Issue #7
📡 On our Radar 📡
Scientists Find Brain Signals of Chronic Pain
The Story: Researchers have made a significant breakthrough in understanding chronic pain. By monitoring brain activity via implanted devices, they linked pain to electrical changes in the orbitofrontal cortex, a decision-making and emotion-regulating region. This could guide diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain originating from nerve damage.
What's new about this?
Doctors currently rely on subjective pain reports from patients, which are unreliable and vary throughout the day. This groundbreaking study measures chronic pain in real-world settings using machine learning to predict pain levels based on brain signals. Implanted devices provide deep brain stimulation to correct abnormal activity and could potentially relieve pain. Objective pain markers can enhance accurate diagnosis and treatment.
What does this mean for chronic pain patients right now?
While the findings are promising, the study had a limited number of participants so further research must be done. The researchers plan to expand the study to include more participants and investigate other brain regions involved in chronic pain.
🔥 What's Flaring 🔥
How you can hack your wearable devices to work for your conditions ...
Wearable tech offers great potential benefits for patients with chronic illnesses, allowing them to track and analyze their health data. Data points like resting heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) can offer insights into overall health and autonomic nervous system functioning. Tracking HRV and correlating it with symptoms acts may enable patients to create their own early warning system for flares.
When to rethink your sleep aids ...
Melatonin and IBD might not be the best combo as it may disrupt the gut barrier and increase intestinal inflammation in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), according to the results of a study. The study evaluated the effects of melatonin on gut dysbiosis, bacteria translocation, and exacerbated immune response in an experimental model of mice with colitis. Investigators then examined how melatonin impacts recovery from intestinal inflammation.
👀 On our Reading List 👀
Learning to treat long COVID could help those struggling with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, too ... about half of people with long COVID-19 have severe enough symptoms to be diagnosed with ME/CFS and doctors and disability advocates hope this will shine a light on the disease, leading to more education and research.
'They don't believe me': the pain and dangers of medical gaslighting ... a familiar patient story about complaints of cramping pain and weight gain in her lower belly was met with a weight loss drug prescription instead of a PCOS diagnosis.
New poll reveals most have gotten or plan to get second COVID-19 Bivalent Booster Vaccine ... have you scheduled yours yet?
I have an invisible disability: the way men I date react to my handicap parking pass tells me how they'll treat me ... many of us can relate to the challenges of dating with an invisible illness.
Keep getting sick? Your immune system is out of practice after COVID, experts say ... reporting live from our second cold in a month.
A very low-key summer checklist ... with Memorial Day kicking off the summer season, here's ten easy summer fun suggestions: from a spa-inspired shower to orange juice popsicles.
The story behind viral video of Swifties who became friends over chronic illness ... Spoonies become Swifties as two MALS (Median arcuate ligament syndrome) patients finally meet IRL.
📢 Who We're Following 📢
Rissa at @fibrogirlblog who has dubbed herself "Your Queer Chronically Ill & Disabled Bestie", keeps it real on her instagram stories sharing real time updates about life with multiple chronic conditions. Rissa has a chronic illness PT series you must check out!
