“Walk in My Shoes™” for Fibromyalgia

From the FMS Global News Desk of Jeanne Hambleton (UK)

Courtesy Newswiretoday.com

NewswireToday – /newswire/ – Anaheim, CA, United States, 04/22/2009

For anyone who has ever felt helpless watching a loved one suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Gulf War illness, multiple chemical sensitivities, environmental illnesses, and chronic Lyme disease, “Walk in My Shoes™”.

Hosted by P.A.N.D.O.R.A. (Patient Alliance for Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders Organization for Research and Advocacy, Inc.) a non-profit charitable organization founded in 2002 to create awareness and address the needs of persons in the U.S. diagnosed with the above mentioned illnesses, “Walk in My Shoes™” will be held on May 23 at the C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines.

The fundraiser is P.A.N.D.O.R.A.’s first hosted walk, and aims to attract participants who will make the 5K walk on behalf of friends, co-workers and family members with chronic illnesses.

“Acknowledging and understanding the real pain of a loved one suffering with these chronic illnesses is one of the most important things that friends and family members can do to show their support,” said P.A.N.D.O.R.A. founder Marly Silverman, who was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia in 1998.

“’Walk in My Shoes™’ also recognizes the important role that caregivers play in the lives of those with these debilitating illnesses.”

“Healthy persons may never be able to truly understand the debilitating body wide pain and fatigue, brain fog/cognitive impairment and flu like symptoms experienced on a daily basis by people with CFS, fibromyalgia and other chronic pain illnesses, however, helping raise much needed funds to continue the work of advocacy groups like P.A.N.D.O.R.A. brings us another step closer to finding a cure,” Silverman added.

WALK REGISTRATION

Check-in for “Walk in My Shoes™” begins at 7:30 am to 8:30 am. The walk starts promptly at 9:00 am. The C.B. Smith Park is located at 900 N. Flamingo Road in Pembroke Pines.

About P.A.N.D.O.R.A., Inc.

Patient Alliance for Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders Organization for Research & Advocacy
P.A.N.D.O.R.A. (pandoranet.info) was founded on July 1, 2002 by Marly C. Silverman, a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia patient. Our mission is to raise awareness of the plight of persons with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Gulf War illness, multiple chemical sensitivities, environmental illnesses, and chronic Lyme disease and advocate on quality of life issues. P.A.N.D.O.R.A. is Built on Hope – Strong on Advocacy – Finding a Cure through Research.

Contact: Corin Walson – info[.]walsonpr.com – 714-970-2268
(http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/49839/)

Gulf War Veterans Display Abnormal Brain Response to Specific Chemicals

From the FMS Global and UK News Desk of Jeanne Hambleton

Courtesy of Newswise Science Centre -UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas March 20 2009

Newswise — A new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers is the first to pinpoint damage inside the brains of veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome – a finding that links the illness to chemical exposures and may lead to diagnostic tests and treatments.

Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study, said the research uncovers and locates areas of the brain that function abnormally. Recent studies had shown evidence of chemical abnormalities and shrinkage of white matter in the brains of veterans exposed to certain toxic chemicals, such as sarin gas during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The research, published in the March issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, enables investigators to visualize exact brain structures affected by these chemical exposures, Dr. Haley said.

“Before this study, we did not know exactly what parts of the brain were damaged and causing the symptoms in these veterans,” he said. “We designed an experiment to test areas of the brain that would have been damaged if the illness was caused by sarin or pesticides, and the results were positive.”

In designing the study, Dr. Haley and his colleagues reasoned that if low-level sarin or pesticides had damaged Gulf War veterans’ brains, a likely target of the damage would be cholinergic receptors on cells in certain brain structures. If that was so, administering safe levels of medicines that stimulate cholinergic receptors would elicit an abnormal response in ill veterans.

In the study, 21 chronically ill Gulf War veterans and 17 well veterans were given small doses of physostigmine, a substance which briefly stimulates cholinergic receptors. Researchers then measured the study participants’ brain cell response with brain scans.

“What we found was that some of the brain areas we previously suspected responded abnormally to the cholinergic challenge,” Dr. Haley said. “Those areas were in the basal ganglia, hippocampus, thalamus and amygdala, and the thalamus. Changes in functioning of these brain structures can certainly cause problems with concentration and memory, body pain, fatigue, abnormal emotional responses and personality changes that we commonly see in ill Gulf War veterans.”

A previous study funded by the U.S. Army found that repetitive exposure to low-level sarin nerve gas caused changes in cholinergic receptors in lab rats.

“An added bonus is a statistical formula combining the brain responses in 17 brain areas that separated the ill from the well veterans, and three different Gulf War syndrome variants from each other with a high degree of accuracy,” Dr. Haley said. “If this finding can be repeated in a larger group, we might have an objective test for Gulf War syndrome and its variants.”

An objective diagnostic test, he said, sets the stage for ongoing genetic studies to see why some people are affected by chemical exposures, and why others are not. New studies would also allow the selection of homogenous groups of ill veterans in which to run efficient clinical trials for treatments.

Dr. Haley first described Gulf War syndrome in a series of papers published in January 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In previous studies, research from Dr. Haley showed that veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome had lower levels of a protective blood enzyme called paraoxonase, which usually fights off the toxins found in sarin. Veterans who served in the same geographical area and did not get sick had higher levels of this enzyme.

Dr. Haley and his colleagues have closely followed the same group of tests subjects since 1995. In 2006, UT Southwestern and the Department of Veterans Affairs established a dedicated, collaborative Gulf War illness research enterprise in Dallas, managed by UT Southwestern.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a longtime supporter of Gulf War research, facilitated that agreement and secured a $75 million appropriation over five years for Gulf War illness research.

This study was funded, in part, by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the current study included Drs. Jeffrey Spence and Patrick Carmack, assistant professors of clinical sciences; Drs. Michael Devous and Frederick Bonte, professors of radiology; and Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, professor of psychiatry. Researchers from Southern Methodist University also participated.

Dr. Robert Haley http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,12888,00.html
(Article -http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept353744/files/522139.html)