Fibromyalgia: “Why Won’t The Pain Stop?”

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic condition that does not limit itself to just one area but rather, it manifests as a generalized, whole body condition where basically, everything hurts. The diagnosis is typically made by exclusion or, by eliminating all other possible conditions as there is no single blood test for FM and unless other conditions that are test sensitive are present at the same time, most tests come back negative. Of course, this leaves the FM patient upset because, “….no one can figure out what’s wrong with me.” We all seem to want a test to prove what we have is “real.” Unfortunately, in the real world, no blood test, x-ray, or exam procedure is 100% accurate (sensitive and specific), so even when tests return positive, there can be “false positives” that are caused by many things such as drug induced test alterations and/or other conditions that alter the same test. On the other hand, there are “false negatives,” so even though the test came back negative, it’s still possible that the problem one is present but the test may just not be sensitive (accurate) enough to detect it. FM is one of those conditions where only after a myriad of tests have been run and come back negative, can the diagnosis of FM be made with some degree of confidence. Essentially, we have to prove that you don’t have something else causing similar symptoms before we can confidently (or at lease more confidently) diagnose you with fibromyalgia. To complicate this further, in “secondary FM,” the cause of FM is known and is due to an underlying condition such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, hypothyroid, HIV, cancer, as well as physical trauma such as after a car accident or a work injury. When an accident is involved, the symptoms may be more confined to one area (then called “regional FM”) making the diagnosis even more challenging as the classic 11 of 18 tender points may not hold up in these cases. Finally, there are doctors out there that simply don’t “believe in” the condition and may say to the FM patient, “…there is no such thing, it’s all in your head, you simply have learn how to live with it. There’s nothing that can be done.” Well, they actually may be partially right – that is, the “…it’s all in your head” part (don’t get mad… just wait!). Another finding that is well-published in peer review literature is the concept called central and peripheral “sensitization.” This occurs when increased incoming sensory information from injured skin, muscles, and/or organs, in a sense bombard areas in the central nervous system (spinal cord and brain) leaving it “sensitized” or, more sensitive to “normal” incoming information. This is because the threshold or tolerance to normal incoming sensory stimuli is reduced and results in increased muscle pain commonly described by patients with FM. To better illustrate this, hypersensitivity or central sensitization was found in people after a whiplash injury. They recruited 14 whiplash patients and 14 “normals” to compare their responses when stimulating the leg (the non-injured area) as well as the neck (injured area). Theoretically, if central sensitization didn’t exist, the responses to the exact same stimulus on the healthy leg of both the whiplash patients and the normal subjects would be equal. Instead, what was found was that the whiplash patients had significantly lower pain thresholds for 2 of 3 tests (a single electrical stimulus in the muscle, repeated electrical stimulation in the muscle and on the skin, but not from heat when applied to the skin). Each pain threshold was measured at the neck and leg before and after local anesthesia was applied to the painful, sore neck muscles. In the whiplash cases, the lower pain threshold was found when stimulating both skin and muscles at the healthy leg and at the injured anesthetized neck equally. That proves that the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) has a “pain memory” which lowers the threshold so the whiplash patients feel pain more intensely and quicker than the non-injured people. This can help patients understand the answer to the question, “…why won’t this pain go away?” This pain memory or hypersensitization is similarly found in FM patients. If you, a friend or family member requires care for FM, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services!

http://killeenwhiplash.com/ This is a link to my whiplash information site. If you have been injured in a car accident this site has a lot of the information you need to know about what to do after the accident.

New Sites

I haven't posted to this blog for a while. I have a new one at http://drrustydornblog.com/ Also have a new whiplash site up at http://killeenwhiplash.com/ Check them out.

Fibro and Inflammation

Let me start off by saying that fibromyalgia is not currently considered an inflammatory condition. However, there is some evidence that inflammation plays a role in fibro.

I have discussed the neuroinflammatory basis of "fibro fog" in another post. There is also some thoughts that inflammation of muscle fascia plays a role in some of the muscle pain of fibro. Many people dealing with fibro also have gut dysfunction. This often presents as diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain or some combination of the above. This may be related to food sensitivities that leads to gut inflammation. There are many health risks associated with inflammation that go beyond fibro. This includes increased risks of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

I have seen many patients show dramatic improvements in their fibro complaints by getting on an anti-inflammatory diet and adding supplements to help minimize inflammation.

Some relatively simple dietary changes that you can make to help reduce the inflammatory load on your body include:

Cut back on junk foods, high-fat meats and highly processed foods.

Cut back on trans fats and saturated fats.

Decrease refined white flours in bread and pasta. Go whole wheat or gluten free instead.

Cut back on consumption of sugar.

Avoid Aspartame and other artificial sweetners. Aspartame is neuroexcitatory and is neurotoxic. STAY AWAY FROM ASPARTAME!

Consider getting a water ionizer.

Consider lab testing or an elimination diet to identify food sensitivities.

Some supplements that can help minimize inflammation include omega 3 oils, curcumin and vitamin C. Increased intake of antioxidants can also help. Probably the ultimate antioxidant for this purpose is glutithione. Unfortunately taking glutithione orally is pretty much worthless as it is very poorly absorbed via that route. I use a nebulizer or a topical version for my patients to get around the absorption issue.

Bruce Lipton Describes Epigenetics in One Minute

Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized authority in bridging science and spirit. His research as a cellular biologist at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, between 1987 and 1992, revealed that the environment, operating though the membrane, controlled the behavior and physiology of the cell, turning genes on and off. His discoveries, which ran counter to the established scientific view that life is controlled by the genes, presaged one of today’s most important fields of study, the science of epigenetics. He is regarded as one of the leading voices of the new biology. Dr Lipton’s work summarizing his findings is entitled The Biology of Belief.

The book is one of my favorites and I have read it several times. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a better understanding genetics and epigenetics. It is a great introduction to, and explanation of the fact that genes represent tendencies NOT destinies.

This link takes you to a short video in which he explains the basic concept in a very brief segment.

http://oneminuteshift.com/videos/bruce_lipton/healing_perceptions

GeneWize Press Release

MVP Empowerment Group Teams Up with Revolutionary GeneWize Life Sciences DNA Guided Nutrition For Au

(PRWEB) July 25, 2008 -- 'Genewize Life Sciences:' a subsidiary of publicly traded Genelink, --with the launch of its DNA Guided Nutrition System, in conjunction with ThedNaMovement.com Marketing Group, is a category creator as it sphere heads a whole new way of customizing nutritional supplements based on an assessment of an individual's DNA.

World renowned economist and prolific author for New York Times Best Sellers: Paul Zane Pilzer in his recent study: "The Wellness Revolution," reminds us that one-seventh, $1.5 trillion, of the U.S. economy today is devoted to the healthcare business, or what Paul Zane Pilzer better describes as the "Sickness Industry." However, by the year 2010, it is believed that an additional $1 trillion of the economy will be devoted to products and services that keep us healthy, make us look or feel better, will slow down the effects of aging, and will help in preventing diseases from developing altogether. With the technological breakthrough of DNA Guided Nutrition, and other developments in Bio-Genetic research, the implications of the shift to proactive wellness are far reaching from health to beauty to food to medicine.

Harkening back to 1908, Henry Ford's Model T launched the trillion-dollar automobile industry. Likewise in 1981, IBM's PC launched the trillion-dollar personal computer industry, which grew so fast that PC sales surpassed U.S. auto sales in only ten years.

With the launching of GeneWize DNA Guided Nutrition, in conjunction with Dream Team Marketing organizations like: ThedNaMovement.com. and Jonathan Budd, the trillion-dollar industry of the twenty-first century has arrived, and it promises to similarly revolutionize our lives and offer entrepreneurs and investors the opportunity to amass great fortunes.

This next big thing is the wellness industry, and The Wellness Revolution shows you how to state your claim now while the market is ripe..... In The Wellness Revolution, Paul Zane Pilzer--a world renowned economist, lay-rabbi, presidential advisor, college professor, and entrepreneur--shows us how to tap into this next trillion-dollar revolution. Already a $200 billion business, with most of its revenue coming from vitamin sales and health club memberships, the wellness industry is just now taking off. In just ten years, an additional $1 trillion of the U.S. economy will be devoted to providing healthy people products and services to maintain their health.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, or distributor, Paul Zane Pilzer, featured speaker at the August 1st GeneWize Launch in Orlando, demonstrates how to get in on the ground floor of this burgeoning industry which is best illustrated in the launching of the GeneWise DNA Guided Nutrition System, and promoted by dedicated marketing organizations like MVPGeneWise and the DNA Movement Dream Team, headed up by Michael Barrett & Angela Giles in conjunction with Jonathan Budds incredible Mastermind marketing strategies.

Featured members of the dNa Movement /MVP GeneWize team include: Christina Hessel (the Traveling Nanny), Texas based Savanna Moss, Dr. Rusty Dorn, Richard Rizza, who heads up our Scenic Northeast division, and a host of other top leaders and income earners, too numerous to mention at this time. Needless to say, the DNA Movement team is exploding, and is off and running as it attracts the best-of-the-best marketers and health care professionals who are joining by droves to take advantage of the time sensitive benefits which can only be enjoyed by pre-launch founding GeneWise affiliates, who join before August 1st.

How does it work? Three Simple Steps:

1. Assess, Don't Guess - GeneWize offers the only patented, FDA reviewed, non-invasive, self-administered DNA collection system available. The process is easy to understand. It is simple to do and takes just a few minutes. An individual simply swabs the inside of their mouth (the inner cheek), and mails the swab back to the Genewise laboratory in the special envelope provided Everything, along with easy-to-follow instructions, are included. An individual can now find out for the very first time what's right for them as they are nourishing their body with the ultimate personalized formula.

2. Customized: Their product is created specifically for them. NO more one size fits all!

Consumers will receive a comprehensive personal formula created just for them, utilizing over 177,000 possible ingredients combinations. Nothing but product ingredients is stocked on our shelves. All our formulas are made to order. Basically, it works like this:

....For less than $200 a consumer can get their DNA assessed (This only needs to be done once. Your DNA never changes) After that the costs is about $80-$100 per month to have a vitamin/supplement specifically made to support their genetic code. No more guessing.

Barrett & Giles, having been involved in marketing health products in the past, have never seen anything as effective and powerful as this, due to the DNA based personally customized nutritional feature. GeneWise is especially attractive to experienced marketers and distributors because of its generous compensation plan. This is the way of the future for health and nutrition.

To learn more about this exciting technological breakthrough with Genetic Sciences and the GeneWise DNA Guided Nutritional System and Once-in-a-lifetime Business Opportunity, log onto:

http://www.mygenewize.com/?ID=doctordorn

Good News In Our DNA: Defects You Can Fix With Vitamins And Minerals

This is some exciting stuff. There is now a company that can do genetic testing and then prepare a custom formulation made to compliment your inate strengths and strengthen your weak areas. If you would like to know more go to the link below. This company is the first and only one to bring supplementation technology into the 21st century. Check it out.

Dr. R. Dorn

doctordorngenewize.com

Good News In Our DNA: Defects You Can Fix With
Vitamins And Minerals



ScienceDaily (Jun. 3, 2008) — As the cost of sequencing a single
human genome drops rapidly, with one company predicting a price
of $100 per person in five years, soon the only reason not to look
at your "personal genome" will be fear of what bad news lies in
your genes.
University of California, Berkeley, scientists, however, have found
a welcome reason to delve into your genetic heritage: to find the
slight genetic flaws that can be fixed with remedies as simple as
vitamin or mineral supplements.
"I'm looking for the good news in the human genome," said Jasper
Rine, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology.
"Headlines for the last 20 years have really been about the triumph
of biomedical research in finding disease genes, which is
biologically interesting, genetically important and frightening to
people who get this information," Rine said. "I became obsessed
with trying to decide if there is some other class of information that
will make people want to look at their genome sequence."
What Rine and colleagues found and report in the online early
edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS) is that there are many genetic differences that
make people's enzymes less efficient than normal, and that simple supplementation with vitamins can often restore
some of these deficient enzymes to full working order.
First author Nicholas Marini, a UC Berkeley research scientist, noted that physicians prescribe vitamins to "cure"
many rare and potentially fatal metabolic defects caused by mutations in critical enzymes. But those affected by these
metabolic diseases are people with two bad copies, or alleles, of an essential enzyme. Many others may be walking
around with only one bad gene, or two copies of slightly defective genes, throwing their enzyme levels off slightly
and causing subtle effects that also could be eliminated with vitamin supplements.
"Our studies have convinced us that there is a lot of variation in the population in these enzymes, and a lot of it affects
function, and a lot of it is responsive to vitamins," Marini said. "I wouldn't be surprised if everybody is going to
require a different optimal dose of vitamins based on their genetic makeup, based upon the kind of variance they are
harboring in vitamin-dependent enzymes."
Though this initial study tested the function of human gene variants by transplanting them into yeast cells, where the
function of the variants can be accurately assessed, Rine and Marini are confident the results will hold up in humans.
Their research, partially supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S.
Army, may enable them to employ U.S. soldiers to test the theory that vitamin supplementation can tune up defective
enzymes.
"Our soldiers, like top athletes, operate under extreme conditions that may well be limited by their physiology," Rine
said. "We're now working with the defense department to identify variants of enzymes that are remediable, and
ultimately hope to identify troops that have these variants and test whether performance can be enhanced by
appropriate supplementation."
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In the PNAS paper, Rine, Marini and their colleagues report on their initial analysis of variants of a human enzyme
called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, or MTHFR. The enzyme, which requires the B vitamin folate to work
properly, plays a key role in synthesizing molecules that go into the nucleotide building blocks of DNA. Some cancer
drugs, such as methotrexate, target MTHFR to shut down DNA synthesis and prevent tumor growth.
Using DNA samples from 564 individuals of many races and ethnicities, colleagues at Applied Biosystems of Foster
City, Calif., sequenced for each person the two alleles that code for the MTHFR enzyme. Consistent with earlier
studies, they found three common variants of the enzyme, but also 11 uncommon variants, each of the latter
accounting for less than one percent of the sample.
They then synthesized the gene for each variant of the enzyme, and Marini, Rine and their UC Berkeley colleagues
inserted these genes into separate yeast cells in order to judge the activity of each variant. Yeast use many of the same
enzymes and cofactor vitamins and minerals as humans and are an excellent model for human metabolism, Rine said.
The researchers found that four different mutations affected the functioning of the human enzyme in yeast. One of
these mutations is well known: Nearly 30 percent of the population has one copy, and nine percent has two copies.
The researchers were able to supplement the diet of the cultured yeast with folate, however, and restore full
functionality to the most common variant, and to all but one of the less common variants.
Since this experiment, the researchers have found 30 other variants of the MTHFR enzyme and tested about 15 of
them, "and more than half interfere with the function of the enzyme, producing a hundred-fold range of enzyme
activity. The majority of these can be either partially or completely restored to normal activity by adding more folate.
And that is a surprise," Rine said.
Most scientists think that harmful mutations are disfavored by evolution, but Rine pointed out that this applies only to
mutations that affect reproductive fitness. Mutations that affect our health in later years are not efficiently removed by
evolution and may remain in our genome forever.
The health effects of tuning up this enzyme in humans are unclear, he said, but folate is already known to protect
against birth defects and seems to protect against heart disease and cancer. At least one defect in the MTHFR enzyme
produces elevated levels in the blood of the metabolite homocysteine, which is linked to an increased risk of heart
disease and stroke, conditions that typically affect people in their post-reproductive years.
"In those people, supplementation of folate in the diet can reduce levels of that metabolite and reduce disease risk,"
Marini said.
Marini and Rine estimate that the average person has five rare mutant enzymes, and perhaps other not-so-rare
variants, that could be improved with vitamin or mineral supplements.
"There are over 600 human enzymes that use vitamins or minerals as cofactors, and this study reports just what we
found by studying one of them," Rine said. "What this means is that, even if the odds of an individual having a defect
in one gene is low, with 600 genes, we are all likely to have some mutations that limit one or more of our enzymes."
The subtle effects of variation in enzyme activity may well account for conflicting results of some clinical trials,
including the confusing data on the effect of vitamin supplements, he noted. In the future, the enzyme profile of
research subjects will have to be taken into account in analyzing the outcome of clinical trials.
If one considers not just vitamin-dependent enzymes but all the 30,000 human proteins in the genome, "every
individual would harbor approximately 250 deleterious substitutions considering only the low-frequency variants.
These numbers suggest that the aggregate incidence of low-frequency variants could have a significant physiological
impact," the researchers wrote in their paper.
All the more reason to poke around in one's genome, Rine said.
"If you don't give people a reason to become interested in their genome and to become comfortable with their personal
genomic information, then the benefits of much of the biomedical research, which is indexed to particular genetic
states, won't be embraced in a time frame that most people can benefit from," Rine said. "So, my motivation is partly
scientific, partly an education project and, in some ways, a partly political project."
Marini and Rine credit Bruce Ames, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology now on the
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research staff at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, with the research that motivated them to look at
enzyme variation. Ames found in the 1970s that many bacteria that could not produce a specific amino acid could do
so if given more vitamin B6, and in recent years he has continued exploring the link between micronutrients and
health.
"Looked at in one way, Bruce found that you can cure a genetic disease in bacteria by treating it with vitamins," Rine
said. Because the human genome contains about 6 billion DNA base pairs, each one subject to mutation, there could
be between 3 and 6 million DNA sequence differences between any two people. Given those numbers, he reasoned
that, as in bacteria, "there should be people who are genetically different in terms of the amount of vitamin needed for
optimal performance of their enzymes."
This touches on what Rine considers one of the key biomedical questions today. "Now that we have the complete
genome sequences of all the common model organisms, including humans, it's obvious that the defining challenge of
biology in the 21st century is not what the genes are, but what the variation in the genes does," he said.
Rine, Marini and their colleagues are continuing to study variation in the human MTHFR gene as well as other folate
utilizing enzymes, particularly with respect to how defects in these enzymes may lead to birth defects. Rine also is
taking advantage of the 1,500 students in his Biology 1A lab course to investigate variants of a second vitamin
B6-dependent enzyme, cystathionine beta-synthase.
He also is investigating how enzyme cofactors like vitamins and minerals fix defective enzymes. He suspects that
supplements work by acting as chaperones to stabilize the proper folding of the enzyme, which is critical to its
catalytic activity. "That is a new principle that may be applicable to drug design," Rine said.
Coauthors with Rine and Marini are UC Berkeley research assistant Jennifer Gin and Janet Ziegle, Kathryn
Hunkapiller Keho, David Ginzinger and Dennis A. Gilbert of Applied Biosystems, which also funded part of the
study. The work was supported by a University of California Discovery Grant, DARPA and the National Institutes
of Health.
Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley.
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
APA
MLA
University of California - Berkeley (2008, June 3). Good News In Our DNA: Defects You Can Fix With Vitamins
And Minerals. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 7, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com
/releases/2008/06/080602214135.htm

For more on the Genewize Supplements go to- http://www.mygenewize.com/?ID=doctordorn