Here’s their review in the May 2012 issue of Small Press Bookwatch:

Fibromyalgia can be a plague on one’s life, but good living can overcome it for a good life. “The Woman’s Fibromyalgia Toolkit: Manage Your Symptoms and Take Control of Your Life” is a guide for dealing with the symptoms and in everyday life, beating them without drugs, as well as advice on living a better life. Also included is a chapter on pregnancy, and how to best avoid its complications in regards to the disease. “The Woman’s Fibromyalgia Toolkit” is a strong pick for any woman or friend and family of a woman facing Fibromyalgia.

Studies have consistently shown the combination of aerobic and strengthening exercises alternated each day for about 5 days each week are helpful in reducing many important fibromyalgia symptoms:
- Pain
- Fatigue
- Sleep
- Depression
- Fibro fog
Getting started with an exercise program can be challenging when you have pain, fatigue, and other symptoms. The key is to start at a low, comfortable pace and increase VERY gradually.

The Woman’s Fibromyalgia Toolkit provides an exercise program and yoga routine to help you get started.

Do you have fibromyalgia? Let your voice be heard! Participate in an anonymous research study investigating the impact of fibromyalgia on relationships.

Migraine treatments can be divided into those that treat an individual migraine episode called acute therapies (like Excedrin or Imitrex) and preventive therapies you take everyday to reduce future migraines (like Elavil, Inderal, and Topamax). Check out the information on acute therapies below, excerpted from 10 Simple Solutions to Migraines:

How Do I Know If My Acute Medication’s Working?
Migraineurs often settle for poor headache relief, thinking that any relief is better than no relief. To see if you’re getting an adequate response from your acute migraine medication, take this Acute Migraine Medication Quiz.

Acute Migraine Medication Quiz
1. Two hours after taking your acute migraine medication, do you still have substantial pain, sensitivity to light and sound, or nausea?
2. Do you usually need to take two or more doses before the pain goes away?
3. Do you use some acute migraine medication three or more days every week?
4. Do you use over-the-counter painkillers for your headache almost every day?
5. Do your friends, family, or doctors worry that you’re overusing your migraine medication?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are probably not achieving optimal relief from your current migraine medications.

Check out more information about abnormal pain processing with medication overuse headache in my blog at Migraine.com

In new research published in this month’s Center For Disease Control’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, researchers from North Carolina State University suggest a possible link between cat scratch disease bacteria and some rheumatology diseases. In this study, blood samples were collected from almost 300 patients being treated by a rheumatologist. About half of the patients had been diagnosed with Lyme disease, with the others having arthritis, chronic fatigue, or fibromyalgia. When the blood samples were tested for Bartonella bacteria, two in three patients tested positive for being exposed and two in five patients were infected.

Bartonella bacteria were identified in:
- Over half of patients with Lyme disease
- Over 25 percent with arthritis
- Over 25 percent chronic fatigue
- Over 10 percent with fibromyalgia

The researchers didn’t have comparison information about how many healthy people also had Bartonella bacteria in their blood or whether the bacteria could be linked with causing or worsening patient’s symptoms of chronic pain or joint inflammation. This research, however, may spur new studies investigating possible infectious links for common rheumatology conditions and potential new treatments.

Strong recommendations are given for:
- Antiepileptic drugs valproate [Depakote] and topiramate [Topamax]
- Beta-blockers metoprolol [Lopressor], propranolol [Inderal], and timolol [Blocadren]
- Butterbur or petasites

Get more details on recommendations at today’s Migraine.com blog addressing these new guidelines.

And for specific instructions and advice on how these therapies are typically used, effective doses, and common side effects, check out The Woman’s Migraine Toolkit.

If you have fibromyalgia and would like to tell me how fibromyalgia has affected your relationships, please check out my new Fibromyalgia and Relationship Impact Survey.

- A comprehensive review of several studies confirmed data from an earlier study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh liking attitude with heart health. The authors concluded that optimism and a positive attitude were consistently linked with reduced risk for heart disease.
- A study evaluating patients with knee arthritis likewise linked having a positive attitude with reduced knee pain and arthritis-related disability. Even after correcting for pain severity, individuals with a positive attitude were significantly less disabled than their negative attitude counterparts.

Learn how you might tap into a positive attitude to improve pain symptoms in today’s blog at Migraine.com.

I’ll be updating this page as studies are completed and published and new research is started. Research is an exciting part of medicine and I’m privileged to be able to share it with you. Happy reading!

I’m always eager to hear new research ideas. Our latest online survey was developed from a discussion I had with someone about how his wife with fibromyalgia struggled with her son’s negative reaction to her reported symptoms. Is there something YOU think doctors need to learn about? Let me know!