?Fibromyalgia awareness day May 12 – Go Purple! ?

?ME Awareness week 11-17th MAY — GO Blue!?

Most of our patients have been in or suffer with chronic pain – spread the awareness …. its more common than you may think…..

Chronic Pain affects around 1 in 2 of us all in the UK (that can be either me?? or ??you). Chronic pain conditions include Fibromyalgia, Back pain, Arthritis and Headaches. Commonly affecting people with Diabetes and Irritable Bowel as well.

Today’s focus will be on Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia (affects 1 in 20 in ??).

Chronic pain is defined as persistent or recurrent pain lasting longer than 3 months. Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition of widespread pain and profound fatigue.

Chronic Pain can develop after some sort of trauma on the individual (a trigger event – accident ? , virus ? , childbirth ??, operation and even an emotional ? event). Sometimes it begins without an obvious ? ? trigger.

 

When you have a chronic pain condition like fibromyalgia or chronic low back pain the areas of your nervous system controlling pain processing are working abnormally.The pain signals you experience are amplified ?more than usual and the areas that reduce the awareness of pain are less active ? ? .

 

Pain messages are experienced about 2X the intensity to the same stimuli as someone with normal function. This abnormal processing of pain information can result in you perceiving pain without any painful external stimulus to your nervous system❗️

Chronic pain sufferers know that their minds ? are often affected by cloudy thinking, memory issues, anxiety and depression. New research shows that part of the brain essential for memory, learning and emotional processing is smaller than in healthy people. Brain cells die if there is too much or too little stimulation in the brain or an imbalance in food ? or oxygen levels. Further research has identified deficiency in Serotonin in the nervous system coupled with a threefold increase in neurotransmitter for pain – Substance P. Causing an overall disordered sensory processing.

Clinicians have often categorised patients with chronic pain conditions as having psychological problems, however a large majority people with these conditions are and remain psychologically normal.

? – complex bit….

Areas of the brain that are able to shut down pain (medial frontal cortex (MFC), mid/posterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex) and in stress response areas are less active and dense than normal. It is thought that that the stress response areas are more active as a result of the pain, rather than causing it.The MFC is thought to be stimulated by mental exercises such as the Stroop Test, verb generation, mindfulness of breathing meditation, self-reflection and self-generated action.

 

Hope ⛅️ …

Treatments found to be effective include – heated pool therapy (with or without exercise), tai chi, yoga ?‍♀️ , meditation, hypnosis, and guided imagery. A combination of different therapies (occupational, physical, and cognitive) therapy has been shown to be effective in treating people with fibromyalgia. Treatments including physical reconditioning, biofeedback, relaxation training, stress management, activity moderation, chemical health education, and reduction of pain behaviours helped participants significantly and reduced number of participants taking opioids, antianxiety drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), and muscle relaxants, none of which are significantly effective in treating the majority of fibromyalgia patients – although some individuals find benefit.

Various medications have been found to be helpful for different symptoms of fibromyalgia but few have been found to help with chronic low back pain.

All said – there seems to be more and more treatments being discovered to help these conditions ☀️  

Sources

https://www.meassociation.org.uk/

http://fmauk.org/

Omf.ngo

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs/

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/brain-nerves-and-spinal-cord/chronic-pain

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/6/e010364

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/causes-pain#1

Further information

There are a range of organisations that support people with pain by providing resources to help you self-manage you long term pain condition. These include:

• Pain Concern
• Pain Association
• Versus Arthritis
• Action on Pain
• Pain Toolkit
• Tame the Beast
• Live Well with Pain
• British Pain Society

If you have any further questions or would like to know how Chiropractic may be able to help you or someone you know that may be in Pain – give us a ring or message us here and on Facebook.