Chronic Awareness: Understanding Chronic Illnesses & Supporting

Pleasure, pain brain signals disrupted in fibromyalgia patients

New research indicates that a disruption of brain signals for reward and punishment contributes to increased pain sensitivity, known as hyperalgesia, in fibromyalgia patients. Results published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology, suggest that this altered brain processing might contribute to widespread pain and lack of response to opioid therapy in patients with fibromyalgia. Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More…. Fibromyalgia is a chronic, musculoskeletal…

by chronicwoman•04/06/202108/23/2025•0

Young people report worse fibromyalgia than older patients

It may seem counterintuitive, but young and middle-aged fibromyalgia patients report worse symptoms and poorer quality of life than older patients, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Fibromyalgia most often strikes women. It is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain with fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. The research, one of several Mayo studies being presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, suggests the disorder plays out differently among different age groups. Researchers studied 978…

by chronicwoman•04/06/202108/23/2025•0

Discovery could eventually help diagnose and treat chronic pain

More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. But treating and studying chronic pain is complex and presents many challenges. Scientists have long searched for a method to objectively measure pain and a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital advances that effort. The study appears in the January 2013 print edition of the journal Pain. “While we need to be cautious in the interpretation of our results, this has the potential to be…

by chronicwoman•04/06/202108/23/2025•0

Biological Link Between Pain And Fatigue Discovered

A recent University of Iowa study reveals a biological link between pain and fatigue and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Working with mice, the researchers, led by Kathleen Sluka, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, found that a protein involved…

by chronicwoman•04/06/202108/23/2025•0

New Studies Showed Mixed-But-Promising Results for New Lupus Drug Anifrolumab

Lupus patients have been waiting a while for some good news. Only one drug, belimumab (Benlysta), has been FDA-approved for lupus in more than 50 years — and that happened back in 2011. Since then, scientists have been trying to develop additional therapeutic agents (and failing for various reasons). But research presented at the 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Professionals (ACR/ARP) Annual Meeting in Atlanta suggests that a new lupus medication, anifrolumab, might…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0

Nearly Half of Giant Cell Arteritis Patients on Actemra for a Year Stay in Remission After Stopping It

“Giant cell arteritis requires ongoing management, but it does not necessarily require continuous treatment.” In 2017, tocilizumab (Actemra), a biologic drug that inhibits interleukin-6 (IL-6), was FDA-approved for giant cell arteritis — an inflammation of the lining of the arteries. At the time there was sufficient research showing that tocilizumab was better than prednisone (a steroid) for helping many patients reach remission in GCA. Yet it was unclear whether those who had reached remission should…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0

Vagus Nerve Stimulation: A New Way to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

Some people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) take a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and/or a biologic and reach remission. Others try drug after drug after drug and never find one that’s effective — or that treats their symptoms without causing intolerable side effects. At the same time, other patients with active disease refuse to take the most powerful and effective medications on the market or can’t take them because of their medical history or personal risk…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0

More Than 75% of Arthritis Patients Don’t Get Hepatitis Screening Before Starting a Biologic

Screening is important because silent hepatitis B and C infections can spring to life when you start biologics or new synthetic DMARDs. Before you start taking a biologic drug or one of the new targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), several screening tests are recommended. These include tests to see whether you have hepatitis B or C in your body that isn’t causing symptoms but might be reactivated after you start these powerful immune-suppressing drugs.…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0

Good News for Pregnant Women with Arthritis: Most Babies Exposed to Biologics in Utero Don’t Get Serious Infections

Although biologics cross the placenta, research shows they lead to few infections in babies after they’re born. The prospect of pregnancy can be daunting for women with inflammatory arthritis. Not only can disease flares occur, but a host of medications — including the commonly prescribed methotrexate — are off-limits because of concerns about birth defects and complications. There’s also a worrisome information gap on the effects of many medications during pregnancy, since pregnant women are…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0

The 5 Ways My Artwork Helps Me Cope with My Multiple Chronic Diseases

‘Art enables me to face my body and my life with courage.’ Chronic 24/7 pain, fatigue, swelling, and a host of other symptoms are all part of my journey with rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and other chronic conditions I’ve been living with for years. I’ve loved drawing since I was a child, and after my RA diagnosis in 2011, I started to create art more regularly. As my diseases progressed and multiplied, my…

by chronicwoman•03/31/202108/23/2025•0