HEALTH NEWS
Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
has approved Kineret (anakinra) for treating
rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients who
have not responded to other drugs, the drug's
maker, Amgen, reported Wednesday.
Kineret is the first direct and selective
blocker of the protein interleukin-1 to be
approved for sale in the US, according to
Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen. The
injectable drug is designed to inhibit the
inflammatory response associated with rheumatoid
arthritis.
To read more... [click here]
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- Is there new hope?
By LINDSEY TANNER,
AP Medical Writer
Research on chronic fatigue syndrome indicates
that behavior-based therapies, including
exercise, may be among the most effective
treatments, but data are deficient and scarce,
a review suggests.
While evidence on medications
is less conclusive
than behavioral approaches, research
into
treatments has been hampered
by a lack of
consensus on what causes the
disease and
even who is afflicted with it,
according
to the review.
The review, which evaluated 44
studies from
1986 through last year, appears
in Wednesday's
Journal of the American Medical
Association
(news - web sites).
A JAMA editorial said the review
may be interpreted
as confirming the bias that chronic
fatigue
syndrome is psychological in
nature.
But Dr. Anthony Komaroff, a professor
of
medicine at Harvard University
medical school,
noted that behavioral therapy
also has been
used to treat physical illnesses
such as
heart disease and multiple sclerosis.
``It helps people cope with the
illness,
but it's not curative,'' said
Komaroff, who
was not involved in the review.
``In order
to come up with really good treatments,
you
need to understand more about
the causes.''
Once given the misnomer ``yuppie
flu,'' chronic
fatigue syndrome is a complex,
hard-to-diagnose
illness. It involves persistent,
debilitating
fatigue that renders many patients
bedridden.
Any variety of other symptoms
are also usually
present, including memory problems,
depression
and flu-like signs such as fever,
chills
and joint pain.
About 800,000 U.S. adults are
believed to
have CFS; women, Hispanics and
blacks are
disproportionately affected.
Abnormalities in the body's disease-fighting
immune system have been found
in many patients,
and some researchers think viruses
or defects
in the body's ability to regulate
blood pressure
can trigger the disease. The
diagnosis is
generally made by excluding other
illnesses.
The studies in the JAMA review generally showed mixed results, and most treatments
have been evaluated in only one or two studies, said lead author Penny Whiting
of the University of York in England and colleagues.
What is called cognitive behavioral therapy - counseling in coping strategies
such as stress management - and a program of gradually
increasing exercise showed the most promising results.
Whiting said more limited benefits were found with drugs designed to stimulate
the immune system and steroids such as hydrocortisone,
used to treat deficiencies in production of cortisol, a hormone involved
in immune system function.
The editorial author, Dr. Simon Wessely of Guy's King and St. Thomas's School
of Medicine and Institute of Psychiatry in
London, said the review underscores the need for better
research and more coordination among researchers.
Kim Kenney, president of the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome
Association advocacy group, said the variability of the
symptoms ``makes it a difficult field to attract'' researchers to, and
makes it hard to standardize research methods.
The review should help ``in terms
of pointing
to some of the things that might
make future
studies more sound,'' Kenney
said.
Brain Scans Show Pain Sensitivity in Fibromyalgia
By Melissa Schorr
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Health) - Brain scans
have revealed that women with the chronic
condition Fibromyalgia differ from women
with depression in their sensitivity to pain,
researchers reported here Wednesday at the
American College of Rheumatology's annual
meeting.
Click Here to read more.
U Pass it on! Please send this newsletter on to others..
you never know who might benefit.
$ Editor: SunE1 (aka Sunny One)
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GROUP NEWS
N ew Web Address for CPSG Forum - Delphi, the host of CPSG's Message Board
& Chat Rooms, has merged with another company. This merger means that
the web address for CPSG's forum has changed.
The new address is:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/ChronicPainSup
The change is because Delphi did not retain
their "DELPHI.COM" web address in the merger, therefore we
must change all addresses to have "delphiforums.com" wherever the the old name of Delphi.com exists.
All pages to our Web Site (http://ChronicPainSupport.org) have been updated to reflect these changes.
For more information on Delphi's latest merger,
CLICK HERE.
Please change all links that you might have
in your own web sites and/or email signatures
that reference our message board. Also it
would be a good idea to "re-bookmark"
the site so that your bookmarks are updated
as well.
MEMBER NEWS
Featured Member
Solitaire, Message Board Administrator for CPSG, stumbled
into one of our chats a few years ago. From
the beginning, she was a delight to chat
with. It was quite surprising to learn how
young she was. Her words of caring, wit and
understanding surpassed her years. She may
still be in her youth in chronological years
but her years of pain surpass many who are
much older.
After helping out with chats on a regular
basis and showing her caring nature, Solitaire
was asked to be a moderator. She started
out holding weekend chats. However her commitment
to the message board became obvious, and
soon she was asked to take on the role of
Message Board Administrator. Solitare has
been in this role now for two years and as
all of you know she is a great comfort. She
replies to almost every message on our board.
That's quite a task.
If you've never read Solitaire's story -
it's one that's quite amazing. You can read
about her struggle with Lyme Disease, TMJD,
FM, and other illnesses on her web site.
While you're there take a look at some of
her writings and her photography. She's quite
talented. Click HERE to visit her web site:
Sad News for One of Our Members-
Ooopsie's husband, Bear, passed away on Wednesday,
November 21, 2001, after a very short battle
with Cancer. Bear accompanied Ooops to CPSG's
spring get-together, May, 2000. All who met
him became instant friends. Bear was a wonderful
husband and father as well as a friend to
all. To read Oopsie's post about her husband
CLICK HERE.
Flowers were sent from CPSG to Bear's funeral.
If you'd like to send a 'snail mail' card, the address for the funeral home
is posted on our message board [click here]. Condolence E-cards can be found on Sun-E-Cards.com, and can be sent to ooops@dragg.net
Chronic Pain Book Store Check out our book store.. or if you have a particular book your
interested in? Search Barnes & Noble,
through our site. Just click here. Anytime you purchase a book from our site
or through our link, it helps to defer the
cost of the website. THANK YOU!
Please read our policy on Funds and Advertisements, for information on the percentage CPSG
receives from the purchase of books.
USEFUL RESOURCES
.
NOTE! If you're not already on our mailing list...
Sign up and our news letter will be delivered to
your mail box!
/ Send article suggestions to SunE1 at this E-mail address: thesune1@yahoo.com
! Are you a writer? We welcome all articles dealing with chronic
pain. If you wish to write an article, contact
SunE1 with your topic idea. There's no requirement
to know HTML.
FEEDBACK
? Have a comment about our newsletter? Post it in our guest book.
C Rate our services D
Fill out a brief form to rate our services
and post your suggestions & comments
about CPSG (comments can be anonymous). Your
input is the most helpful way for us to improve.
Our desire is to better meet the needs of
our members. Just click on the Rate It graphic
to begin then click "rate it now: 
NOTE - Any information you read on the web,
including our message board, website, chat
rooms, & news letter should not replace
the advice of your health care providers.
Any change in medications, including the
addition of supplements, alternative therapies,
or any change in symptoms should be discussed
with your physician.
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