Fibromyalgia: No Longer a Catchall Diagnosis
[2] I first developed an interest in fibromyalgia syndrome through my mother. About ten years ago, she began complaining of achiness, sharp pain in various parts of her body-specifically the neck, and constant fatigue and insomnia. Being treated for clinical depression, however, my mother put these annoyances off as simply more symptoms of her depression and the results of extreme stress and tension. It was only very recently, within the past year while receiving massage therapy, that her masseuse happened to mention that my mother might have fibromyalgia, a relatively recent syndrome to enter into medical circles. Since then, my mother has been diagnosed as having fibromyalgia. This information does little good outside of peace of mind, as both the causes and the cures of these syndromes are not certain.
Fibromyalgia is characterized most prominently, of course, by pain[1]. Pain can be experienced both as widespread and general 'achiness' felt throughout the body and also at specific 'trigger points,' which are areas that radiate intense pain in the muscle fiber. To meet the medical definition of 'fybromyalgia' the patient must respond to eleven out of the eighteen most common trigger points, the patient must have trigger points in all four quadrants of the body, and the patient must have experienced continuous pain for at least three months[3]. I will discuss these 'trigger points' in more depth later in this paper. There are multitudinous other symptoms which are also known to be associated with fibromyalgia. A few of the most significant among these are difficulty sleeping, intense fatigue, weight gain and loss, muscle spasms and loss of muscular control, mood swings and o...
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...lgia. Particularly in the past few years as knowledge of fibromyalgia has become increasingly integrated into the scientific community, there has been a greater push towards the development of possible treatments-the two major possibilities being guaifeneson and Pycnogenol®.
Sources Cited
1. CFS Days
http://www.sunflower.org/~cfsdays.htm
2. Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Dr. Starlanyla and J. Nickson
http://corp.sover.net/devstar/index.htm
3. Fibromyalgia Symptoms
http://sunflower.org/~cfsdays/symptom2.htm
4. Fibromyalgia Treatment
http://www.medhelp.org/www/piic/piic3.htm
5. A Guide For Patients
http://www.sunflower.org/~cfsdays/nye-pt.htm
7. Pycnogenol®
http://www.mt.net.au/~willieb/pycnogenol/index.htm
8. The Use of Uricosuric Drugs in Fibromyalgia
http://sunflower.org/~cfsdays/urico96.htm
Flaccid dysarthria results from damage to the lower motor neurons (LMN) or the peripheral nervous system (Hageman, 1997). The characteristics of flaccid dysarthria generally reflect damage to cranial nerves with motor speech functions (e.g., cranial nerves IX, X, XI and XII) (Seikel, King & Drumright, 2010). Lower motor neurons connect the central nervous system to the muscle fibers; from the brainstem to the cranial nerves with motor function, or from the anterior horns of grey matter to the spinal nerves (Murdoch, 1998). If there are lesions to spinal nerves and the cranial nerves with motor speech functions, it is indicative of a lower motor neuron lesion and flaccid dysarthria. Damage to lower motor neurons that supply the speech muscles is also known as bulbar palsy (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Potential etiologies of flaccid dysarthria include spinal cord injury, cerebrovascular accidents, tumors or traumatic brain injury (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Possible congenital etiologies of flaccid dysarthria include Moebius syndrome and cerebral palsy. Flaccid dysarthria can also arise from infections such as polio, herpes zoster, and secondary infections to AIDS (Pena-Brooks & Hedge, 2007). Additionally, demyelinating diseases such as Guilian-Barre syndrome and myotonic muscular dystrophy can also lead to flaccid dysarthria (Pena-Brookes & Hedge, 2007). The lower motor neuron lesion results in loss of voluntary muscle control, and an inability to maintain muscle tone. Fasciculations, or twitching movements, may occur if the cell body is involved in the lesion (Seikel et. al., 2010). The primary speech characteristics of flaccid dysarthria include imprecise consonant production, hypernasal resonance, breathiness, and harsh voice (...
In the United States 54 million people have a disability and only 15 percent were born with a disability (Jaeger & Bowman, 2005). If a person lives long enough, it is statistically likely that they will develop some kind of disability in their advancing years (Jaeger & Bowman, 2005). At some point in your life you could have experience a fractured bone, a minor cut, or had some type of surgery. Imagine after some minor injury that you may not even remember and then experiencing a constant pain so agonizing that no amount of pain medication can make you comfortable (Lang & Moskovitz, 2003). Some additional symptoms that you may also experience are severe burning pain, changes in bone and skin, excessive sweating, tissue swelling and extreme sensitivity to touch (Juris, 2005). These symptoms are associated with a disease that is called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) but more recently termed as complex regional pain syndrome, type 1 (CRPS 1) (Juris, 2005). For simplification purposes this disease will be referred to as RSD throughout this paper.
Try to build a healthy regular yoga practice, and attend the appropriate class for the symptoms you are feeling each day.
Because the cause of fibromyalgia is not know, there is no prevention for the disorder. There are only ways of coping with it once it is discovered.
In this essay I will be talking about how Dickens presents Scrooge’s fear in A Christmas Carol. It is about how Scrooge’s change throughout the novel through various techniques Dickens uses to convey this.
In his article “On Memory Forgetting, and Complicity in “the Cask of Amontillado”” Raymond DiSanza suggests that an act of wrongdoing is always at the heart of good horror stories. (194) DiSanza’s article on “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe describes Poe’s writing in a way I didn’t think of myself. DiSanza finds Poe’s language in this story to “taste like amontillado: smooth, slightly sweet, and appropriately chilled”. (DiSanza 195) Throughout his article he mostly talks about what possibly could have been Montresor’s motive to kill Fortunato? And why did Montresor wait fifty years to tell the story?
Cholera is a water-borne disease caused by the spreading of toxins throughout the intestines by the Vibrio Cholerae bacterium. Bad hygiene and other unsanitary conditions such as contamination of food and water can result in this unpleasant infection. As stated in the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, “contamination starts when a person infected with cholera steps into a community water supply.” Cholera is more common in places with poor cleanliness and insufficient water treatment. These locations include environments consisting of brackish rivers and coastal waters such as an underdeveloped country like Africa. Cholera can affect anyone but is usually targeted at younger ch...
Unlike the first cholera pandemic in 1817, the second one also affected countries in Europe and North America in addition to Asia. Of the seven total cholera pandemics, many consider this one the greatest of the 19th century. Cholera caused more deaths, more quickly than any other epidemic disease of the 1800s. It is an infectious disease that causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death if untreated. Eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae causes cholera. After the first pandemic had diminished throughout Asia by1824, the disease began spreading again from Bengal in 1826. It began with outbreaks in the Ganges River of Bengal and quickly spread throughout most of India. It had moved into Afghanistan and Persia by 1829 and surfaced in Russia in August of that year. From Russia, the disease travelled to Poland and eventually Hungary, Germany, Berlin, England, Scotland, and Wales. While the disease was penetrating most of Europe, it had also reached areas in Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula by 1831. Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from Mecca died from the disease and carried it into Palestine, Syria, and Egypt that year. Mecca continued to be infected by cholera until about 1912. The disease also reached Portugal in 1833, from an English ship that docked in Portugal. Cholera’s path east of India remains
The repercussions of trigger point activity are far from a simple musculoskeletal pain. They can be accompanied with hyperventilation and chronic fatigue as well as apparent pelvic inflammatory disease (5)
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 161-165. Print.
Cholera has been affecting humans for many centuries. Cholera is a severe gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by severe diarrhea and vomiting. There have been many outbreaks of cholera noted historically, the most important occurring in 19th century England. In 1854, Dr. John Snow performed a study in London that led to his discovery of the disease’s main source. He was able to trace it to the poor sewer, waste, and water management from one of the major water sources of London residents, the “Broad Street pump”. When this water pump was removed, the deaths by cholera slowed and eventually stopped. Although he had not
The well known holiday of Christmas today is far from what it was in it’s former being. Many aspects led to the change in Christmas, however Charles Dickens, a Victorian era author was arguably the most influential in the change. There was a time when christmas was not much more important than your average holiday. Without the work of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Regency Christmas would not have changed to be the way it is today. As we examine the Regency Christmas, the Christmas events in A Christmas Carol, new Christmas ideas, and today’s new christmas we will form the true Christmas.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholera (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/). Number of researches has been conducted and it has concluded that thousands of people are infected around the world. For more than two centuries, cholera has evaded some of the top scientist and still remains a threat to the world populations. A major cholera epidemic began in India in 1817, from India the disease spread to Russia, appearing at rapid speed and crossing all across the continent. Cholera is believed to originate in 1817 at the Ganges River in India and then later spread to other areas and regions due to poor removal of water mainly from British ships.
Edgar Allen Poe’s gruesomely fascinating tale of vengeance and murder, “The Cask of Amontillado”, achieves its effect only through its usage of the first person point of view. This unusual perspective enables the reader to view the characters and conflicts through the eyes of the narrator, as he first discusses and justifies, and eventually, carries out his plans for the ruthless murder of his friend. The eerie tone and disorienting and materialistically-related setting of the story contribute to its theme of defending one’s honor and name and avenging all wrongdoings, even something so small as an insult.
To start with, the scientific name of cholera is Vibrio cholera. Cholera is caused by a comma-shaped bacterium called Vibrio cholera which is a member of the domain Bacteria and kingdom Eubacteria. Organsims in the kingdom Eubactera are unicellular and prokaryotic meaning they do not have a nucleus. Also, their thick cell walls contain a carbohydrate called peptidoglycan.