News - Mind-Body Therapy Plus Exercise Counters Fibromyalgia

[Guest guest]

A DGReview of : " Mind-Body Therapies for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia. A

Systematic Review "

Journal of Rheumatology

12/12/2000

By Loshak

Mind-body therapy to treat fibromyalgia syndrome is more effective for some

clinical outcomes than waiting list/treatment as usual or placebo.

According to a new comprehensive review of the literature, the results of

mind-body therapies are largely inconclusive when compared to active treatments

except when combined with exercise of moderate or high intensity.

To assess the effectiveness of mind-body therapy for fibromyalgia syndrome,

researchers used methods recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration to make a

systematic review of randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials.

They searched nine electronic databases, 69 conference proceedings and several

citation lists for relevant trials in any language. A total of 13 eligible

trials involving 802 subjects were scored for methodological quality and

information on major outcomes was gathered.

A statistical pooling was not possible because data reporting was insufficient.

Researchers therefore performed a best-evidence synthesis. Seven of the 13

trials received a high methodological score.

Compared to waiting list/treatment as usual, there was strong evidence that

mind-body therapy was more effective for self-efficacy. There was limited

evidence for quality of life and inconclusive evidence for all other outcomes.

There was limited evidence, also, that mind-body therapy was more effective than

placebo for pain and global improvement.

The evidence was inconclusive that mind-body therapy was more effective than

physiotherapy, psychotherapy or education/attention control for all outcomes.

The trials showed strong evidence that moderate and high intensity exercise was

more effective than mind-body therapy for pain and function, but only moderate

evidence that mind-body therapy plus exercise was more effective than waiting

list/treatment as usual for self-efficacy and quality of life.

The evidence that mind-body therapy plus exercise was more effective than

education/attention control was limited and for other outcomes inconclusive. The

evidence for mind-body therapy plus exercise versus other active treatments was

also inconclusive for all outcomes.

Long-term within-groups results showed the greatest benefit for mind-body

therapy plus exercise.

The investigators said that future research should focus on the synergistic

effects of mind-body therapy plus exercise and/or antidepressants.

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[Guest guest]

my boyfriends mom was told a few months ago that she has Fibromyalgia and

yesterday the dr gave some samples of a med for her to try. She asked me to

ask the group if any of you have heard about it or ever tried it and what

were your side affects etc. it is Remeron. She has a very low tolerance to

drugs. she takes 1/4 of a muscle relaxer and it puts her down for the night

and most of the next day. she is nervous about trying new meds. so if you

could help she would be very greatful.

thanks,

shelly

[Guest guest]

Donna Marie was on Remeron, so maybe she can give you her input. I reposted

a few posts about Remeron. Hopefully there are others on the list that have

tried this med.

a

----- Original Message -----

From: <12341234@...>

< egroups>

Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 4:26 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] News - Mind-Body Therapy Plus Exercise Counters

Fibromyalgia

> my boyfriends mom was told a few months ago that she has Fibromyalgia and

> yesterday the dr gave some samples of a med for her to try. She asked me

to

> ask the group if any of you have heard about it or ever tried it and what

> were your side affects etc. it is Remeron. She has a very low tolerance to

> drugs. she takes 1/4 of a muscle relaxer and it puts her down for the

night

> and most of the next day. she is nervous about trying new meds. so if you

> could help she would be very greatful.

>

> thanks,

>

> shelly

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I was on REMERON also. It was so bad. Headache that seemed like a

stroke. It was beyond " headache " . It was really like I was going to

stroke out. BP went sky high. Also, I was never really Depressed before

taking it. I would get " down " because I could not " do things " like I use

to... but it was not what I would call " depression " . Well, the REMERON

seemed to throw me into the deepest darkest depression. I never really

knew what Depression was, until this happened. It was awful. All I did

was dwell on my FMS and problems it was causing me. Dwell on how useless

I was... etc. I even did not want to " get up " the next morning. I

literally thought I could kill myself.

So, to say the least... I had a rather bad " reaction " to this drug.

Watch the NEURONTIN also... it does help a very SMALL amount with the

pain, but also caused me a very deep depression... almost like I could

care less if I died. For the little bit of relief , which was very very

minimal, it is not worth the side effects. Nausea and vomiting also goes

along with this one.

We all really need to tell each other about our side effects. Every

little bit we know about these drugs they are " experimenting " on us with

FMS, will help us. Because that is what they are doing. They are taking

drugs for seizures, and bi polar and psychiatric drugs to treat us with

FMS now. And there is some big bad drugs for all that stuff out there.

And a lot of warnings on there indications do say, they CAN cause deep

depression or suicide.

Always check Internet Drug data bases on ALL indications on drugs.

ALWAYS ask doctors for samples first. We (with FMS) are all very

sensitive to meds of any kind.

Susie

a wrote:

> Donna Marie was on Remeron, so maybe she can give you her input. I

> reposted

> a few posts about Remeron. Hopefully there are others on the list

> that have

> tried this med.

> a

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: <12341234@...>

> < egroups>

> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 4:26 PM

> Subject: Re: [ ] News - Mind-Body Therapy Plus Exercise

> Counters

> Fibromyalgia

>

>

> > my boyfriends mom was told a few months ago that she has

> Fibromyalgia and

> > yesterday the dr gave some samples of a med for her to try. She

> asked me

> to

> > ask the group if any of you have heard about it or ever tried it and

> what

> > were your side affects etc. it is Remeron. She has a very low

> tolerance to

> > drugs. she takes 1/4 of a muscle relaxer and it puts her down for

> the

> night

> > and most of the next day. she is nervous about trying new meds. so

> if you

> > could help she would be very greatful.

> >

> > thanks,

> >

> > shelly

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Susie:

It is 4:14 am and I have been up since 2:00 am. I just read your post.

Depression is a symptom of FMS. It may be the disease and not necessarily

the drug causing the depression. I have been on Prozac for a long long time

which helps with depression. I also have RA for which I take other meds.

Yes, we are sort of guinea pigs but what works for one, may not work for

another. Our body chemistries are all different. Some of the drugs used for

RA work the same way. Some can find relief from a certain drug, while others

only experience negative side effects or no relief whatsoever. Good Luck.

Jeannette