Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

24 | May• 2019

HEALTH

greatmajorityofsufferers,possibly

byboostingendorphins,reducing

stress,improvingsleeporincreasing

bloodflowtothemuscles.

Anothercommonfibromyalgia

treatmentiscognitivebehavioural

therapy(CBT).Itwon’teliminate

yourpain,butthisapproachwill

giveyoutoolsforcopingwithit.CBT

will teach you to pace yourself and

remainsomewhatactive,evenon

highlysymptomaticdays.

It’simportanttohaverealistic

expectationsforcurrent

treatments,sincetheytendto

bringmoderateimprovementat

best.“There’sstilla greatneedto

understandthisconditionbetter

andbringoptimalcaretothese

patients,” Dr Macfarlane says.

Fibromyalgia’sall-too-

realsymptomscan

bedebilitating.Too

often,sois themedical

community’sresponse

topatientssuffering

withitssymptoms,

whicharechallenging

todiagnosebecause

theycoincidewith

thoseofother

disorders.

Recently,however,

a diagnosticblood

testforfibromyalgia

calledFM/atest

hasbeenmade

available.It detects

fibromyalgiathrough

theidentification

ofwhitebloodcell

abnormalities.It is

currentlyavailablefor

patients in countries

outsidetheUS,

suchasAustralia,

NewZealandand

HongKongbutonly

withauthorisation

froma healthcare

professional.

Patientswhomthe

bloodtestdiagnoses

ashavingfibromyalgia

mayalsobeableto

take part in a genomic

surveyinvestigating

geneticbiomarkers

forfibromyalgia,

accordingto

EpicGenetics,the

companythat

developedthe

FM/abloodtest.

Currently,there

is alsoa clinical

trialunderwayinto

whethertheCalmette-

Guerin(BCG)vaccine

canbeusedtotreat

fibromyalgia.The

BCGvaccinehas

beenknowntoboost

productionofthe

cytokinetumour

necrosisfactor,which

canaidautoimmune

diseases.Theresearch

is expectedtotake

about four years.

Blood Test and Studies Bring Hope

Abloodtestfor

fibromyalgiaisnow

available