Fibromyalgia likely the result of autoimmune problems

[Lemon]

Ana I got autoimmune thyroid it wasn’t diagnosed for ages even tho I had all the symptoms maybe immune system treating is my way forward god knows I’m trying everything else

Yes! The same thing also happened to a family member or mine! They were deathly ill for years getting worse until filnally the doctors connected the dots of all of the symptoms pointing to the right dx. Keep trying everything good and sharing what works for you

 

[Auriel]

Will do thank you lemon + welcome to the forum

 

[MNGal]

This is fantastic news! I surely hope this DOES lead to treatments sooner than later.

 

[Nan]

Oh I so hope treatment for fibromyalgia is found soon. I’m 72 and was diagnosed in my early 50s and I feel I have lost so much in my life. I hope especially for younger infant everyone with this terrible illness. . Ann

 

[johnsalmon]

there are many studies on fibromyalgia some point to cns and some point to autoimmune system but so far there is no proof of either - more researchers lean towards CNS. The problem with reading research papers especially those that are printed second hand is not all the details are printed. Results found in mice may not translate to humans. One should look for peer review on any research results At present I accept the CNS view however with further research and peer review it might move to autoimmune view - we just have to accept that at present no one really knows what causes it

 

[Phoenix boy]

Interesting article, maybe one day it'll be recognised as an immune disorder once more evidence was found. Time will tell no doubt.
My experience with regards to diagnosis, treatment & recognition of actually suffering from an immune disorder, the NHS are slow on the uptake, advice & support. So maybe fibro is only within it's infancy of true recognition & treatment options.

 

[Olesia]

I apologize in advance, I am a straightforward person. I’m telling it like it is, based on facts and science, on how it all works. I am sure that in this community there are also people who, due to their professional purpose, will understand what I mean. The messages are getting long and I will split them up.
IMPORTANT, I use Google translator.

 

[Olesia]

I am a convinced physiologist. Our body, organs and systems are too complex to attribute everything to the “new cortex” part of the brain. The “power of thought” is too exaggerated, if what we think had a decisive role in diseases, then with the same success cosmonauts could be launched into space not with the help of the most complex calculations, details, and sciences, but simply by holding hands, together they wanted and miraculously we are already on the moon. I don't like this hypothesis about psychogenic rheumatism.

 

[Olesia]

Yes, there is a mechanism for the influence of stress on the body, I don’t deny it. But this is only a tiny part of the topic in comparison with, for example, immunity. The immune system is a monster. It can produce antibodies to any protein in our body, selectively affecting different types of tissue or, like in lupus, attacking the DNA itself and its components, and since DNA is in all cells, it is unknown which ones it will hit, which is why people have different symptoms.

 

[Olesia]

We have in our body more than 20,000 thousand different proteins (of which our cells are made), and in theory there can be antibodies for each one. And antibody tests are good for about 100 proteins by 2024. This has always been the case in science and medicine. While we don’t know, we are talking about some general theory that +- seems acceptable. In medicine, the gold standard excuse is “all diseases are caused by nerves, it’s all in our head.”

 

[Olesia]

Here is an example picture. It depicts known antibodies associated with rheumatic disease. I think one day fibromyalgia will be among them. When will other antibodies be known?

 

[Olesia]

What do I want to say? Medicine and biology are not the same thing. May the doctors forgive me.
While scientific groups around the world are studying immunity, its activity and damage to various proteins in the cells that make up organs (including neurons of the peripheral nervous system and pain receptors for fibromyalgia), test systems for diagnosing antibodies. This takes years and decades. Not to mention that even if they found out, it still takes the same amount of time to find treatment. And when they found a treatment, go through a whole series of clinical trials and experience the hell of the pharmaceutical business. Doctors have the opportunity to prescribe medications and diagnostics only from the selection that they have already come up with. Moreover, in different countries it depends directly on the budget and the medical system as a whole. They work according to strict protocols. Sometimes a doctor can remember what the patient needs, but due to legal restrictions, he cannot do anything.

 

[MissNeverWell]

@JayCS Thank you for the critique of the article. I find it hard to sort through the mathematical/technical jargon in those studies. One of the questions I have is antibodies to what? Aren't there different types (e.g. viruses like TB or mononucleosis)? As you point out, the researchers present the symptoms of fibromyalgia as uniform - widespread chronic pain, brain fog/fatigue (which you correctly distinguish between the two), muscle weakness, reduced movement and decreased volume of the skin's small nerve fibres (whatever that means - more numbness/weakness/sensitivity?). Furthermore, if many doctors don't acknowledge fibromyalgia and so many patients go undiagnosed, how can they definitively say that 80% are women? What has been frequently pointed out to me when trying to ascertain the validity of the study, besides reliability in terms of measuring what the study is supposed to, and replication of results, is the source of the funding (e.g. cigarette companies, pharmaceutical monopolies). That being said, just because there is only one study and few subjects doesn't mean there is no truth in the research findings - that's when we become blinded by professional bias. Actually, when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia many years ago and went to talks/workshops on the syndrome, an autoimmune component was proposed even then, combined with neurological factors. So it isn't that the role of the immune system hasn't been explored. This article suggests that it's a brand new angle.

 

[MissNeverWell]

Yes! The same thing also happened to a family member or mine! They were deathly ill for years getting worse until filnally the doctors connected the dots of all of the symptoms pointing to the right dx. Keep trying everything good and sharing what works for you

Mom was severely ill before they diagnosed hyperactive thyroid disease. Then they removed the thyroid, gave her radioactive iodine treatment due to a "spot" of cancer the size of a pencil dot" on the removed tissue, and she was never the same after.

 

[BrendaNY]

This is an extreme hope of mine!. I was diagnosed with Dermatomyositis, Lupus, Sjogren's, and Fibromyalgia all in November this year after months of suffering from outbreaks of all. I NEED then to be connected or at least correlated in some since so I know what is treatable and what will be lifelong struggles. We still can't pinpoint what symptoms are related from which disease0s) and I'm no better off than when that first weakness started in July 2023.

Date: July 1, 2021

Source: King's College London

Summary:

New research has shown that many of the symptoms in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are caused by antibodies that increase the activity of pain-sensing nerves throughout the body. The results show that fibromyalgia is a disease of the immune system, rather than the currently held view that it originates in the brain