Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain LIFE Winter 2014, Issue 10 | Page 14

Research Update
shunts could interfere with the
regulation of blood flow throughout the body including deep tissues including the muscles. This
interference could result in a lack
of proper nutrition to the muscles during exercise leading to a
build up of lactic acid that could
contribute to wide spread aching
and fatigue. Importantly, some
of the molecular characteristic
of the sympathetic and sensory
fibers indicates that they communicate and regulate each other.
Activity of the sympathetic fibers
can likely reduce the activity of
the sensory fibers and vice versa.
These molecular characteristics
explain why some drugs such as
Cymbalta and Savella provide
some relief to some fibromyalgia
patients.

P

rior to the discovery of AVS
pathology, recent research by
Dr. Daniel Clauw at the University

of Michigan and others have
shown that fibromyalgia patients can have hyperactivity
among pain centers within the
brain where these same drugs
are known to act. The action of
these drugs in the brain centers may provide pain relief but
are also the likely source of

undesirable side-effects. The
reason for this hyperactivity is
unknown and may be due to a
problem originating within the
brain. Alternatively the AVS
patholog y may be a contributing factor to the hyperactivity
within the brain.

So what is next for the research team and fibromyalgia patients?
The study, which was supported
by grants from Eli Lilly and Forest Laboratories, was limited to
women since they are frequently
afflicted by fibromyalgia. The
Intidyn scientific team is collaborating with a nationwide
network of chronic pain specialists team to investigate whether
the same problem is occurring
with men who have fibromyalgia.
This difference between genders
may provide some insight into
why the excess sensory fibers
occurs in the first place and why
it is occurring on specifically on
the AV shunts. This research will
hopefully lead to more effective
preventative and therapeutic
strategies. To test the ideas
expressed in this article, studies of blood flow in the hands of
fibromyalgia patients are planned
and beginning in collaboration

14  Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain

Life

with the University of California
San Diego; George Mason University, Pain and Rehabilitation
Medicine; and Intidyn.

How to Support Further Research on Fibromyalgia and
Other Types of Chronic Pain
Tax deductable donations to
support the research of a nationwide network of pain specialists,
which includes Drs. Argoff and
Wymer at Albany Medical College, can be made to the Clinical
Pain Research Program at the
University of California San
Diego, an American Pain Society
Center of Excellence, by contacting the UC San Diego Office of
Development (giving.ucsd.edu;
858-534-1610; specify area of
research) or UC San Diego Center
for Pain Medicine

Winter 2014

(anes-cppm.ucsd.edu; 858-6577072). This network, referred to
informally as the Neuropathic
Pain Research Consortium,
includes top neurologists, anesthesiologists, and research
scientists at leading universities
and pain treatment centers in
California, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, New
York, Utah, Washington, and
Wisconsin.
©2013 Integrated Tissue
Dynamics (INTIDYN)

For further
information,
contact:
Frank L.
Rice, PhD,
www.Intidyn.
com