In the News

09 January, 2025

OCT And OCTA Provide Insights On Neuroretinal Changes Associated With Fibromyalgia

Turkish researchers reported that optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) provide objective supplementary measurements of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), macular ganglion cell layer (GCL) and the circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) when assessing patients with fibromyalgia. Changes in these measurements are helpful to evaluate the neuroretinal changes in patients with fibromyalgia, according to first author Tuğba Aydoğen Gezginaslan, MD. She and her colleagues are from the Eye Clinic, University of Health Sciences Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, Umraniye, Istanbul, Turkey.

09 January, 2025

GP Reveals Syndrome On The Rise Since The Pandemic

Dr Ahmed highlighted the symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which has been difficult to identify and diagnose.

08 January, 2025

Doctors Say They May Have Finally Found A Cure For Long Covid

A widely available antiviral drug may help beat long Covid, the mysterious condition that still blights millions of Americans. A new study found some patients given a 15-day course of Paxlovid had significant improvements to symptoms that had plagued them for years.

08 January, 2025

Hope Fades For Proposed Long COVID Research Investment A Year After Patients Pack U.S. Senate

Hope has faded for legislation that would fund research for the millions of Americans suffering from Long COVID, according to some of the patients and advocates who testified before a first-ever congressional hearing on the topic a year ago this month. Like many of the people who packed that U.S. Senate hearing last January, Scott Schneider of Golden Valley suffers from a debilitating disease known as ME/CFS.

08 January, 2025

Prevalence Of Fatigue, Risk Factors, And Relationship With Self-Rated Health Six Months After ICU Discharge In Japan: An Ambidirectional Cohort Study

Fatigue presents an important challenge for patients discharged from intensive care units (ICUs). Despite its importance, data on the prevalence and clinical impact of post-ICU fatigue remain limited. In particular, the proportion of patients in clinical settings in Japan who find fatigue distressing, as well as the associations between fatigue, risk factors, and self-rated health, have not been fully explored using validated fatigue measures. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of fatigue, identify its associated risk factors, and examine the relationship between fatigue and self-rated health status six months after ICU discharge in Japan.

07 January, 2025

Musician Gives Back To Hospital Where She Was Treated

A young musician who had to give up her studies after being diagnosed with ME is using her talent to help children at the same facility where she was treated.

07 January, 2025

A Safety And Feasibility Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial Exploring Electroencephalographic Effective Connectivity Neurofeedback Treatment For Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition contributing to significant disability worldwide. Neuroimaging studies identify abnormal effective connectivity between cortical areas responsible for descending pain modulation (pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, pgACC) and sensory components of pain experience (primary somatosensory cortex, S1). Neurofeedback, a brain-computer interface technique, can normalise dysfunctional brain activity, thereby improving pain and function. This study evaluates the safety, feasibility, and acceptability of a novel electroencephalography-based neurofeedback training, targeting effective alpha-band connectivity from the pgACC to S1 and exploring its effect on pain and function.

06 January, 2025

Woman Says She 'Wouldn't Be Coming Out Of Her House' If It Wasn't For Her Medical Cannabis

A woman says she would not be "coming out of the house" if it wasn't for her medical cannabis. Lauren Thomas, of Barnetby le Wold in North Lincolnshire, has spent years battling severe anxiety, depression, and fibromyalgia, which has left her in chronic pain and feeling emotionally drained. The 31-year-old shared that she felt trapped by conventional treatments, but said nothing changed until she began using medical cannabis. Lauren explained that she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at age 15 and has spent years tackling feelings of isolation and exhaustion.

06 January, 2025

Pain And The Perception Of Space In Fibromyalgia

The Economy of action hypothesis postulates that bodily states rescale the perception of the individual’s environment’s spatial layout. The estimation of distances and slopes in navigation space (i.e. the space reachable by locomotion) is influenced by sensations relating to body condition and the metabolic cost of the actions. The results of the studies investigating the impact of pain on distance estimation remain inconclusive.

05 January, 2025

Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently–Long Covid And Fertility Issues, Psychotherapy Ethics, How To Fake Your Results

While Long Covid disproportionately affects women, its impact on their reproductive lives has not received the attention the issue deserves. Recently, Australia’s ABC News addressed the issue with a moving piece called “The  pandemic’s untold fertility story,” by reporter Hayley Gleeson. Long Covid, Gleeson writes, is “snuffing out some patients’ dreams of having children, and complicating pregnancy and parenthood for those who choose to conceive despite their symptoms and doubts about when or if they will recover.”