Posted on 02/17/2003 12:25:36 PM PST by GailA
New drug relieves pain from Fibromyalgia February 17, 2003
Conventional medications, such as Tylenol, Motrin or even morphine, provide little relief to sufferers of fibromyalgia, a mysterious and debilitating pain disorder. But a new drug might be able to thwart the nerve signals that scientists believe trigger the pain.
"This is a real breakthrough not only because it works, but it proves fibromyalgia can be treated," says Dr. Leslie Crofford, a rheumatologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who has studied the new drug, pregabalin.
The syndrome affects an estimated 5.6 million Americans.
Pregabalin reduces the release of specific brain chemicals, such as glutamate and noradrenaline, that may cause pain, says Terry Griesing, a neurology researcher with Pfizer Inc.
The drug, which still needs FDA approval, could be on the market as early as 2004.
Also as GailA, I had a series of emotional traumas, have a "Type A+ personality" which they also feel were contributing factors. I had rather severe compression trauma (from the accident) in most of the cervical spine, which has progressed into arthritis and ocassional continued nerve root irritation. I have been in physical therapy for the better part of 20 years. Have had two TMJ surgeries, including the "killer" as I call it with 5 plates and enough hardware to start my own store, and have at least two more to go.
With all due respect, I get a little irritated when doctors try to use "infection" as a cause for everything. I was also treated for peptic ulcers in my 20s, which again, had nothing to do with infection. Of course 20 years later, that was the medical buzzword for the cause of ulcers. Anyone who's had them will tell you ....IT WAS PROBABLY STRESS! I REALLY wish you guys would get on the right track with this stuff...I know many of you try, but some of us are tired of suffering so the medical profession can try a new, stronger antibiotic.
We are hoping for some promising anti-cancer drugs to get approved and they are screwing up the approval even when they are showing reults in the phase III clinical trials!
Yes, but not the cough syrup form. It has too many other things in it that shouldn't be taken. I take Mucinex which is over the counter Guaifenesin tablets (600 mg.)
The guai protocol, how and why it works and more about FMS is at
http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/ (Dr. Paul St. Armand who was mentioned in post #32).
I tried to make this link but it didn't work...oh, well.
My mom, too. She's 62 and is really bad. She mentioned Dr. Kevorkian once.
Mom is on so much medication. The docs , over the years, have just put her on so much stuff....Prozac, Wellbutrin, Celebrex, drugs for reflux disease, sleeping meds, Vicodin, HBP med. and more. She takes all this stuff in one day.
Her case is pretty advanced because she has almost every symptom (inside and out) that can be attributed to FMS. She keeps going to specialists who run tests to no avail. I keep telling her, "It's the fibro, Ma."
Looking forward to the day when it's understood, lol!
Could you explain that just a bit? Do you mean symptoms from infections? Herpes 6?
I'm a type B personality usually, until you get my dander stirred up over an important issue.
I noticed when I lost weight a few years ago that I had less muscle pain. BUT I've regained it over the past 2 years and the pain level is UP again.
Had a total hysterectomy about 8 years ago, and after 9 months on the estrogen patch I discovered that the estrogen was causing ALL KINDS of Gastro-Intestinal problems. When I stopped taking estrogen (took 30 days for side effects to disappear) the GI problems STOPPED.
IF you are having GI problems and taking estrogen you might want to reaccess your GI conditions. One of the side effects of estrogen that is listed in that #6 pica print is GI side effects. Acid, gas, bladder/bowel spasms, constipation. My bowel stopped working unless I took a laxative. Tried maniuplating my diet to relieve this but that did not work.
Your mom should see about weaning herself off some of them and I'd bet a lot of her symptoms would disappear. I still maintain most of the symptoms we are complaining of besides the initial FMS ones are caused by the DRUGS we are given and not monitored for side effects. Docs tend not to consider side effects when we complain of a new health problem. It took about 2 months on estrogen before the worst of my "new" symptoms manifested themselves. The immediate one was the acid. Slowly over a period of 9 months the others made themselves felt, VERY painfully.
When I was put on Lodine the acid got so bad that I was on a strong dose of Tagamet 2 times a day and it BARELY phased the acid.
I've gotten more relief from the vit/min therapy than I ever did from the chemicals. Some of the natural stuff also causes the GI side effects for me. Black Cohosh is one of them as is cronium pictolate.
I now closely monitor every thing I put into my body for side effects, which is a lesson I learned the hard way.
They're a little easier to tolerate than their counterparts, NSAIDS (anti-inflammatory) or Codeine, but they still do some damage.
Unfortunately, she probably depends on them to ease the pain. Ask her to be sure she takes these meds WITH food, but aside from lowering the dosage or quitting these drugs altogether, the reflux problem will probaby never improve and could get worse, leading to a whole new set of problems.
BINGO!
That's ONE reason why I have been sooooo impressed by the Alpha-Stim. It is a drug-free solution, it doesn't interfere with others and it WORKS...FAST.
I have a Type-A personality and it helps me to keep the benefits of the Type-A, but also have the benefits of Type-B...and none of the drawbacks of either. It has been a GODSEND for my family and me.
I've heard of whole body cleansing to flush the body of toxic build up. I don't think I could tolerate that. But it should be considered.
TIP 2: SYMPTOMS OF HYPOTHYROIDISM AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT
If you have fatigue, weight gain, low motivation and ambition, heat and/or cold intolerance, headaches and migraines, dry skin and hair, irritability, anxiety and panic attacks, hair loss, fluid retention, depression, decreased memory and concentration, unhealthy nails, brittle nails, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, low sex drive, insomnia, hives, asthma, allergies, slow healing, acne, or carpal tunnel syndrome, you may have a thyroid disorder.
If you have you experienced female problems (tumors, fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, PMS, cramps, (dysmenorrhea), amenorrhea, female cancers, spontaneous abortion, cyclic seizures, dry vagina and infertility), weight problems (usually high, sometimes low), gallbladder disease (six times higher in women with excess estrogen or on birth control pills or ERT), heart disease, cancer, colon problems, low blood sugar, attention deficit disorder (ADD), adrenal exhaustion from excess secretion of adrenaline, and osteoporosis (from excess estrogen leading to excess adrenaline and then to excess cortisol), you may have thyroid disease.
Why is it so important to take note of your symptoms?
If you don't get your thyroid disease diagnosed and start a course of proper treatment, you are setting yourself up for many problems down the road. The longer you leave it untreated, the harder it is to respond to the treatment when you do get it.
POLL question: How many of us suffering FMS and hypothyroid also suffer from real bad eye sight? I'm 55 I've thought my 50% loss of vision over the past 10 years was due to aging. Now I'm not so sure. I've worn tri-focals for the past 5 years. They keep getting stronger and stronger. My reader portion is especially strong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.