Study: Exercise may help memory of Fibro patients

This was a study on fibromyalgia, memory and exercise.

Fibromyalgia patients who stopped taking their medication and then exercised regularly for six weeks reported improved memory function and less pain, according to a small, study.
 

I think this is an interesting study, especially for those of us with cognitive symptoms and those who are not happy taking medications for their Fibromyalgia.

Exercise has long been recommended to fibromyalgia patients, and some find it improves their sense of well-being.

"This is a first look at understanding how exercise alters memory performance, Dr. Brian Walitt, director of the Fibromyalgia Evaluation and Research Center at Georgetown University Medical Center said of the study.

The interesting part of the study, to me, was that when they initially took the fibro patients off the medicine, they performed worse on the tests and then the longer they stayed off the medications and exercised, their cognitive performance returned to normal levels. Also the women, in the study, had to do three thirty minute sessions of aerobic activity a week and Dr Walitt admitted that some people with Fibromyalgia may not be able to do this.

Look below for the complete infographic on how memory works

The main take away for me from this research was that:

One of the main issues in brain fog is the inability to get oxygen and nutrients to the brain. In some people this can be a circulation issue so it makes sense that exercise can help.

So apparently the next time we are experiencing a bad bout of fibro fog we just have to remember to exercise! Well I guess really we should be exercising on a regular basis.

What kind of exercise will you be doing or are you doing regularly? I am doing hydrotherapy just once a week but I hope to increase that soon and I also do some simple arm and leg and neck exercises every single day.

I would love you to post the exercise you do here, especially if you feel it benefits your fibro.

You may also like this article on Yoga and the benefits to people with Fibromyalgia.

Yoga is not considered an aerobic activity but may be easier for some people to participate in.

SOURCES:

Brian Walitt, M.D., M.P.H., director, Fibromyalgia Evaluation and Research Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; I. Jon Russell, M.D., Ph.D., fibromyalgia researcher and consultant, San Antonio, Texas; Nov. 13, 2011, presentation, Society of Neuroscience annual meeting, in Washington, D.C.

HealthDay

To view memory infographic more clearly go here 

The sleep connection with fibro

Here is more evidence of the sleep connection with Fibromyalgia: According to a Norwegian study Sleeping Poorly Could Increase Fibromyalgia Risk in Women.

Previously attributed to genetics, infections, and emotional or physical trauma, scientists now believe fibromyalgia is caused by disruptions in the sleep cycle. Published November 14, 2011 in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Apparently 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia are women and we typically start getting it in middle age.

Previously researchers have found that insomnia, night time waking and fatigue are common symptoms experienced by fibromyalgia patients, but it wasn't known if these sleep problems caused the development of fibromyalgia.

Norwegian researchers enrolled 12,350 healthy women, 20 years and older, with no musculoskeletal pain or movement disorders and followed them for 10 years. At the end of the 10 years, 327 (2.6 percent) of the women had developed fibromyalgia.

 "Our findings indicate a strong association between sleep disturbance and fibromyalgia risk in adult women," Dr. Paul Mork, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. "We found a dose-response relation, where women who often reported sleep problems had a greater risk of fibromyalgia than those who never experienced sleep problems."

 SOURCE: U.S. News

 OTHER ARTICLES ON SLEEP:

•  My unresolved sleep problems when living with fibromyalgia
•  Sleep problems may predict later pain problems 
•  Sleep and fibromyalgia: A collection of articles on sleep at Fibro Blogger Directory
• Poor sleep is not a significant predictor of fibromyalgia pain intensity and duration

Fibromyalgia: A Disorder of the Brain?

"...studies of brain anatomy show structural differences between the brains of fibromyalgia patients and healthy individuals. The cerebral alterations offer a compelling explanation for the multiple symptoms of fibromyalgia, including widespread pain and affective disturbances."

This article by Petra Schweinhardt, Khara M. Sauro and M. Catherine Bushnell comes to the conclusion that despite the many changes seen in the brain imaging, "fibromyalgia might not be a primary disorder of the brain but may be a consequence of early life stress or prolonged or severe stress."

This stress is thought to change pain and emotion circuits in the brain of people who are genetically susceptible.

This idea sits well with my own personal experience - 5 children ! This has been stressful for me over a period of time. How about you... does it ring true?

ARTICLE ABSTRACT

This article presents evidence that fibromyalgia patients have alterations in CNS anatomy, physiology, and chemistry that potentially contribute to the symptoms experienced by these patients.

There is substantial psychophysical evidence that fibromyalgia patients perceive pain and other noxious stimuli differently than healthy individuals and that normal pain modulatory systems, such as diffuse noxious inhibitory control mechanisms, are compromised in fibromyalgia. 

Furthermore, functional brain imaging studies revealing enhanced pain-related activations corroborate the patients' reports of increased pain. 

Neurotransmitter studies show that fibromyalgia patients have abnormalities in dopaminergic, opioidergic, and serotoninergic systems.

Finally, studies of brain anatomy show structural differences between the brains of fibromyalgia patients and healthy individuals. 

The cerebral alterations offer a compelling explanation for the multiple symptoms of fibromyalgia, including widespread pain and affective disturbances. The frequent comorbidity of fibromyalgia with stress-related disorders, such as chronic fatigue, posttraumatic stress disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression, as well as the similarity of many CNS abnormalities, suggests at least a partial common substrate for these disorders. 

Despite the numerous cerebral alterations, fibromyalgia might not be a primary disorder of the brain but may be a consequence of early life stress or prolonged or severe stress, affecting brain modulatory circuitry of pain and emotions in genetically susceptible individuals. 
NEUROSCIENTIST 14(5):415—421, 2008. DOI: 10.1177/1073858407312521

Brain MRI

This post is linked up at Fibro Friday

Location of tender points in Fibromyalgia

When you are aching all over and you feel like you've been run over by a truck it is hard to say if the tender points actually hurt!