Fibromyalgia Is My Thing #10
Information Gathering
I am so excited I just had to come here and share my excitement with you all. (Kentucky Twang)
I subscribe to an e-publication called National Fibromyalgia Association. (http://www.fmaware.org) This is an online place to go to learn more about this mysterious and not so mysterious disease we Fibromites deal with.
Hopefully many of you are already members of this area. Membership has always been and continues to be free.
I am excited because this organization has been able to reach so many people and do what I have not been able to do.
I have a dream… more on that later. First, my fantastic news.
The NFA has published, for the first time a Newsletter. It is called “Fibromyalgia - Chronic Pain News Report. And it is free to those who subscribe the NFA.
I highly recommend you checking it out. You can go to your search engine and just plug in “National Fibromyalgia Association” and really find a place to learn more about Fibromyalgia.
This First newsletter from the NFA includes the following topics:
*Cervical Spinal Cord Abnormalities and Fibromyalgia
*Fibromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Research Study
*Research Physician Launches Innovative Fibromyalgia Treatment Program
*Juvenile Fibromyalgia - an under diagnosed, under treated anomaly
*Fibromyalgia Advocacy at Work
* NFA statement on recent studies linking obesity to Fibromyalgia symptoms.
As I said starting out, all of this is free, free information. Information is the beginning of knowledge; how exciting for all of us.
A short summary and then I’d like to share my dream.
Cervical Spinal Cord Abnormalities and Fibromyalgia
In 1997 there was a Fibromyalgia Symposium in Portland, Oregon. That Symposium discussed the discoveries and the implications for Fibromites.
270 people with a fibromyalgia diagnosis were studied in 2004 and was written about in the European Spine Journal.
Whether the patients manifested neurological signs of Cervical Myleopathy was the objective.
The conclusion was that some of the patients with Fibromyalgia have both signs and symptoms consistent with Cervical Myeolopathy, most likely stemming from spinal cord compression. (Further tests are needed to discover if Cervical Myeolopathy treatment would help the pain folks are suffering and possibly eliminate it.) We are talking surgery here.
Forty patients had the surgery and showed significant improvement to all symptoms attributed to Fibromyalgia.
Thirty-one patients did not have the surgery and showed no improvement.
The article goes on to compare symptoms shared by Fibromyalgia, Cervical Stenosis and Chiari Malformation.
Just to clarify a little (and I know this seems like a lot to take in, but it is so exciting and such a big thing for fibromyalgia sufferers, bear with me,) here are the simple definitions:
Chiari Malformation is a malformation of the brain caused by the shape of the skull.
Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck area or upper part of the spine (C1 through C7). This narrowing can pinch the spinal cord and nerve roots.
Cervical Myeolopathy indicates injury to the spinal cord and its function.
There is so much in this article I find it difficult to share it all here in a hub. I not only hope you will read it, I highly recommend you read and research it for yourself. This could be the break through we have been hoping for.
To access this free publication you first join the National Fibromyalgia Association for free. (Always free) fmaware.org
Then you request the “Fibromyalgia Chronic Pain News Report” and it is also free (at least for a year).
We need to ban together and help to educate ourselves and share our knowledge. This newsletter is chocked full of good and interesting information. It is pertinent to us today. Won’t you please go check it out?
I am so excited to see active advice that encourages and actually points us in a direction that certainly can improve our quality of life.
Oh there is also a Fibromyalgia/Irritable Bowel research study report. Go to http://surveymonkey.com/s/FMandIBS and check it out.
My resources for this hub are:
NFA is on Facebook,so you can find them there as well as their website.
www.YouTube.com/NFAChannel;
www.fibroblog.org;
www.fmaware.org.
For pain treatment topics go to www.pain-topics.org.
This site not only offers great information about Fibromyalgia and other painful conditions it also has an open forum where you can leave pertinent comments and ask questions of others of like-circumstances.
I hope you go, check it all out and come away lifted up as I have.
The sun has been shining and the stars have been out for the past two days. It has been so awesome. I am on a high, can you tell? A natural high!
Happy Spring to you all!!
I said I was going to tell you about my dream, but the hour is waxing late so I will make another hub about my dream…soon.
