Fibro Link Love

If you need support filing for social security disability check out Tim Moore. He's got all the latest helpful info on how to get it done and approved.

A really interesting power point presentation on iodine(Ioderal) supplementation can be found at scribd.com. Is it possible that the lack of iodine in the muscle may contribute to FMS? There's a really thorough link on this theory at FibromyalgiaRecovery.com.

CeliaSue Hecht has written a nice collection of fibromyalgia pain articles at her blog No Pain, No Shame.

Some psychological approaches to pain management can be found here.

Be well..

Good Healh Starts in the Mind

The following is my attempt to summarize a lecture I recently watched featuring Antonio Damasio, M.D., a renowned neurobiologist producing ground-breaking thoughts on health and healing. The lecture was videotaped in 2004 at a conference in Germany on the future of health care. If you choose to watch the video (about an hour long), and I highly recommend it, then scroll down to the opening lecture, and click on one of the icons for your preferred media player. Please don't let the first couple of minutes, during which Dr Damasio is introduced, scare you away because you hear a little German language! The lecture is in perfect English!

My notes:

Health tends to conjure up the notion of the body. Good human health begins in the mind.

Good health requires not just the traditions of medicine, but also all sorts of wisdom that can come from a better understanding of the the management of our environment and it's effects on thought, emotion and well-being.

Emotions happen constantly in reaction to our environment. Emotions have an immediate effect on the body.

Once you have a stimulus that causes fear or negative emotion, it triggers the amygdala, which leads to activation of the hypothalamus, adrenals, and so on which affects the body's whole regulatory system.

Emotion happens in the brain and mind and have an immediate effect on the body. Changes entail a decrease in efficiency of homeostatic regulation which we experience as pain.

A disease not originally caused by negative emotion can certainly worsen it.

One should do everything possible to control negative emotions because they have everything to do with chronic diseases. This is not to say to avoid negative emotion, but rather to recognize it and learn to deal with it in more productive ways. We can fine tune our emotional processing.

We can learn to cultivate personal pleasure and joy, but it must not at the expense of the happiness of others if it is to be healing.

Emotion needs to be harnessed, manipulated, and is the engine of will if we are going to deal with the problems of health at the personal level.

Related Websites:

Antonio Damasio, M.D.

Neurobiology and Feelings

Emotions, Fibromyalgia, and the Rusty Nail

Your genes are not your fate

image credit
If you've done your own research on fibromyalgia, you may have seen some of the following headlines:

Genetics of fibromyalgia. Familial studies suggest that genetic and familial factors may play a role in the etiopathogenesis of these conditions. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2005 Oct;9(5):313-5.

Genetic linkage analysis of multicase families with fibromyalgia syndrome. Our study of 40 multicase families confirms existence of a possible gene for FM that is linked with the HLA region. J Rheumatol 1999 Feb;26(2):408-12

Significance of catechol-O-methyltransferase gene polymorphism in fibromyalgia syndrome.
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) is associated with a neuroendocrinal disorder characterized by abnormal function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis via polymorphism in the gene. Rheumatol Int 2003 May;23(3):104-7

The T102C polymorphism of the 5-HT2A-receptor gene in fibromyalgia. Our results showed a significantly different genotype distribution in FM patients with a decrease in T/T and an increase in both T/C and C/C genotypes as compared to the control population. Neurobiol Dis 1999 Oct;6(5):433-9

Importance of genetic influences on chronic widespread pain. Individual differences in the likelihood of developing chronic widespread pain reflect modest genetic influences. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 May;54(5):1682-6.

Source: Neurotransmitter.net

In the most recent issue of Newsweek, Dr. Dean Ornish reminds us that genes, our genetics, are only part of the story in our health history and future. Dr. Ornish has long been advocating a plan to reverse heart disease. But his ideas can crossover easily into all diagnoses and diseases. "Some people may say, 'Well, looks like it's all in my genes, there's not much I can do about it.' It's tempting to take a nihilistic view since it absolves us of any personal responsibility. But it also means we're powerless, and I don't like feeling that way. Besides, it's not true. Our genes are only part of the story. According to Dr. David Heber, director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, "Genes load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger."

This has been my experience. I may not completely eradicate all indications of dis-ease in my body, but a pro-active approach to wellness through lifestyle improvements, psycho-emotional efforts, and proper diet, allows me to live well, feel well, and do well, and for that, I am grateful! I've noticed that symptoms creep in when I forget to make the lifestyle changes which created my healing a priority. Yes, it's a lifelong commitment, and not always an easy one, but oooooh yes, it's really worth it.

More info:
What worked for me
Preventive Medicine Research Institute

Where has April gone?

My time has gone to my garden!




















I loved the following "TED talk" (18 minutes) when I saw it, and then Byron Katie put it on her blog, and I thought, maybe my readers would benefit from this too! We are really on the cutting edge of radical healing here!



I am reprinting the email exchange between these two brilliant ladies. But please go to the blog post for a full and complete understanding of their healing mission.

Dear Dr. Jill,

When I saw the video of your wonderful description of your stroke of insight, I recognized your experience immediately. Although I didn't have a stroke or other physical triggering event, one morning in 1986 I died as a suffering 43-yr-old woman and woke up in a state of joy that has never left me. At first there was only laughter, as a wordless inquiry burned up every concept that I had lived by. I no longer believed my thoughts-or, as you might say it, the output of my left brain lost its hold on me forever.

In time the inquiry took a form that allows me to offer it to others and, when I saw that it's possible for anyone to live as I do, it became my full-time job to facilitate the process of what I call The Work. I have written about this in several bestselling books, and I would love it if you could visit my website, www.thework.com, where there are videos that show me doing The Work with a variety of people. I'm curious to know your reaction and hope we can meet in person someday.

Loving what is, and that would be you,
Katie

Her reply:

Dear Katie, thank you for this kind message.

I love The Work and the message you have given the world. I read Loving What Is a couple of years ago and started giving your book to everyone I knew who needed a shift in perception. I created a Brain/Body/Mind curriculum for Indiana University and your book was on the reading list. That course was before its time at the university and never ran, but I think it will one day in the future.

I really appreciate your reaching out to me. As you can imagine I am receiving over 100 emails a day and trying to keep my head above the flood. All kinds of doors are opening to me. If you have any advice I would love to speak with you. You have been on this wild ride and I value your opinion! I wish you all the best, and I am sure that one day we will stand in the presence of one another and be at one with all that is!

Thank you again for your kindness and the gift you have given our planet.

Jill