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The Fibromyalgia Community Newsletter # 14
Sunday, 03/23/2002
Subscription update: 1449 subscribers, 44 new subscribers.
Welcome!
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Featured Link:
It's a Guy Thing: Men with Fibromyalgia Check it out:
http://fmaware.org/patient/coping/men.htm
AOL users: <a href="http://fmaware.org/patient/coping/men.htm">Read it here</a>
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In this issue:
1) Online support group links
2) Article - Accuracy of Online Health Information Is Improving
3) Abstract - Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for fibromyalgia and
musculoskeletal pain in working age adults
4) Resource - Lecture tape now available from NYSN
5) Abstract - The meaning of fatigue and tiredness as narrated by women with
fibromyalgia and healthy women.
6) Notice - Dallas area showing of "I Remember Me"
7) Resource - Exercise Prescription for Fibromyalgia: A Plan for Patients
8) Article - Chronic Cluster Headache May Resolve With Melatonin Treatment
9) Commentary -
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1) Online support groups:
Fibromyalgia: http://communities.msn.com/FibromyalgiaSupportCDnD
AOL users: <a
href="http://communities.msn.com/FibromyalgiaSupportCDnD">Read it here</a>
Chronic Diseases and Disorders:
http://communities.msn.com/ChronicDiseasesandDisordersCommunity
AOL users: <a
href="http://communities.msn.com/ChronicDiseasesandDisordersCommunity">Read
it here</a>
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2) Article: Accuracy of Online Health Information Is Improving
by Daniel J. DeNoon
NEW YORK (MedscapeWire) Mar 11 - Two studies in the March 9 issue of the British
Medical Journal, a theme issue on the trustworthiness of health information on
the Internet, show it's not always easy to know whether to believe online health
information. A third study in the same issue shows that despite these concerns,
health information on the Internet has improved over the past few years.
(You may need to signup for Medscape to view this article)
Check it out:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/429738?srcmp=wh-031502
AOL users: <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/429738?srcmp=wh-031502>Read
it here</a>
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3) Abstract: Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for fibromyalgia and
musculoskeletal pain in working age adults.
Updated: 01/01/2002 from Cochrane Review Abstracts
Background: Non-malignant musculoskeletal pain is an increasing problem in
western countries. Fibromyalgia syndrome is an increasing recognised chronic
musculoskeletal disorder.
Objectives: The objective of this systematic review was to determine the
effectiveness of multidisciplinary rehabilitation for fibromyalgia and
widespread musculoskeletal pain among working age adults.
Check it out:
http://www.update-software.com/abstracts/ab001984.htm
AOL users: <a href="http://www.update-software.com/abstracts/ab001984.htm">Read
it here</a>
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4) Resource: Lecture tape now available from NYSN
On December 2, 2001 New York Support Network, Inc.
(NYSN) hosted Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum's lecture on chronic fatigue syndrome and
fibromyalgia. Tapes of this lecture can be purchased at the CFIDS/FMS Support
Group of Rockland County meeting on March
28 (http://nysn.org/rockland) for $15.00 or by sending a check or money order
for $18.50 ($15.00 plus $3.50 shipping and handling) to:
NYSN, Inc.
PO Box 1085 Pearl River, NY 10965-0604
Please make checks payable to: NYSN, Inc.
For more information email Kathy Murphy at k.mu-@nysn.org
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5) Abstract: The meaning of fatigue and tiredness as narrated by women with
fibromyalgia and healthy women.
Journal: J Clin Nurs 2002 Mar;11(2):247-255 Authors: Soderberg S, Lundman B,
Norberg A.
Affiliations: Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Lulea
University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden, Associate Professor, Department of
Nursing, Umea University, Umea, Sweden, Professor, Department of Nursing, Umea
University, Umea, Sweden.
NLM Citation: PMID: 11903724
The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of fatigue and tiredness as
narrated by women with fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy women.
Twenty-five women with FM were interviewed with a narrative approach about the
meaning of the lived experience of fatigue and tiredness. A reference group of
25 healthy women was interviewed about the same topic.
A phenomenological-hermeneutic method inspired by the French philosopher Ricoeur
was used to interpret the interview text.
The meaning of fatigue and tiredness was related differently by women with FM
and healthy women. The findings are presented in four major themes for women
with FM - the body as a burden, an absent presence, an interfering obstacle and
being in hope of alleviation - and in one major theme for healthy women: needing
recovery.
Women with FM narrated fatigue as making it obvious that I have a body, instead
of I am my body; the lived body becomes urgently present, as an 'it'. Healthy
women narrated tiredness as a natural phenomenon when they need recovery and
time to rest.
The findings are interpreted in the light of the phenomenological work on the
lived body by Leder, Toombs and Merleau-Ponty.
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6) Notice: Dallas area showing of "I Remember Me" - a documentary about chronic
fatigue syndrome
Saturday, May 11th, 2 PM Theatre in the Commons
3501 N. MacArthur Blvd.
Irving, TX 75062 (Irving is between Dallas & Ft. Worth) (Northernmost building
in the Irving Arts Complex) No Admission Fee - No RSVP's Needed
Presented by: The CFS/FM Support Group of DFW Website:
www.virtualhometown.com/dfwcfids
AOL users: <a href="http://www.virtualhometown.com/dfwcfids">Read it here</a>
Zeitgist Films: www.zeitgeistfilms.com
AOL users: <a href="http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com>Read it here</a>
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Exercise Prescription for Fibromyalgia: A Plan for Patients From Beginner to
Advanced ImmuneSupport.com
March 20, 2002 By Colleen Black-Brown
Editor's Note: The following information has been prepared by the author for
health care professionals as a guide to developing exercise programs for their
fibromyalgia patients. We recommend that you discuss exercise with your health
care professional before beginning a program.
If we know that exercise is beneficial, then how, when and what type of exercise
should you as a professional prescribe to your client whose constant companions
are pain and overwhelming fatigue? The cause of FM has not been pinpointed but
what has been found to be true is that the fitness or aerobic capacity of fibros
is ½ to that of normal individuals. Also, strength levels are significantly less
in fibros (fibromyalgia patients) compared to age and sex matched 'normal'
individuals.
Check it out:
http://www.immunesupport.com/library/bulletinarticle.cfm?ID=3443
AOL users: <a href="http://www.immunesupport.com/library/bulletinarticle.cfm?ID=3443">Read
it here</a>
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8) Article - Chronic Cluster Headache May Resolve With Melatonin Treatment
Reuters Health Information 2002. © 2002 Reuters Ltd
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Preventive treatment with melatonin provided
complete relief in two patients with long-standing chronic cluster headache,
clinicians at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia report.
Drs. Mario F. P. Peres and Todd D. Rozen describe the cases in the December
issue of Cephalalgia. Both patients experienced daily and nightly headache that
began within 40 minutes to an hour after falling asleep.
The first patient, a 38-year-old man with a 20-year history of headaches, had
been experiencing approximately six headaches per day for at least 10 months a
year. As the authors discuss, remission had never lasted longer than 14 days.
After the patient had tried steroid tapers, valproic acid, verapamil and
lithium, the authors started him on a dose of melatonin 9 mg daily at bed time.
After 2 days, the headaches disappeared for the duration of the 6 months'
follow-up.
The second patient was 40 years old with an 8-year history of excruciating
headaches 3 times a day. Like the first patient, he had experienced no
headache-free periods lasting longer than 2 weeks. The authors documented that
the 9-mg daily dose of melatonin resulted in remission for 8 months.
Drs. Peres and Rozen note that this is the first report of chronic cluster
headache responding to melatonin, and that both nocturnal and daytime cluster
attacks were prevented.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Rozen, who is currently affiliated with
the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, claimed that "melatonin is completely underused."
"The average dose of verapamil required is above 700 mg, more than the PDR
recommends," he said. "With Depakote, we often need 2000 mg. So if we can use an
agent like melatonin that is so benign, that is a real plus."
While the two patients described here continued using the preventive agent they
were previous prescribed, "I've found patients who respond to melatonin alone,"
Dr. Rozen noted. In other patients, the dosage of the prophylactic agent could
be cut in half.
He advises that melatonin be the first line of treatment for cluster headaches,
both episodic and chronic. He has also found success in using melatonin to treat
some migrainous headaches, hypnic headache, delayed sleep phase headache and
seasonal hemicrania continua.
Cephalgia 2001;21:993-995.
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9) Commentary - The Pitfalls of Opioids for Chronic Nonmalignant Pain of Central
Origin
from Medscape Rheumatology Stephen G. Gelfand, MD
A serious medical and social problem today is under intense media, law
enforcement, and regulatory scrutiny: the misuse and abuse of OxyContin
(oxycodone) for chronic nonmalignant pain. This situation has made the drug
difficult to obtain for many patients with malignant and other types of
intractable chronic pain, and has recently influenced the US Food and Drug
Administration to issue a black box warning to lessen the chance of
inappropriate prescribing of this Schedule II narcotic.[1]
Check it out:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/425468_1
AOL users: <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/425468_1">Read
it here</a>
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