Re: For Rosie (Balance Problems with FMS)

Heya, Giggs,

Bob Bennett is the main FM researcher at OHSU and is notorious for not
distinguishing between FMS and CMP; but they are in fact two different
things that frequently co-exist and overlap but not always. Bennett is such
a good researcher and advocate otherwise that this aspect of his leadership
on FM has been puzzling tome from the get go...refusing to recognize CMP as
it's own entity.

I don't much trust the NFRA, period. Don't the letters stand for
National Fund Raising Association?

Starlanyl in fact researches more into CMP than FM these days, seeing it
as more likely fruitful for effective treatments. Travell's got the same
complaint that other researchers don't differentiate two the conditions that
Starlanyl has.

Of COURSE you have both...otherwise ya wouldn't have un-DX'd balance
problems. Which is not to say that either of 'em have anything to do with
your being unbalanced. <duckin' and gimpin' away>

Hugs.
Rosie S.
Dame of Dementia

--
"If you wanna get it done, you gotta fight for yourself." -- Meat Loaf, Bat
Outta Hell II
"Gigglz" <frekklz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ddheo2t614g0q049f05jdi7fa4ptc8s41r@xxxxxxxxxx
A few articles for you on the balance problems:

Hugs, Gigglz (who is always off balance! LOL)

------------------------------------------------


This is from the National Fibromyalgia Research Association:

http://www.nfra.net/nfra-2006-symp.htm

(I pasted some of the info. on balance)


FIBROMYALGIA IMPAIRS BALANCE COMPARED TO AGE AND GENDER MATCHED
CONTROLS
Kim Jones, RN, FNP, PhD
PURPOSE: Clinicians report that fibromyalgia (FM) patients have
balance impairments, yet this has never been objectively tested. The
purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with FM differ
from matched healthy controls in their subjective and objective
balance control, using a recently validated tool to determine the
extent of balance disturbance.

METHODS: 28 FM subjects (age 49.0 +/- 4.3) and 33 healthy controls
(age 47.6 +/- 5.8) underwent objective balance testing with The
Balance Evaluation-Systems Test (BESTest). All subjects were free from
conditions associated with poor balance such as neuropathy and
vestibular disorders. The BESTest was designed to identify impaired
subcomponents of balance: Stability Limits, Transitions/Anticipatory
Postural Adjustments, Reactive Postural Responses, Sensory
Orientation, and Stability in Gait with selective attention. Scores
for the total test and subsections are provided as a percentage of
total possible points. Subjective balance was evaluated with the
Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC). This is a 16-item
questionnaire designed to identify fear of falling by providing level
of confidence (0¬100%) with which participants can form specific tasks
without losing balance. We also asked subjects to report the number of
falls in the previous six months prior to testing.

RESULTS: FM patients scored significantly worse on both objective and
subjective measures of balance compared to controls. The composite
BESTest score was M = 87% in the FM patients and M = 95% in the
controls (p <.001). The FM subjects were different from controls in 4
of the 5 components of the BEST test: Stability Limits (p < .001),
Transitions/Anticipatory Postural Adjustments (p = .007), Sensory
Orientation (p <.012), and Stability in Gait with selective attention
(p <.001). FM subjects were also significantly different from controls
in ABC self-report (FM M = 78% balance confidence, healthy controls M
= 98% confidence, p <.001). FM subjects reported 25 falls in the last
6 months whereas controls reported 5 falls (p =.01). The correlation
between ABC and BESTest scores was significant (r = 0.64).

CONCLUSIONS: FM is associated with balance problems and increased fall
frequency. Four of five subcomponents of the BESTest were abnormal in
FM subjects consistent with the hypothesis that FM affects many
peripheral and central mechanisms for postural control. Furthermore,
the subjects are well aware of their balance deficits reflected in
their low balance confidence. Particularly striking was their
inability to use somatosensory information to identify their limits of
stability, use anticipatory postural adjustments and maintain gait
speed under cognitive distraction. Further study is needed to identify
the relative contribution of neural and muscular impairments to
postural stability in patients with FM and develop specific balance
interventions to remediate these impairments. Acknowledgement: 2 R37
AG006457-19 NIH/NIA (Kim D. Jones, Fay B. Horak, Kerri Winters, Robert
M. Bennett Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR)



Some more on Dysequilibrium from Fibromyalgia:


http://www.ichelp.org/RelatedDiseases/UnderstandingFibromyalgiaSyndrome.html


http://thyroid.about.com/cs/fibromyalgiacfs/a/fibrothyroid.htm



This is a good site for someone filing for Social Security Disability:


http://www.4socialsecuritydisability.com/fibromyalgia_strategies.htm





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