Fibromyalgia research findings from Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic Associate Professor, Terry H. Oh, M.D., talks about her fibromyalgia research findings in the Fibromyalgia Treatment Program, including symptom severity and quality of life, such as obesity, alcohol consumption and age, in patients with fibromyalgia.
With a database of more than 1,000 fibro patients, she shares some of the findings from the database in this video.


SOME OF THE TRANSCRIPT: Fibromyalgia is a symptom complex characterized by chronic widespread pain and a constellation of symptoms such as fatigue, poor sleep, and cognitive symptoms. It affects about 2% of the population and is more common in women. Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder, and the condition negatively affects the quality of life and can have a devastating effect on people's lives.
The Mayo Clinic has a comprehensive fibromyalgia treatment program, which was established in 1999.
Our dedicated team members include nurses, therapists, wellness coaches, nurse practitioners, and physicians...

Our program focuses on cognitive-behavioral therapies. We wanted to see how our patients do after undergoing the program. The majority of our patients reported improvement in their symptoms and quality of life after undergoing the program. However, we noted that some did not improve. Therefore, we analyzed the factors associated with treatment outcomes. Our study showed that those who had a greater benefit were younger, had more years of education, had higher baseline depression score on the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire,
a lower number of tender points, and did not have an abuse history.

We looked into factors associated with symptoms and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia.
So we looked into BMI status, and we noticed that obesity was more common in our patients than the general population.
Close to 50% of our patients were obese, and furthermore, those obese, about half of them were severely obese. Then we examined the association between BMI and their symptom severity and quality of life.
Our study found that those obese had worse fibromyalgia symptoms and worse quality of life compared to those non-obese and overweight.

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS FOR FIBROMYALGIA

By Alternative Treatments, I mean treatments that are used instead of conventional, mainstream medicine. 

Some people call it complementary medicine or integrative medicine. Some doctors are starting to recommend and use these alternative treatments and the term 'complementary' is preferred by them because they don't see them as a substitute but something that can be used alongside conventional medicine. 

In Australia, 60 percent of the population say they have tried some form of alternative medicine. in the US there is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and they have reports of research results into natural treatments and evidence-based reviews. In the UK there is The Complementary Medical Association and the British Complementary Medicine Association (BCMA). In Europe there are many groups including The European Society of Integrative Medicine which is an international association supporting the science, research, education and further training, and evidence-based medicine in Integrative Medicine.

Alternative treatments include a long list of therapies – herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, iridology, massage, homeopathy, Ayurvedic medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic medicine, dietary supplements and herbal remedies and many more. There is more and more research being conducted to back up the effectiveness of these treatments.

Many of these traditional therapies have been used for hundreds of years which should count for something. Apparently, they were removed from the market after the discovery of penicillin.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used for over 3,500 years and combines herbal medicine, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and diet and exercise. 

The use of herbal medicine goes back thousands of years, with the earliest written records in 2800 BC in China.

Ayurvedic Medicine is a medical system that started in India more than 3,000 years ago and is still used today.

Over the years that I have been blogging, I have tried many natural alternative treatments to help reduce the symptoms of Fibromyalgia and I have written about them here on this blog.

Many things have helped me and some have not. I always find it interesting to read other people's experiences with things that may help. Please have a look and see if any might be of interest to you:

• Compassion and love to treat illness

• Traditional Chinese Medicine and Fibromyalgia

• Ayurvedic Treatment for Fibromyalgia?

• Why Omega 3 is so important

• Guaifenesin Protocol

• Yoga improves Fibromyalgia symptoms

• Nutrition-Based Approach to helping relieve symptoms of Fibromyalgia

• Homeopathy effective in fibromyalgia

• Homeopathy helping Fibromyalgia

• Laughter and Fibromyalgia

• Magnesium

• Myofascial Pain Syndrome and fibromyalgia treatment: video

• Is this fibro treatment controversial or am I behind the times? New Stem Cell Treatment for Fibromyalgia?

• What the viewers poll said about alternative treatments for fibro

Have you heard of the Fibro Log Tool

This online tool from American Chronic Pain Association will help you log your pain and fatigue with fibromyalgia. It is a good way to daily track your symptoms and progress while allowing you to save and print off the log to share with your doctor. 

When you understand what makes your pain worse, you can begin to reduce or deal with your pain triggers. The more you know about how your body reacts, the more you can be in control. Being in better control may help you manage your pain.

 Fibro Log Tool

LINKED UP AT FIBRO FRIDAY No.5

Can Low-Impact Exercises Help Fibromyalgia?

Exercise is a divided topic within the fibromyalgia community and with many people who have chronic pain conditions. Why? Because some people find it very useful and some find it aggravates their condition.

Getting it just right for the individual living with chronic pain is an issue. Many people believe you should push through the pain and do exercise and many people with fibro find this ridiculous.

I believe the kind of exercise you do when you live with chronic pain is crucial.

The other thing that is important is your current situation... are you bed-ridden, living in a wheel-chair, able to walk around easily or walking with the help of a cane?

Low-impact exercises have definitely been shown to improve symptoms of fibromyalgia in different studies. It can lessen pain and improve fitness. A 2007 study found that women with fibromyalgia in a four-month exercise program reported significant improvements in physical function, fatigue, and depression.

But don't overdo it. Walking, stretching, and water WALKING are good things to start with.

Low-impact means that the impact on our joints, especially our knee, ankles and hips is reduced. Some helpful low-impact exercises include:

Yoga and Tai chi:

Yoga and tai chi are practices that combine meditation, slow movements, deep breathing and relaxation. Both have been found to be helpful in controlling fibromyalgia symptoms.

A study by Oregon Health and Science University has confirmed that yoga is of benefit to fibro sufferers.

A study published in 2018 found that tai chi was helpful and recommended in reducing fibromyalgia symptoms.

Pilates:

Significant improvement was observed in both pain and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionaire after 12 weeks of Pilates exercises according to this study.

Walking:

The Mayo Clinic lists walking as the number one form of exercise for fibromyalgia. Walking can decrease your pain and stiffness.

Start off slowly, for example, with 10-minute walks. Then build up your time.

Gentle water aerobics and Hydrotherapy:

Warm water can be relaxing to muscles and joints and the water supports your body making exercise easier.

Aquatic training is beneficial for improving wellness, symptoms, and fitness in adults with fibromyalgia according to this systematic review.

Exercise can reduce stress and relieve muscle tension and pain. It can improve your range of motion and flexibility. It can restore muscle strength or prevent it from deteriorating. It increases serotonin in the brain which makes us feel calmer.

So why don't we exercise? It's like a catch 22 situation where exercise can make us feel better on so many levels but we actually have to feel good, or at least okay, to want to get up off the lounge and exercise.

I have been exercising again, after a break, and I feel so much better. It's not just that it gives structure to my week but I actually feel better: less pain and stronger arm muscles. Before it killed me to carry the groceries in from the car and now I can actually manage. So that is a big improvement.

It wasn't easy to get started with exercise, I really had to force myself. I made it like an appointment I had to keep and just stuck to it and now I really look forward to it and thoroughly enjoy it…nothing too vigorous just gentle walking three days a week, hydrotherapy one day and exercises recommended by the physiotherapist on the other three days.

The thing I have found important is to start very slowly with whatever exercise I try and build up slowly. I've been a very active person in my past and learning to go slow at the start and realize I am no longer that same person has been a huge learning curve for me.

Do you manage to fit exercise into your life? Do you have any handy hints for getting moving?

Maybe you already exercise and want to take it up a notch. If so, reading Kim's inspiring story may help.

This post was LINKED UP AT FIBRO FRIDAY


SOURCES:

Archives of Internal Medicine. Nov. 12, 2007;167(20):2192-200.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17998491
Altan L, Korkmaz N, Bingol U, Gunay B. Effect of Pilates training on people with fibromyalgia syndrome: a pilot study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009;90:1983–8. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2009.06.021.


Aquatic exercise training for fibromyalgia.
Bidonde J, Busch AJ, Webber SC, Schachter CL, Danyliw A, Overend TJ, Richards RS, Rader T.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014 Oct 28; (10):CD011336. Epub 2014 Oct 28.