An unlikely, decades-old drug is gaining traction as a promising off-label treatment for fibromyalgia, driven by a handful of studies and a growing number of anecdotal reports. Low-dose a medication originally developed to treat substance use disorders, is said to relieve the chronic pain, fatigue, and brain fog associated with the debilitating condition that afflicts but is…
For many people with fibromyalgia — a chronic condition involving pain and tenderness throughout the body, as well as fatigue — medical treatments aren’t effective or have intolerable side effects. That leaves many people looking for alternative treatments for fibromyalgia, including dietary supplements.“Any ways that you can mitigate fatigue and pain are important,” says Daniel Arkfeld, MD, a rheumatologist…
When Lady Gaga recently revealed a diagnosis of fibromyalgia—a set of symptoms characterized by widespread pain that is frequently accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbances, memory issues and mood changes—I thought of another famous singer, Kris Kristofferson. The Country Music Hall of Famer was also initially told he had fibromyalgia. As his symptoms worsened over the next 12 years,…
Achy backs, pounding headaches, throbbing joints: About 50 million Americans — roughly 20 percent, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — live with some form of chronic pain, from migraine to lumbar issues, autoimmune disorders like fibromyalgia, or the sudden onset of pain caused by conditions like Crohn’s disease. The celebs you see in the theater or binge-watch on…
Fibromyalgia is increasingly recognized as a multidimensional, symptom-based condition rooted in altered central pain processing, rather than a disorder defined by structural pathology, said experts in a discussion Presenting an overview of the condition, Alina Dima, MD, PhD, a specialist in internal medicine and rheumatology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy and…
No one knows what causes fibromyalgia but some experts believe that stress may be a common trigger, especially in people who are susceptible to this chronic pain condition for physiological reasons. Now a new study adds support to the theory that psychological stress might increase the risk as well as lead to worse symptoms among…
People with fibromyalgia are all too familiar with its often-debilitating symptoms, which include widespread muscle and joint pain, fatigue, insomnia, and brain fog. Now a new study confirms that similar symptoms often arise in people with post-COVID syndrome. Post-COVID syndrome — also known as long COVID, long-haul COVID, and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) —…
Fibromyalgia symptoms range from widespread pain, stiffness, fatigue, headaches or irritable bowel syndrome to problems with memory or learning new things (stock image) Scientists have uncovered new genetic risk factors for a long-term chronic pain condition in the largest study of its kind. People with fibromyalgia have been “dismissed” for decades, experts said, but…
Fibromyalgia affects between 4 and 10 million and 60 million people suffer from > 3months of pain Opioid, Cannabis, and Alcohol Use Is Particularly Risky Self-Medication in Pain This Is Especially True in FM’s nociplastic pain- brain pathways involved in FM are also involved in addiction New Non-addicting Treatments Like GLP-1s and TENS show promise…
People believe that they “understand chronic pain” because they have also felt pain but it’s a completely different thing when it’s day in and day out for years.’ If you’re reading this, you likely already know that there is a large — but largely silent — problem of chronic pain in America. One in five…