Chili Pepper Compound Can Bring Pain Relief

From the FMS News Desk of Jeanne Hambleton COURTESY usnews.com Health Day – Monday March 16 Capsaicin works on nerves to ease joint discomfort, scientists say (HealthDay News) – University of Buffalo scientists say they have found how capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their fiery flavor, also works to relieve joint and muscle [...]

Chronic pain harms the brain

CHICAGO — People with unrelenting pain don’t only suffer from the non-stop sensation of throbbing pain. They also have trouble sleeping, are often depressed, anxious and even have difficulty making simple decisions. In a new study, investigators at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine have identified a clue that may explain how suffering long-term pain [...]

Opioids for managing chronic non-malignant pain: safe and effective prescribing.

Kahan M, Srivastava A, Wilson L, Mailis-Gagnon A, Midmer D. Addiction Medical Service, St Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. kahanm@stjoe.on.ca OBJECTIVE: To review the evidence on safe and effective prescribing of opioids for chronic non-malignant pain. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: MEDLINE was searched using the terms “opioid effectiveness” and “adverse effects.” There is strong evidence [...]

Prevalence of Interpersonal Abuse in Primary Care Patients Prescribed Opioids for Chronic Pain.

Balousek S, Plane MB, Fleming M. Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA. BACKGROUND: Interpersonal abuse is associated with clinical problems including chronic pain disorders. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to describe 30-day and lifetime prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse found in [...]

SOUNDING OFF ABOUT FIBROMYALGIA AWARENESS WEEK

By Jeanne Hambleton© UK Fibromite I know I am always going on about raising awareness and fibromyalgia and this is especially important as far as the UK Government is concerned. Although we have E Petitions allegedly for the eyes of the Prime Minister, asking for support for various aspects of fibromyalgia, I have my doubts [...]

Publication trends in chronic fatigue syndrome: Comparisons with fibromyalgia and fatigue: 1995-2004.

Friedberg F, Sohl S, Schmeizer B. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Stony Brook University, NY, USA. OBJECTIVE: In order to identify publishing patterns in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), we compared the annual number of peer review articles for CFS, fibromyalgia (FM), and non-CFS fatigue over a recent decade (1995-2004). METHOD: Citations were drawn from [...]

Characteristics and healthcare costs of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Berger A, Dukes E, Martin S, Edelsberg J, Oster G. Policy Analysis, Inc. (PAI), Brookline, MA, USA. Purpose: To examine the characteristics and healthcare costs of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients in clinical practice. Materials and methods: Using a US health-insurance database, we identified all patients, aged >/= 18 years, with any healthcare encounters for FMS [...]

Violence, stress, and somatic syndromes.

Crofford LJ. Center for the Advancement of Women’s Health, University of Kentucky. lcrofford@uky.edu. Syndromes characterized by pain, fatigue, mood disorder, cognitive dysfunction, and sleep disturbance have been referred to as stress-related somatic disorders by virtue of the observation that onset and exacerbation of symptoms occur with stress. These syndromes include but are not limited to [...]

Chronic fatigue syndrome after q Fever.

Ledina D, Bradarić N, Milas I, Ivić I, Brncić N, Kuzmicić N. Department of infectious diseases, Split University Hospital, Split; Croatia. Background: Q fever is a common and acute but rare chronic zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. Its acute form manifests as atypical pneumonia, flu-like syndrome, or hepatitis. Some authors observed symptoms of chronic fatigue [...]

Genetics of chronic pain states.

Buskila D. Department of Medicine H, Soroka Medical Center and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, P.O.B 151, Israel 84101. Chronic pain states are common in the general population. Genetic factors can explain a significant amount of the variability in the perception of pain. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and related conditions are syndromes [...]