2scoops said:
...many people with fibro get misdiagnosed and some times there is a true physical cause and some times there is not anything the docs can figure out....
There is a differance between saying "many people with fibro get misdiagnosed" and "some times there is a true physical cause" as if
Hey...these people must have an actual illness sometimes!
Actually,
we do.
Fibromyalgia and Myofacial Pain have both been classified as neuromuscular diseases. Those who have FM, are more than likely to also have Myofacial Pain. While the same isn't true with Myofacial pain due to it being more localized. However, that makes it no less troubsome and painful for the one who deals with it. To take an example with shingles, whether it starts out within a few local areas and then spreads doesn't compare to when it was localized. Shingles is Shingles which caries a burning rash and nerve damage. Or what about a broken bone? Whether within a toe or a leg, it's still going to affect walking.
In FM, there are also many other side conditions to contend with brought on by the
neurodisease as well.
A myofascial trigger point is a localized area starving for oxygen. It creates an increased local energy demand. This local energy crisis releases neuroreactive biochemicals which sensitize nearby nerves. The sensitized nerves initiate the motor, sensory, and autonomic effects of myofascial trigger points by acting on the central nervous system. Muscles with trigger points are muscles in a constant state of energy crisis.
Myofascial trigger points can be identified and documented electrophysiologically by characteristic spontaneous electrical activity (SEA). They may also be identified histologically (which means that the structure of the cells have changed) by contraction knots the lumps and bumps we know only too well. Both of these phenomenon seem to result from excessive release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) from the nerve terminal of the motor endplate (the complex end formation of the nerve).
We now have objective confirmation of electromyographic imaging of a myofascial trigger point. There is also ultrasound imaging of local twitch responses of trigger points, and biopsies of myofascial trigger points that show contraction knots and giant rounded muscle fibers. To quote from this article, "The endplate dysfunction characteristic of MTrPs involves both the nerve terminal and the postjunctional muscle fiber. This relationship identifies MTrPs as a neuromuscular disease." Simons DG. 1999. Diagnostic criteria of myofascial pain caused by trigger points. J Musculoskeletal Pain 7(1-2):111-120.
A MTrP is always found in a taut band which is histologically related to contraction knots caused by excessive release of ACh in an abnormal endplate. The pathogenesis of myofascial trigger points appears to involve serious disturbance of the nerve ending and contractile mechanism at multiple dysfunctional endplates. Doctor Hong has even formed a theory concerning fibromyalgia tender points. Hong, C-Z. 1999. Current research on myofascial trigger points-pathophysiological studies. J Musculoskeletal Pain 7(1-2):121-129.
Please be considerate in what type of thread you are posting within. Especially when many of us have already been through the "all through your heads" with the doctors and others at some point.
Good intentions or not...I've been offended by the "because it works for me, it'll work for you". You may not have wanted it to come across that way but...
Perhaps begin a thread with possible "alternative to medicines"...? If you're going from thread to thread offering aid to people when you have no knowlege of their condition or no first hand experiance...you are settling yourself up.
If anything...at least learn of the condiions first. People with FM at times do go into remission. People with
ME (CFIDS)-FM are worse off and, the longer they have the condition the last chance they have of recovering. Due to the fact
ME itself is a neuroimmune disease under the World Heath Org. this should be understandable. Thinking "happy thoughts" will aid someone's outlook and will help them within the circumstances. But it doesn't mean it will change the circumstances.
Recent Side note: Acknowledging pain in others and trying to find ways to aleave it is a kind and noble gesture. However, in doing so, it also helps in acknowledging individuals are dealing with real medical conditions which have true biomedical causes. .
For example: The most recent research on the ME/CFS side by a medical university in Philadelphia that was funded by the Centers for Disease Control concluded the very cell structure of individuals with the disease are being affected on a genetic level.
Still, there's one big way any Christian can always do. And...it should be our first use of defense...not our last: Prayer. God may say yes. He may say no. But He always answers. And He's the only one who holds all of the pieces of the puzzle.