Blurb Verse

"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 5:3-5
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Monday, August 12, 2013

Going Grey?

New Research shows that people with fibromyalgia may have greater premature ageing risks.

When comparing healthy vs FM patients, it was noted that:
- Both groups contained the same volume of white matter in the brain.
- FM patients however had significantly less grey matter.

What does this mean?
White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of grey matter within the nervous system. Using a computer network as an analogy, the grey matter can be thought of as the actual computers themselves, whereas the white matter represents the network cables connecting the computers together.

It has been found that every year of fibromyalgia was equal to approximately 9.5 times loss in the normal ageing process.

What is the implication of this?
- The brain undergoes structural changes in response to chronic pain and stress.
- This means our brains for those of us with fibromyalgia, could potentially be 20 years older than our actual age.

Read more at: www.examiner.com/article/brain-grey-matter-atrophy-seen-fibromyalgia

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Cognitive Dysfunction & Fibromaylgia

Do you struggle with fibromyalgia and have a bad memory? Do you find it difficult sometimes to be able to get a whole thought out before it disappears? It could be linked to your fibromyalgia.

New research suggests that fibromyalgia patients perform more poorly than the counterparts of their age, in three areas:

1. Free recall: remembering words
2. Working Memory: everyday info
3. Vocabulary tests - accessing words from memory

Research also suggests that blood pressure, anxiety and depression have no effect on fibromyalgia patient's cognitive abilities.

Sad news: There is currently nothing available to help improve this.

However, there is some hope: Here's some tips that may help us as we battle our own cognition:

1. Establish regular routines: Eat and sleep at the same time regularly.
2. Snack every three hours, rather than eating full meals.
3. Use reminders and to-do-lists.
4. Take breaks when you find your concentration waning.
5. Avoid multitasking, as it reduces your effectiveness.
6. Pace, pace, pace.
7. Avoid loud noises, bright lights and other distractions in your environment, particularly where you sleep.

Do you have any strategies that work for you?

Source: www.examiner.com/article/cognitive-dysfunction-and-fibromyalgia