22 March 2001,
Dear Jacqui,
We have heard that in America, Awareness Day for Fibromyalgia this year is on Saturday, 12 May and we want to set up a display. We wondered if you have any posters etc our group could use?
– Sera and Jennie – Manawatu.
Greetigns Sera and Jennie,
What an excellent idea! I have checked with the Arthritis Foundatin National Office and there is nothing available. However, here is
an article for the media, which you can print out and use with a personal story or by itself. This article can be cut or added to.
Also, this year, if anyone would like a Fibromyalgia flyer for noticeboards or display,
which they can download, just email me. Following this, I will definitely look into this matter and try to obtain sponsorship for a good A3 poster, to be used all year in hospitals and doctors’ waiting rooms. Well done for thinking of such good informative publicity and best wishes for an excellent display.
- Jacqui
ANTIBIOTICS AND ST JOHN'S WORT
31st March 2001,
Dear Jacqui,
I have a friend who has been prescribed antibiotics. She has been taking St John’s Wort and would like to keep on using this as it has been helping her. However, after all the publicity last year about St John’s Wort in combination with certain pharmaceuticals, she is worried that the combination with antibiotics will be detrimental to her health. Can you tell me if this is so? -
Lynne T. West Auckland.
Greetings Lynne,
The few medications your friend needs to worry about are set out quite clearly in the bulletin released by Medsafe in May 2000.
Check this file. Antibiotics are not usually a problem. If your friend has concerns, she should check with her G.P. who prescribed the antibiotic medication.
– Jacqui.
IS FIBRO HEREDITARY? LINKED TO IMMUNE SYSTEM?
6th April 2001,
Dear Jacqui,
So pleased with the website. Have spent lots of time perusing it.
Have you much information on FM being hereditary? I am wondering about this.
Immune systems shot? Is there a link or is it coincidence? What do you think?
Two good websites for general medical info are
www.my.webmd.com and
www.surgerydoor.com The first one is from U.S.A. the second from U.K.
Regards Clare - Southland.
Greetings Clare,
Delighted you were pleased with site and sincerely trust it is useful to people. Just wait until I learn about chat rooms and message boards!
Is Fibro hereditary? - Fibro is one of over 130 arthritic complaints, being arthritis of the soft tissues - the ligaments, muscles and tendons. Therefore Fibro may be hereditary also - possibly having the same arthritic gene. There are people who know their parents have had fibrositis - which is the old name for fibro before it was classified in 1989. I have spoken to two people whose parents were suicidal as a result of the lack of relief from the pain and the lack of support from G.P.s & relatives in past times. Thank goodness, we can avoid this trauma today!
If you are worried about relatives, try and keep their lives as uncomplex as possible with lack of stress. These factors make people with a predisposition, more vulnerable to any illness.
In Special Web articles (Archives):
Does Fibromyalgia Run In Families?
Researchers have found that fibromyalgia is more common amongst the siblings, parents and children of those who have Fibromyalgia than amongst the general population.
Is fibro linked to the immune system? - Modern way of life seems to predispose us to a heightened vulnerability to illness. There are many factors today which were NOT prevalent 100 years ago. If the immune system has collapsed, I do not think it coincidental one might have fibro, if that is a person's predisposition from hereditary factors and lifestyle - stress, poor diet/foods, chemical exposure etc. A person will have less tendancy to succumb to any condition when the immune system is healthy. There are supplements available which help strengthen the immune system.
In Special Web articles (Archives): Immune Activity In Those With Fibromyalgia.
Looking at the relationship between regions of the brain and immune activity, specifically in those with fibromyalgia (This is not a very conclusive paper. I include it because of your query.)
Re websites - I will include some general medical websites for readers. A good idea as knowledge about general medicine never hurt anyone. I also find the Xtra health site has some excellent articles of topical interest to us as NZers. Thanx for your input, Clare.
– Jacqui.
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