Image via Wikipedia
I’m an aging woman coping with disabilities including fibromyalgia and focused on improving my life. I use many alternative medicine methods to reduce stress and to control pain and I share them with my readers in this personal development, self improvement and conscious living blog. Three of my mainstays are aromatherapy, Bach Flower Remedies and massage. Continue reading
I am a fibromyalgia sufferer who relies on alternative and complementary medicine, rather than pharmaceuticals. This is because I have multiple food, chemical and drug allergies and decided years ago that suffering through side effects was not for me. I keep watch on all the research that’s done every year and when treatment options don’t include pharmaceuticals I try them to see if they will provide relief from the inflammation and pain. I also keep watch for alternative and complementary medicine research pertaining to the many associated conditions.
The condition produces vague symptoms that may be associated with diminished blood flow to certain parts of the brain and increased amounts of substance P, which is thought to be a sensory neurotransmitter involved in the communication of pain, touch, and temperature from the body to the brain. Researchers have identified several other possible fibromyalgia causes, including the following:
Alternative therapies and treatments work to heal your total being, which is why some fibromyalgia patients opt for them in treating their widespread symptoms. A variety of alternative options may ease your fibromyalgia pain—from acupuncture and biofeedback to herbal supplements and massage to yoga and meditation.
If you’re one of the millions of people who suffer from fibromyalgia, you should be aware of the new research developments involving your disorder. The more you know about fibromyalgia, the better equipped you’ll be to discuss treatment options with your doctor.
High Rate of Restless Legs Syndrome Found in Adults With Fibromyalgia
October 15, 2010: A new study finds that adults with fibromyalgia had a much higher prevalence and risk of restless legs syndrome than healthy controls. The study suggests that treating RLS may improve sleep and may improve sleep and quality of life in people with fibromyalgia.
Yoga Can Counteract Fibromyalgia, Study Suggests
October 14, 2010 — Yoga exercises may have the power to combat the chronic pain caused by fibromyalgia — a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain. The research is being published in the November 10 online edition of the journal Pain and will appear online on Oct. 14.
Adolescents With Fibromyalgia Who Are Physically Active Report Lower Levels of Pain and Disability
September 19, 2010: Adolescents with fibromyalgia who are physically active report lower levels of pain and disability,
How Badly Does It Hurt? Research Examines the Biomedical Diagnosis of Pain
August 28, 2010: Sociology research investigates the challenges of patients experiencing pain symptoms that don’t visibly turn up on any tests. Research out of the University of Cincinnati is examining the diagnosis of pain that evades scientific testing, and the additional emotional suffering that can result for the patient.
New Principle Discovered for How Muscle Pain Is Signaled
July 19, 2010: Chronic muscular pain may be linked to a previously unknown principle for how pain signals are transmitted in the human body.
Obesity Associated With Increased Risk of Fibromyalgia
May 4, 2010: Researchers in Norway have found an association between the level of leisure time physical exercise and a future risk of developing fibromyalgia. The research team also identified BMI as an independent risk factor for fibromyalgia.
New Reliable Method Based on Patients’ Gait Helps to Diagnose Fibromyalgia
April 30, 2010: A researcher from Spain has designed a reliable method that — combined with the diagnostic criteria of the American College of Reumathology — helps to diagnose fibromyalgia on the basis of of patients’ walk parameters, i.e. their gait.
Study Highlights New Way to Diagnose Fibromyalgia
May 27, 2010: To test the new criteria, the researchers conducted a multi-center study of 829 people who had fibromyalgia and a control group of people who had other pain disorders. The researchers found that the combination of the pain index, number of symptoms, and severity of symptoms provided the most accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis. The researchers reported that the new criteria will correctly diagnose more than 88% of people with fibromyalgia—and that’s without a tender point examination. — The American College of Rheumatology Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia and Measurement of Symptom Severity
Fibromyalgia Affects Mental Health of Those Diagnosed and Their Spouses, Study Finds
April 30, 2010 — Researchers are examining how the diagnosis of fibromyalgia can affect marriages. Initial findings reveal that diagnosed spouses have considerably higher levels of depressive symptoms and pain and report more marital instability and anger than their spouses. For both spouses, the symptoms can trigger increased emotional withdrawal and mental strain.
Exercise Reduces Pain Perceptions in Fibromyalgia Patients
April 1, 2010: People with fibromyalgia can experience debilitating pain—and that can erase any motivation to exercise. But what this study shows is that 30 minutes a day of moderate activity can make a difference in how you perceive pain. – Effects of lifestyle physical activity on perceived symptoms and physical function in adults with fibromyalgia: results of a randomized trial
Cannabis-based Drug Improves Sleep in Fibromyalgia Patients
February 24, 2010: Sleep problems are common in people with chronic pain disorders—and fibromyalgia is no exception. There are a number of medications that may treat sleep problems associated with fibromyalgia, and anti-depressants are among the most common. But new study findings may change that—a synthetic cannabinoid called nabilone (marketed as Cesamet) relieved sleep disturbances better than the anti-depressant amitriptyline (Elavil). – The Effects of Nabilone on Sleep in Fibromyalgia: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Savella Gets Good Marks for Treating Fibromyalgia
February 22, 2010: In both studies, 52% of patients taking 100 mg of Savella and 56% of those taking 200 mg of Savella reported a reduction in pain. This is compared with 40% to 42% of the participants taking a placebo. Overall, the patients in the Savella group experienced better pain control, compared to the placebo group.– AAPM: Drug for Fibromyalgia Boosts Multiple Outcomes
Fibromyalgia Pain Relief: Is It All in Your Lungs?
February 1, 2010: This is important because it highlights the link between emotional pain and physical pain. Many people with fibromyalgia suffer from depression and anxiety, which only exacerbates their physical pain. On the other hand, this study also shows that a positive mental state helps stave off physical pain. — The effects of slow breathing on affective responses to pain stimuli: An experimental study
Marijuana is used throughout the world for diverse purposes and has a long history. In Chinese medicine marijuana is one of the fundamental herbs. In shamanic medicine in North America it also has a lengthy history of use. Although smoking is thought to be the most common form of ingestion, there are many healthy alternatives to smoking including vaporizing, cooking and baking, making tinctures, sprays and extracts.
Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant. If you are Canadian, the only way you can legally obtain marijuana legally for medicinal use is through the Medical Marihuana Access Division (MMAD) with an MMAR license. Health Canada regulates and oversees the medical marijuana program and you can review the most up to date Marihuana Medical Access Regulations at the Department of Justice website.
The Flower is a three-minute and 35 second animated anti-prohibition video was released on AlterNet. The Flower contrasts a utopian society that freely farms and consumes a pleasure giving flower with a society where the same flower is illegal and its consumption is prohibited. The animation is a meditation on the social and economic costs of marijuana prohibition.
I believe in decriminalization of marijuana, as opposed to legalization. I believe that legalization would be ridiculous because it will only lead to the government handing production over to the pharmaceuticals, taxing it like liquor and cigarettes and then squandering the tax money on pet projects, while citizens go without health care and housing. The higher priority for governments, ought to be making marijuana available to those who require it and removing the prohibition so citizens can grow this herb for their own use.
America has created an enormous debt by squandering trillions of dollars on the so-called “war on drugs”. They have imprisoned hundreds of thousands of the little dealers and mules at public expense, without getting near the “drug lords,” and thereby have demonstrated that the idiotic “war of drugs” is costly and ineffectual. Worse still they have saddled generations to come with the obligation to pay that debt. The same is also true of Mexico and in Central America where innocent bystanders have been slain during the war on the cartels.
Mexico’s former president Ernesto Zedillo, former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and former Colombian president César Gaviria—issued a joint statement in an opinion piece that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. In it they express their view that the drug war was too costly and difficult for countries like Mexico, and recommending that the United States start looking at alternatives, like legalizing marijuana. “The war on drugs has failed. And it’s high time to replace an ineffective strategy with more humane and efficient drug policies,” the statement begins. — Latin American Panel Calls U.S. Drug War a Failure
Obviously, the most sensible way of dealing with this artificially created problem of supply and demand for a natural occurring plant, a weed that can be readily grown in many climatic zones in the backyards of both countries, is for both countries to decriminalize marijuana and cut the cartels off at the knees.
Decriminalizing marijuana would free up trillions of dollars that could be put to good use in both countries. It would mean that the jails that are bursting at the seams would not be full of small time dealers and mules and the court system that’s plugged up with these petty criminals could be relieved of the burden that draws so heavily on tax dollars. It would also mean that policemen and women could be put into service in areas where their labor is sorely needed.
So why is marijuana not legal? Because the people keeping it illegal are the ones profiting from the continued prohibition. Think about it….
It’s police services, pharmaceutical, paper, oil and textiles corporations, who have a vested interest in guaranteeing that both marijuana and hemp remain prohibited.
“In sum, there is little evidence that decriminalization of marijuana use necessarily leads to a substantial increase in marijuana use.” – National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM). — Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base.
U.S. Marijuana Laws – Click on your state to see the current marijuana laws.
Police services don’t want it to legalized because it would greatly reduce their need for narcotics departments and k-9 units.
Big Pharma doesn’t want it legalized because it would be a lot easier and cheaper to grow some legal marijuana than purchase high-priced pharmaceuticals with the same benefits and more side effects.
Big Oil doesn’t want it because it can be used as an alternative fuel source, similar to corn. Every crop would be a dollar out of their pocket.
Big Paper and Big Textiles doesn’t want it legal because they would then see a rise in a major competitor with a much faster growing renewable crop.
According to the White House’s National Drug Control Strategy Budgets, as cited in Action America’s Drug War Cost Clock, the federal government alone is projected to spend over $22 billion on the War on Drugs in 2009. State spending totals are harder to isolate, but Action America cites a 1998 Columbia University study which found that states spent over $30 billion on drug law enforcement during that year. — Key Facts About the War on Drugs Read also: Jeffrey A. Miron, Department of Economics, Harvard University: “The Budgetary Implications of Drug Prohibition,” December 2008.
August 25, 2010- BBC special on Cannabinoid Receptors…below an article by Steve Kubby, Sierra Times …A new study published in Nature Reviews-Cancer provides an historic and detailed explanation about how THC and natural cannabinoids counteract cancer, but preserve normal cells. It is hard to believe that the knowledge that cannabis can be used to fight cancer has been suppressed for almost thirty years , yet it seems likely that it will continue to be suppressed. Why?
According to Cowan, the answer is because it is a threat to cannabis prohibition . “If this article and its predecessors from 2000 and 1974 were the only evidence of the suppression of medical cannabis, then one might perhaps be able to rationalize it in some herniated way. However, there really is massive proof that the suppression of medical cannabis represents the greatest failure of the institutions of a free society, medicine, journalism, science, and our fundamental values,” Cowan notes.
Millions of people have died horrible deaths and in many cases, families exhausted their savings on dangerous, toxic and expensive drugs. Now we are just beginning to realize that while marijuana has never killed anyone, marijuana prohibition has killed millions.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law
The propaganda/exploitation film from 1936, in its entirety. This film is public domain. Reefer Madness was originally known as Tell Your Children, and over the years had its reception transformed from being one of the expose films popular at the time to being widely regarded as a camp classic made by people who had no idea what they were talking about. It’s relentlessly sensationalist tone is hard to take seriously, that’s for sure, but its moralising is equally suspect as it’s clearly an exploitation movie dressed up with a serious message in an attempt to win ill-deserved credibility, credibility that completely evaporated around the seventies when it was re-released to college crowds in America to laugh at in derision, usually as they puffed away themselves. Yet, the prohibition lingers on.
Discussion question:
Do you believe it’s time to end the so-called “War on Drugs?”
About.com: What Are Researchers Learning About Fibromyalgia? – Research improves understanding of fibromyalgia. Research of fibromyalgia covers a broad spectrum. Because fibromyalgia appears to run in families, researchers are working to identify whether a gene or genes predispose people to the condition.
CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Self-Help – Offering groups and resources for improving your quality of life as a person with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or fibromyalgia.
EurekAlert – EurekAlert! is an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society. EurekAlert! provides a central place through which universities, medical centers, journals, government agencies, corporations and other organizations engaged in research can bring their news to the media. EurekAlert! also offers its news and resources to the public. EurekAlert! features news and resources focused on all areas of science, medicine and technology.
Fibrohugs.org- Complete Support for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain; All Related Illnesses such as MS, IBS, Lupus, etc.With the love and caring of our Members, Fibrohugs has become the largest interactive Fibromyalgia site that is truly designed for the entire Family. We accredit our constant growth to the Monitored Chats & Forums, Member Submissions, Research Results, Tons of Information, and the sincere unconditional love and support we offer each person that visits this site. We are run by people suffering with Fibromyalgia so we know exactly what you need, you need Fibro”Hugs”.
Fibromyalgia and Exercise – The Science of Fibromyalgia and Exercise – Fibromyalgia Research Citations.
The Fibromyalgia Research Blog – This site never allows advertisers to have any influence on the content of our posts. In order to maintain our ethical stance, we do not publish “pay to post” articles under any circumstance.
Fibromyalgia Network – Most of the research findings in fibromyalgia point to a malfunctioning of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord. Yet, there appear to be a variety of abnormalities occurring in the peripheral soft tissues (muscles and connective tissue) and the peripheral nervous system that communicates with the CNS. This dysfunctional interplay between the CNS and peripheral systems is believed by most investigators to be the source of the many body-wide symptoms. In a way, fibromyalgia could be considered a disease of the CNS.
Fibromyalgia Medical Journals Google Scholar
Fibromyalgia Scientific Journals
FMS Global News – FMS News 2009 – FMS Global News is committed to uniting the “global fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome community”, and providing the most comprehensive source of news available.
Health Matters – Cinda Crawford Discusses Healing on the Health Matters Show. The objective of the Health Matters Show is to provide great information about Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the symptoms, treatments, and remedies, plus offer you hope of getting well.
JAMA: Fibromyalgia Medical Journals – JAMA is a highly cited weekly medical journal that publishes peer-reviewed original medical research findings and editorial opinion.
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc. Fibromyalgia news – To improve the quality of life and health management of people with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, whilst supporting community education and research initiatives, which will lead to recognition by government health providers of the need for better outcomes in service provision.
National Fibromyalgia Association Research
Pro Health – Whether you’ve recently been diagnosed or have been living with fibro for years, this is the place you want to be. It’s a ‘patient-powered’ site, which means folks just like you keep it going, with information, conversations and support. And of course ProHealth keeps you up-to-date with current news on research and treatment, and input from the world’s leading Fibromyalgia experts.
Use Of Antidepressants Associated With Improvement In Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia - January 14, 2009 — The use of antidepressant medications by patients with fibromyalgia syndrome is associated with a reduction in pain, sleep disturbances and depressed mood and improvement of health-related quality of … > full story
Fibromyalgia Pain Linked To Central Nervous System Dysfunction - February 18, 2009 — Widespread body pain in fibromyalgia patients is associated with specific brain metabolite abnormalities, according to new … > full story
Inadequate Vitamin D Levels Linked To High Use Of Narcotic Medication By Patients In Chronic Pain - March 27, 2009 — New research shows a correlation between inadequate vitamin D levels and the amount of narcotic medication taken by patients who have chronic … > full story
Inexpensive Drug Appears To Relieve Fibromyalgia Pain - April 21, 2009 — A small pilot study was conducted over a 14-week period to test the new use of a low dose of a drug called naltrexone for the treatment of chronic pain. The drug, which has been used clinically for … > full story
‘The Fibromyalgia Controversy’
The Fibromyalgia Controversy’ “The Fibromyalgia Controversy ” is published by Prometheus disabling medical condition known as fibromyalgia. In the medical community, sides
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/pb-tfc060809.php- 15.2KB – Public Press Releases
Fibromyalgia Patients Show Decreases In Gray Matter Intensity - June 18, 2009 — Previous studies have shown that fibromyalgia is associated with reductions in gray matter in parts of the brain, but the exact cause is not known. Using sophisticated brain imaging techniques, … > full story
Chinese Acupuncture Affects Brain’s Ability To Regulate Pain, UM Study Shows - August 11, 2009 — Acupuncture has been used for over two millennia in East-Asian medicine to treat pain. Using brain imaging, researchers have provided novel evidence that traditional Chinese acupuncture affects the … > full story
Early Treatment Of Fibromyalgia More Effective, Research Suggests - October 29, 2009 — People suffering from fibromyalgia have reduced activity in the parts of the brain that inhibit the experience of pain. Drugs that affect the CNS can be effective against the disease, and are thought … > full story
Hidden Sensory System Discovered in the Skin - December 14, 2009 — Researchers report that the human body has an entirely unique and separate sensory system aside from the nerves that give most of us the ability to touch and feel. Surprisingly, this sensory network … > full story
