Skip to main content

Disruption Of Brain Signals May Play A Role in Fibromyalgia Pain

The term 'hyperalgesia" comes from the Greek language. It is defined as "an increased sensitivity to pain, which may be caused by damage to nociceptors or peripheral nerves."  



  .........New research findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatism suggest that a disruption in brain signals for reward and punishment...contributing to hyperalgesia in patients with fibromyalgia. 
"In patients with fibromyalgia there is an alteration in the central nervous system pain processingand a poor response to topical pain treatments, trigger point injections and opioids," said lead author Dr.Marco Loggia from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Our study examines the disruption of brain function involved in the individual experience of pain anticipation and pain relief."

This study consisted of 45 subjects: 31 of these had fibromyalgia, while the other 14 were identified as healthy. All subjects were subject to cuff pressure on the leg while an MRI was being performed. Dr. Loggia concludes, "Our findings suggest that fibromyalgia patients exhibit altered brain responses to punishing and rewarding events, such as expectancy of pain and relief of pain. These observations may contribute to explain the heightened sensitivity to pain, as well as the lack of effectiveness of pain medications such as opioids, observed in these patients. Future studies should further investigate the neurochemical basis underlying these dysfunctions."

So while, the jury is still out...it is good to know that the mystery of fibromyalgia is being studied extensively.  I hope for all of you in the storm of fibromyalgia...that the rainbow is soon at hand!

Source: Medical News Today, Wikipedia
Labels:

Comments

  1. AlexJune 29, 2021 at 11:24 AM

    Fibromyalgia involves lot of conical pain and Fibromyalgia pain management help to reduce pain. Thanks for sharing valuable information on Fibromyalgia pain and treatment.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Living with Chronic pain hits the big screen!

Been to the movies lately?  Jennifer Aniston is on the big screen in a recent release titled "Cake." Her character, Claire is a victim of chronic pain...she belongs to a support group, where all of the members are coming to terms with the suicide of one of their members.  Of course, she also takes pain medication and addiction is another of her problems...and of course there's more! I guess I am writing this post just to bring readers' attention to the fact that Hollywood has become aware of the crisis that is chronic pain.  This movie is a testament to that. People that don't have to live with this kind of pain don't fully understand the whole story.  Maybe this movie will shed some light on the issues. Here is the official trailer for the movie: Sources: prweb;NorthJersey.com;YouTube
Post a Comment
Read more

Effectiveness Of Ozone Injections Is No Longer Up In The Air

Most of us know someone who has osteoarthritis, if we don't have it ourselves.  Joint replacement surgery is a pretty common remedy when the joint becomes severely damaged and the patient is in a lot of pain.  With risk of complications from such a surgery, perhaps an alternative treatment should be tried first. One such remedy is the injection of a synthetic version of collagen(e.g. Synvisc®) into the affected joint.  This procedure restores the cushioning to a joint that has degenerated over the years. It can diminish the pain substantially and help put off joint replacement surgery for months to years.  The biggest drawback is that these products are expensive.   GoodRX , a web site that can be used to estimate the cost of medications, estimates the cost of these products to be over $1,000 each. Here's another example--and I am not sure how widely accepted this protocol has become since study authors introduced it in November 2015.  Are you r...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fibromyalgia Week: Day 2

Tender points...click caption for WebMD animation Tender points are a unique feature of fibromaylgia.  There are 18 such points on the human body (9 pairs as shown).  Using special technique by hand or a dolorimeter, a fibromyalgia patient will experience pain in at least 11 points, and there will be at least one painful tender point in each quadrant of the body! One study found that up to 96% of fibromyalgia patients suffer from sleep disorders. It is believed that this is responsible for a deprivation of delta sleep, during which human growth hormone is produced. This hormone is essential to tissue repair. Other common problems in fibromyalgia are fatigue, concentration/memory ("fibro fog"), and depression.  There is no doubt in my mind that just enabling the patient to sleep well on a regular basis would be of great benefit! It is not uncommon for fibromyalgia patients to have coexisting conditions--some of these are lupus, disease, irritable bowel syndrom...
Post a Comment
Read more