Fibromyalgia Research

Martinez-Lavin Fibromyalgia Research – August 2013

“We studied a group of patients with fibromyalgia and compared them with healthy controls. By means of portable recorders, we registered the subjects’ heartbeat for 24 hours while they followed their routine daily activities.  We found that patients with fibromyalgia have relentless hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.  This abnormality was also evident during sleeping hours. In a different study, we subjected patients with fibromyalgia to a simple stress test (to stand up).  We observed a paradoxical derangement of the sympathetic nervous system response to the upright posture.  Such findings have been confirmed by other groups of investigators.”

“The results of these studies suggest that a fundamental alteration of fibromyalgia is a disordered function of the autonomic nervous system.  Patients with fibromyalgia lose the normal day/night cycles (circadian rhythms) and have a relentless sympathetic hyperactivity throughout 24 hours.  This may explain the sleeping problems that the patients have.  At the same time, such individuals have sympathetic hypo-reactivity to stress, which could explain the profound fatigue, morning stiffness and other complaints associated to low blood pressure.  This autonomic nervous system dysfunction could induce other symptoms of fibromyalgia such as irritable bowel, urinary discomfort, limb numbness, anxiety and dryness of the eyes and mouth.”

“Fibromyalgia’s defining features (chronic widespread pain and tenderness to palpation) could be explained by the mechanism known as “sympathetically maintained pain”.  After a triggering event (physical/emotional trauma, infections) relentless sympathetic hyperactivity may develop in susceptible individuals.  This hyperactivity induces excessive norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline) secretion, that could in turn sensitize central and peripheral pain receptors and thus induce widespread pain and widespread tenderness.  Exquisite tenderness at palpation (its medical term is allodynia) is a typical sympathetically maintained pain feature.  This mechanism of pain is supported by our finding that norepinephrine (noradrenaline) injections induce pain in fibromyalgia patients.   Fibromyalgia has neuropathic pain features since it is a stimulus-independent pain state accompanied by hypersensitivity to palpation (its medical term is allodynia), and abnormal sensations such as tingling, burning, or electric-shocks.  There are important similarities between fibromyalgia and the localized painful syndrome named reflex sympathetic dystrophy.  As matter of fact we propose that fibromyalgia is a generalized form of reflex sympathetic dystrophy.  Recent evidence confirms our proposal the FM is a sympathetically maintained neuropathic pain syndrome.  There is evidence that FM patients frequently have “small fiber neuropathy”.  This type of alteration produces not only persistent pain, but also the sympathetic dysfunction seen in FM.”

Researchers Develop Reliable Way To Use Finger Stick Blood Sample To Detect Fibromyalgia Syndrome – July 24 2013

“Researchers have developed a reliable way to use a finger-stick blood sample to detect fibromyalgia syndrome, a complicated pain disorder that often is difficult to diagnose.”

“If it were someday made available to primary care physicians, the test could knock up to five years off of the wait for a diagnosis, researchers predict.”

“In a pilot study, the scientists used a high-powered and specialized microscope to detect the presence of small molecules in blood-spot samples from patients known to have fibromyalgia.”

“By “training” the equipment to recognize that molecular pattern, the researchers then showed that the microscope could tell the difference between fibromyalgia and two types of arthritis that share some of the same symptoms.”

“Though more analysis is needed to identify exactly which molecules are related to development of the disorder itself, the researchers say their pilot data are promising.”

“We’ve got really good evidence of a test that could be an important aid in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia patients,” said Tony Buffington, professor of veterinary clinical sciences at The Ohio State University and senior author of the study.  “We would like this to lead to an objective test for primary care doctors to use, which could produce a diagnosis as much as five years before it usually occurs.”

Researchers Claim ‘Breakthrough’ In Fibromyalgia Study – June 19 2013

“Researchers are touting a “breakthrough discovery” in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia – a complex and painful condition that affects millions of people around the world.”

“In a new studybeing published in Pain Medicine, the journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, researchers based at Albany Medical College say they may have finally found the first biological evidence of what causes fibromyalgia.”

“Instead of being in the brain, the pathology consists of excessive sensory nerve fibers around specialized blood vessel structures located in the palms of the hands,” said Frank Rice, PhD, President of Integrated Tissue Dynamics LLC (Intidyn) and the senior researcher on the study.”

“In a small study of fibromyalgia patients, researchers found an “enormous increase” in sensory nerve fibers in the blood vessels of the skin on the patients’ palms.  The extra nerve fibers appear to disrupt the normal flow of blood, which may explain why many fibromyalgia patients often complain of tenderness or pain in their hands and feet.”

Objective Evidence That Small-Fiber Polyneuropathy Underlies Some Illnesses Currently Labeled As Fibromyalgia – June 5 2013

Abstract

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Of Pramipexole, A Dopamine Agonist, In Patients With Fibromyalgia Receiving Concomitant Medications – August 2005

Yoga Boosts Stress-Busting Hormone, Reduces Pain, Study Finds – July 27 2011

“A new study finds that practicing yoga reduces the physical and psychological symptoms of chronic pain in women with fibromyalgia.  The study is the first to look at the effects of yoga on cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia.  Participants’ saliva revealed elevated levels of total cortisol foll…”