Information Overload? Are Fibromyalgia Patients Brains Trying to Do Too Much?

"At its core FM appears to more a pain and sensory inhibiting disease than a pain producing one. Because the pain pathways in the brain need to respond like lightning to an injury, they’re essentially always on-always ready to engage. The problem in fibromyalgia is that they’re not being turned off. broken gates Several inhibitory processes seem to be broken in FM The same appears to be true with sensory inhibition and with the autonomic nervous system. The brain is not turning off its attention to innocuous stimuli and the parasympathetic nervous system is not jumping in to tone down the sympathetic or “fight and flight” system. Deficiencies in the levels of inhibitory neurotransmitters (serotonin, y-aminobutyric acid) and in the feel-good endogenous opioid system have also been seen. Fibromyalgia is looking more and more like a disorder of blunted inhibition than anything else."

Tags: cosmos fibromyalgia

Information Overload? Are Fibromyalgia Patients Brains Trying to Do Too Much?

The 25% Disease: Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Unique in How Many People are Homebound?

There's certainly reason to think that home bound patients might be more prevalent in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) than in other diseases. Studies indicate, after all, that people with ME/CFS are as or more functionally limited than people with type II diabetes, multiple sclerosis, congestive heart failure and end-stage renal disease. They also have a lower quality of life than people with cancer, stroke, renal failure and schizophrenia. One study, found only an astonishingly low 13% were employed full-time. Now Lenny Jason gives us the first really substantial study on the prevalence of homebound patients in ME/CFS.

Tags: cosmos me_cfs

The 25% Disease: Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Unique in How Many People are Homebound?

Chronic fatigue patients more likely to suppress emotions

Chronic fatigue syndrome patients report they are more anxious and distressed than people who don't have the condition, and they are also more likely to suppress those emotions. In addition, when under stress, they show greater activation of the biological "fight or flight" mechanism, which may add to their fatigue, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Tags: cosmos me_cfs

Chronic fatigue patients more likely to suppress emotions

Why Claimants Died Plus The Cover Up That May See IDS On Trial

The DWP finally released very heavily redacted versions of the 49 peer reviews into claimant deaths last week. In fact, some of the documents have been so heavily redacted that there is literally nothing left other than headings and standard text. Every word of substance, including details of lessons learned and recommendations for the future has been redacted. Yet, the documents still reveal a great deal. Most of the reports appear to be about claimants being forced off incapacity benefit (IB) and onto employment and support allowance (ESA). In at least six of the 29 reports that contain any detail, there was a failure to even identify claimants as vulnerable, let alone offer them additional support.

Tags: cosmos

Why Claimants Died Plus The Cover Up That May See IDS On Trial

What foods can help fight the risk of chronic inflammation?

The results of our study suggest that (poly)phenols derived from onions, turmeric, red grapes, green tea and açai berries may help reduce the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in people at risk of chronic inflammation.

Tags: cosmos

What foods can help fight the risk of chronic inflammation?

Why the separation of ME from CFS is long overdue

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, a neurological disease with multi-system dysfunction is continuing to disappear from view, lost in a fatigue focus that does not clinically represent the reality of this severely disabling chronic disease. There should, you would think, be no compromise on identifying and separating Myalgic Encephalomyelitis from other conditions and recognising the need for a full medical service with a biomedical pathway, for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). This is sadly not the case and that has profound implications for those people who have ME especially the most severely affected, who are so isolated as to be almost invisible to health services, social services and society generally, too ill to engage with them.

Tags: cosmos

Why the separation of ME from CFS is long overdue

Are You 'Activated'? Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and ME/CFS/FM

"Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is new to the medical profession – much newer than ME/CFS or FM. Diagnostic criteria were only proposed about five years ago and because most doctors don’t know about it, it’s rarely diagnosed. But it can cause all the symptoms in the book and its proponents think it’s much, much commoner than thought. It’s also often associated with POTS, Elhers Danlos Syndrome, Lyme Disease and ME/CFS/FM. Dr. Klimas has called it one the most interesting immune diseases going."

Tags: cosmos me_cfs

Are You 'Activated'? Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and ME/CFS/FM

Wine Substance Beats Lyrica in Fibromyalgia Study

Lyrica was tested in mice models before it was tested in humans. Recently a substance found in wine called resveratrol took on Lyrica in a fibromyalgia mouse model test and guess what – resveratrol appeared to be more effective at reducing neuroinflammation than Lyrica.

Tags: fibromyalgia cosmos

Wine Substance Beats Lyrica in Fibromyalgia Study

‘Punishing And Vilifying Sick And Disabled’ Claimants Is Making DWP Staff Ill Plus Secret Plan To Charge For Appeals

In this edition we learn that some DWP staff are paying a high price for ‘punishing and vilifying sick, disabled and unemployed people’. And we suggest a simple way to start feeling better.

We also discover that the threat of charging for benefits appeals has not gone away.

And, looking on the bright side, we reveal that even individuals and smaller charities can take on the DWP and win.

4 May 2016 update