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ScienceDaily
A new study suggests that sleep problems lead to increased pain and fatigue in cancer patients. The results indicate that interventions aimed at trouble sleeping would be expected to improve both pain and fatigue in this patient population.
Results show that more than half the sample reported having trouble sleeping, with 26 percent reporting moderate or severe trouble sleeping. Compared with patients who reported no trouble sleeping, patients with moderate to severe trouble sleeping reported significantly more fatigue, pain and depressed mood. Using structural equation modeling analysis to evaluate causal relations and directions of effect, the best-fitting model indicates that trouble sleeping led to increased ratings of pain.
According to the authors, the relationship between pain and sleep often has been assumed to be reciprocal. In the present study, however, a model of reciprocal causation could not be fit to the data, and models in which pain caused trouble sleeping did not fit as well as the model in which trouble sleeping caused pain.
“We believed we would find a bi-directional relationship between insomnia and pain, but instead found that trouble sleeping was more likely a cause, rather than a consequence, of pain in patients with cancer,” said lead author Edward J. Stepanski, chief operational officer at the Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network in Memphis, Tenn.
The study included demographic, clinical and patient-reported outcomes data from 11,445 cancer patients undergoing treatment at the West Clinic, a large community oncology practice in Memphis. Participants had an average age of 61.5 years, and 74 percent were female. Breast cancer was the most common form of cancer, and about 25 percent of study subjects had received chemotherapy in the last 30 days. Increases in depressed mood also led to increased ratings of pain.
Younger age and recent administration of chemotherapy were both associated with increased trouble sleeping. According to the authors, younger patients often receive more aggressive chemotherapy than older patients; therefore, younger patients may be exposed to more treatment-related toxicity.
Stepanski stated that several studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) improves sleep in cancer patients who have insomnia. He believes that this type of intervention may decrease patients’ pain and fatigue by improving their sleep.

Adapted from materials provided by American Academy of Sleep Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Journal Reference:
1.The Relation of Trouble Sleeping, Depressed Mood, Pain, and Fatigue in Patients with Cancer. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, April 15, 2009

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Hailed in ancient Eastern medicine as the “mushroom of immortality” and the “medicine of kings,” you’d expect reishi to offer you some pretty astounding health benefits, right? Your assumptions are correct. This prized fungus may be able to boost your immune system, fight cancer, ward off heart disease, calm your nerves and relieve both allergies and inflammation.

“Reishi indeed sounds like a cure-all,” writes Rebecca Wood in her book “New Whole Foods Encyclopedia.” She goes on to explain reishi’s wide range of uses: “An immunostimulant, it is helpful for people with AIDS, leaky-gut syndrome, Epstein-Barr, chronic bronchitis and other infectious diseases. It is used as an aid to sleep, as a diuretic, as a laxative and to lower cholesterol.” It almost seems too good to be true.

How can one fungus help the human body in so many ways? Traditional Eastern medical science explains reishi’s wide range of medicinal applications better, perhaps, than mainstream medicine ever could. According to Eastern thought, the body needs to defend itself against threats to its “equilibrium.” These threats can be physical, such as viruses and bacteria that cause infection; emotional, such as stressors that cause anxiety; or energetic, in that they reduce alertness. Whatever the threat, reishi helps the body maintain its defense against these threats to its equilibrium, helping the body to maintain balance. In this sense, diseases like heart disease and cancer mean that the body is out of balance, which is why an equilibrium-enhancing remedy such as reishi can help so many diverse ailments.

Skeptics can doubt the previous explanation as Taoist “mumbo jumbo,” but laboratory research proves many of reishi’s medicinal applications. As Dr. Andrew Weil writes, reishi “has been the subject of a surprising amount of scientific research in Asia and the West.” Research shows that the polysaccharide beta-1,3-D-glucan in reishi boosts the immune system by raising the amount of macrophages T-cells, which has major implications for people suffering from AIDS and other immune system disorders.

This immune-boosting action also works wonders in the prevention and treatment of cancer, as the T-cells are then able to fight cancer cells more effectively. However, reishi may help the body defeat cancer in not just one, but four ways. In addition to boosting the immune system, the glucan in reishi helps immune cells bind to tumor cells. Many experts believe that it also actually reduces the number of cancerous cells, making it easier for T-cells and macrophages to rid the body of them. Another substance in reishi, called canthaxanthin, slows down the growth of tumors, according to “Prescription for Dietary Wellness” author Phyllis A. Balch and other experts. As a result of these amazing anti-cancer abilities, laboratory research and traditional medicinal usage of reishi to fight cancer is so positive that the Japanese government officially recognizes it as a cancer treatment.

Besides cancer, reishi can help and treat another of America’s top killers: cardiovascular disease. The protection reishi offers against heart disease and stroke is truly remarkable because it helps prevent so many different risk factors, due to its high content of heart-saving substances like sterols, ganoderic acids, coumarin, mannitol and polysaccharides. Experts believe that the ganoderic acids in particular lower triglyceride levels, remove excess cholesterol from the blood, lower blood pressure, reduce platelet stickiness and even help correct arrhythmia. In fact, for 54 people with hypertension unresponsive to medication, taking reishi extract three times a day for four weeks was enough to significantly lower blood pressure, according to a study reported by Burton Goldberg in “Heart Disease.” Just imagine how the incidence of cardiovascular disease could be reduced if using reishi really caught on in the Western hemisphere.

While you protect your body against infectious disease, cancer and heart disease, your use of reishi can also help relieve your everyday discomforts. Do you have allergies? Japanese researchers discovered that the lanostan in reishi acts as a natural antihistamine. Do you suffer from muscle aches or arthritis? Dr. William B. Stavinhoa of the University of Texas Health Science Center found that reishi is as powerful as five milligrams of hydrocortisone, but with minimal side effects. What about anxiety or insomnia? According to “Mind Boosters” by Dr. Ray Sahelia, the reishi mushroom can calm the mind, as well as improve memory, concentration and focus. With all these benefits, reishi truly is the “medicine of kings.”

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ScienceDaily — Many people with fibromyalgia — a debilitating pain syndrome that affects 2 to 4 percent of the population — have faced the question of whether the condition is real.

Fibromyalgia often has been misdiagnosed as arthritis or even a psychological issue. Increasingly, though, the scientific knowledge about fibromyalgia is growing, and a new paper from the University of Michigan Health System says there are “overwhelming data” that the condition is real, is characterized by a lower pain threshold and is associated with genetic factors that can make some people more likely to develop fibromyalgia.

The review paper, in the December issue of the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports, cites recent studies involving pain, genetics, brain activity and more. The paper’s authors hope these findings will lead to a better understanding and acceptance of fibromyalgia and related conditions.

“It is time for us to move past the rhetoric about whether these conditions are real, and take these patients seriously as we endeavor to learn more about the causes and most effective treatments for these disorders,” says Richard E. Harris, Ph.D., research investigator in the Division of Rheumatology at the U-M Medical School’s Department of Internal Medicine and a researcher at the U-M Health System’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center.

A growing amount of research related to the neurobiology of the condition supports the notion that the pain of fibromyalgia is real. Studies at U-M and elsewhere using two neuroimaging techniques — functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) — indicate there is a difference between patients with and without fibromyalgia.

“In people without pain, these structures encode pain sensations normally. In people with fibromyalgia, the neural activity increased,” says Daniel J. Clauw, M.D., director of the U-M Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center and professor of rheumatology at the U-M Medical School, and an author of the new paper. “These studies indicate that fibromyalgia patients have abnormalities within their central brain structures.”

In a 2003 paper in the journal Science, a U-M team reported that a small variation in the gene that encodes the enzyme called catechol-O-methyl transferase, or COMT, made a significant difference in the pain tolerance, and pain-related emotions and feelings, of healthy volunteers. Researchers also have found that individual mutations in the COMT gene are related to the future development of temporomandibular joint disorder, also known as TMD or TMJ, a condition related to fibromyalgia.

Together, these studies about COMT and numerous studies with animals suggest that pain sensitivity is determined at least in part by a person’s genetic makeup, Clauw says.

The authors note that there are some legitimate areas of debate regarding fibromyalgia, including disagreements about how precisely it should be defined and whether people with the condition deserve compensation. But none of those disagreements should detract from the acceptance of it as a condition causing real pain, they say.

Reference: Current Pain and Headache Reports, Dec. 2006, pp. 403-7.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Michigan Health System.

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ScienceDaily — Patients with fibromyalgia treated with a synthetic form of marijuana, nabilone, showed significant reductions in pain and anxiety in a first-of-its-kind study, published in The Journal of Pain.

Fibromyalgia syndrome has no cure, is difficult to diagnose, and effective pain management strategies are a must to help patients cope with the disease. An estimated 12 million Americans have fibromyalgia, which is characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain and myriad other symptoms. The condition is far more prevalent in women and the incidence increases with age, reaching 7 percent among women 65 years and older.

Forty subjects were selected for the nabilone trial, conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital. They were divided into nabilone and placebo groups and were treated for four weeks. The authors noted this was the first randomized, controlled-access trial to evaluate nabilone for pain reduction and quality-of-life improvement in fibromyalgia patients. Nabilone is one of two oral marijuana-based compounds, known as cannabinoids, available in Canada and is approved for treatment of nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.

Results of the Manitoba study showed the nabilone group had significant reductions in pain and anxiety, measured by comparisons with baseline scores on the visual analogue scale for pain, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the FIQ anxiety score. From the data, the study concluded nabilone has significant benefits for pain relief and functional improvement in fibromyalgia patients. Although the improvement was significant, none of the nabilone-treated subjects had complete relief of their fibromyalgia symptoms.

The drug was well tolerated by treated patients, which the authors characterized as reassuring since fibromyalgia patients are sensitive to most medications and have difficulty tolerating side effects. The downside, however, is cost. In Canada, nabilone would cost about $4,000 for a year’s supply.

The authors believe their findings warrant consideration of nabilone as an adjunct to current medical management of fibromyalgia.

Adapted from materials provided by American Pain Society, via Newswise. (Feb. 18, 2008)

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There are many ways that people develop Fatigue conditions, including Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) as well as Fibromyalgia (FM). Some of the more common causes are viruses, bacterial infections, operations, vaccinations, etc. The onset can also occur after a stressful incident or a build up of stress. There is one common factor – the system is under stress.

What happens when we are under stress?

As a result of entering this state we produce a cocktail of chemicals – including cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin. This powerful group of chemicals is also produced during the fight or flight response – this is the natural process that is triggered in reaction to a threat – either real or perceived.

Physiological changes take place during fight or flight

A number of changes take place, due to activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Additional fuel is directed to the major muscles groups by increasing blood pressure and heart rate. Thyroid and blood sugar levels are affected. Increased energy is needed for emergency systems which causes nonessential functions including digestion and immune system to shut down.

What’s the connection between the stress response and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

The initial virus, bug, trauma, vaccination etc. has already under put the system under stress. If there were other stressors present or the person was run-down at the time, the recovery period could be prolonged. If the recovery is slow this can be a cause for concern, which results in more stress. The immune system, which is already challenged becomes depleted, further slowing the process of recovery.

Sufferers Search for Help

Sufferers are typically tested for other ailments by their doctors. After receiving the negative test results, the symptoms persist. People often turn to alternative approaches. Some people get temporary relief, but again the symptoms come back. It’s common for people to lose trust in their body and energy levels. This can help to further entrench the stress – symptom – stress cycle.

The stress response over the long-term

The system becomes depleted when subjected to the stress response over the long-term. The chemistry designed to help us out of danger becomes toxic. The immune system becomes depleted and most other bodily systems are disrupted. Adrenalin levels can become depleted after prolonged activation. The dysregulation of stress chemistry is responsible for more fatigue and physical symptoms.

Is it all in the mind?

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is certainly not all in the mind. It’s a physical and debilitating illness affecting most bodily systems. However, purely physical approaches to recovery, or those that focus on specific symptoms rarely work. We need to recognize that the mechanisms that trigger these physiological responses are very much a part of the mind. Until these patterns are addressed, full recovery over the long term is unlikely.

Breaking the cycle

It is possible to break free of these cycles and it can be done quickly, given the right tools. Fortunately, the length of time of the illness does not determine the length of the recovery time. What’s needed is an understanding of the mind – body connection and an insight into the damaging unconscious cycles. We can then learn to use new physical and cognitive strategies that influence our health in a positive way.

You are not broken!

Sufferers of fatigue related conditions can typically feel broken or flawed in some way. Although the physical symptoms can be so severe that it feels as if this is so, this is not the case. Human health is incredibly buoyant, it is just necessary to discover what is in the way. Once we can bring balance to the system, we can create the opportunity for energy to return and physical symptoms to naturally resolve.

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by Gabriel Adams

You often don’t think about your Immune System, however as soon as it fails you are quick to realize how vitally important the Immune System is for your overall health. The Immune System is responsible for preventing all bacteria, germs, viruses, and other microorganisms from entering the body and causing complete destruction.

You may not realize it, but the Immune System works 24 hours a day, every day of your life protecting you from all sorts of sickness, disease, and ultimately death. In fact, as soon as any living organism dies, the Immune System immediately stops functioning and the organism is subject to all manner of parasitic invasion. When you stop to think about it, it is truly amazing how the Immune System functions at not only keeping you alive, but also in perfect health.

The Immune System consists of a number of different organs and components. The main components of the Immune System are the Lymph System, The Thymus, Hormones, Bone Marrow, The Spleen, Leukocytes (White Blood Cells), Antibodies, Complement, Tonsils, and Adenoids. Together these components work together to ensure that the Immune System is working in proper order and defends the body against foreign invaders.

In addition to these components, there is another very important organ that is invaluable to ensuring that the Immune System is working and that is the Skin. Skin is often the body’s first line of defense against foreign invaders such as germs, viruses, and bacteria. Therefore, by keeping the skin clean, frequent hand washing, and treating cuts or wounds to prevent infection you can help the Immune System by preventing many invaders from entering the body.

It is a proven fact that stress negatively impacts the Immune System. Therefore, one of the best strategies that you can implement to ensure that your Immune System is operating in its best capacity is to reduce stress. You should also ensure that you receive plenty of sleep every night, and take a vitamin and mineral supplement. Also, there are many herbs that help strengthen the Immune System, adding these to your diet can have a powerful impact on the overall health of your Immune System.

Learn how glyconutritionals can boost immune system function.

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Kate Savage

A cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy suffers from side-effects like hair loss, vomiting tendency, loss of appetite and mouth sores. When they suffer this pain they take it as a package deal with the treatment and bear the pain throughout the treatment session. They feel that all the patients who undergo chemotherapy have to bear this traumatic condition which not only weakens the body but also affects the mental state of the person and snatches away the desire to live.

The patient feels lethargic and losses all energy. He feels tired and weak even if he does a light work; this is because chemotherapy treatment adversely affects the healthy red and white blood corpuscles and destroys them. The body takes its own time to repair the damage. During that period the patient feels as though his body has been drained of all energy and this makes him weak which also develops the lethargic feeling.

All the adverse effects of chemotherapy can be warded off by taking herbal drugs made by combining many herbs which have the potentiality to rejuvenate the healthy cells and bring them up to their normal level. It has two fold effects, the person is saved from the agony of the dangerous side-effects and the healthy white cells, that is the bodies armed force fights against the cancerous cells and helps in the process of eliminating them.

The natural herbs work efficiently as they are combined together which increases their potentiality. Nearly 15 natural herbs having the potential to fight cancer are combined to form the drug. The effect of the combination is more on the body which helps the body to recover rapidly and overcome the adverse effects of chemotherapy. If these herbs are taken individually they might not prove to be as effective as a single herb does not contain all the anti-oxidant properties.

These herbal drugs can be taken prior to the commencement of the chemotherapy and can be continued during the treatment and also after the completion of the chemotherapy treatment. The herbal drug can be taken without the fear of facing any side effect as it has been scientifically proved that herbs do not have any adverse effect on the body. A patient can take the advantage of both the medical and the herbal treatment and relieve his body from a terminating disease to lead a healthy life.

You can learn more about [http://www.echemotherapy.com]chemotherapy, its use as cancer medicine and treatment on this site. Also learn about [http://www.echemotherapy.com/chemotherapy-side-effects]chemotherapy side effects like hair loss, lack of energy etc., and how to take care of them.

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