help. Thank you for taking the time to write these posts and share your thoughts.
Hi Hellen,
I am a fibro patient who spends an inordinate amount of my spare time learning what I can about fibro and sharing it with the public in my blog=www.fibrobulletin.wordpress.com. I have no viable credentials that are transferable to suggest that I am an expert.
This article is interesting and to my knowledge, a topic of debate among clinicians and researchers. The idea that fibro has a significant inflammatory etiology is one that I have questioned for some time. I have had this discussion with numerous rheumatologists as well as Dr. Daniel Clauw at a conference last year. It would seem that the jury is still out on a concensus about inflammation in fibro, but yet I continue to find supporting evidence showing inflammation as an issue. I also have talked to dozens of fibro patients, some who claim to have objective labs showing inflammation of some kind, and others showing none at all. I wonder, since fibro is so closely matched to lupus and other conditions like that, is it possible that those showing a strong inflammatory marker could have a secondary or tertiary condition that is conducive to inflammation?
Thank you
Rob
Robert, thanks for your well thought-out comments. The issue of whether or not a condition is due to inflammation, is to most individuals, suffering from autoinflammatory illnesses, irrelevant. Someone may not fully understand how combustion works, but when they turn the key in the car, they just want to go to their destination.
In terms of inflammatory assays, we have only a very primitive knowledge of the immune system. We do not understand, or know, all the inflammatory pathways and cross-talk that happens between the various organ systems and the immune system. We do not have the right assays to determine exact mechanisms.
My experience has been, leave the science to the scientists, we will figure it out one day. Meanwhile, however, help those who are uncomfortable and deserve a better quality of life. I have worked with thousands of individuals that had tried “everything”, and when they finally were able to balance their immune responsiveness, they had their lives back.
Cordially,
H
I’ve had fibro for several years. I tried all the prescription drugs the Dr. gave me and most of the time they didn’t help and the side effects were awful. I decided to go natural. A good calcium/magnesium supplement of 2-1 ratio, malic acid,5 htp,msm,sam e, digestive enzymes, probiotics,coq 10, milk thistle, vit c, alpha lipoic acid,valerian root, olive leaf extract, fish oil, evening primrose oil. Light exercise as tolerated, meditation and yoga are very helpful too. You have to be very careful during cold and flu season as getting sick is magnified in fibro folks. Give it at least 3 months to see how you feel. And lastly, Do all the research and learn all you can. There are some good sources of info online, like here, and I think I will contact Dr. Hellen. I hope she can help me with my quality of life.
Thanks for placing up this article. I’m unquestionably frustrated with struggling to research out pertinent and rational commentary on this matter. everyone now goes in the direction of the amazingly much extremes to possibly generate home their viewpoint that either: everyone else within earth is wrong, or two that everyone but them does not genuinely recognize the situation. pretty numerous many thanks for the concise, pertinent insight….
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Hi Sal: Please look at my comments to Robert. Contact me, since I may be able to help.
I realize after reading all your informative postings, that I never thanked you for them. I am making the most of your suggestions. Thank you for your consideration in addressing these issues.