FYI: This is part 2 of an update on the latest fibromyalgia and Lyme disease research studies found on ClinicalTrials.gov.
As promised, here is part 2 of the most recent fibromyalgia and Lyme disease studies from ClinicalTrials.gov. In this update, we have fibromyalgia studies looking at if genetics plays a role in developing central sensitization; how the pandemic has impacted fear and anxiety levels among fibro patients; using the antibiotic minocycline as a fibromyalgia treatment and many other treatment-related research projects.
For my Lyme readers, there are studies for a new vaccine as well as a biomarker study for those who continue to have symptoms after antibiotic treatment.
As usual, there are WAY more fibro studies than Lyme studies. I’m still hoping the pace will increase once the federal government divvies up all those Lyme research dollars I keep reading about.
Are you excited or hopeful about any of these studies? Or do you feel like it’s just same old/same old? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
Fibromyalgia studies
1.
FIbromyalgia and GenetIcs Subgroups
During this study out of University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand in France, researchers will “characterize the predispositions of central sensitization and genetics in [around 300] patients with fibromyalgia compared to a control group matched in age, sex and menopausal status.”
(Read more: Is fibromyalgia hereditary?)
2.
Psychobiological Mechanisms Underlying Chronic Pain
The aim of this study by researcher Susanne Becker from Balgrist University Hospital (Switzerland) “is to investigate the psychobiological mechanisms underlying the negative hedonic shift in chronic pain with a focus on the causal role of neuroinflammation (substudy 1) and the role of dopamine (substudy 2) in functional connectivity of fronto-striatal brain networks and their relation to heightened emotional-motivational pain processing.”
Low-dose naltrexone, a dopamine agonist (bromocriptine) or a dopamine antagonist (amisulpride) will be administered to 100 fibromyalgia patients.
3.
The Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic on Patients With Fibromyalgia
Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Education and Research Hospital researchers in Turkey will “analyze the effect of COVID-19 fear and anxiety on the daily life, sleep quality and depression-anxiety levels of fibromyalgia patients.”
4.
Resilience Factors and Selective Learning in Patients With Fibromyalgia
Researchers from Philipps University Marburg Medical Center in Germany will study “the influence of positive affect and optimism on selective learning” among fibromyalgia patients.
5.
The Effect of Minocycline and N-acetylcysteine for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia
During this small study, researcher Michael Gabriel Hillegass from the Medical University of South Carolina will evaluate if adding the antibiotic minocycline and the supplement N-acetylcysteine (i.e. NAC) to standard treatment will improve fibromyalgia pain levels.
Note: I think it’s interesting this researcher is exploring if antibiotics improve fibromyalgia symptoms. Over the years, I’ve had multiple doctors tell me around 30% or more of their fibromyalgia patients actually have undiagnosed chronic Lyme disease. Guess what’s used to treat chronic Lyme? Antibiotics like minocycline!
6.
Effectiveness of Spinal Manipulation in Fibromyalgia
About 60 fibromyalgia patients will participate in a study at Bezmialem Vakif University in Turkey to “evaluate whether spinal manipulation, which is a potential treatment method for musculoskeletal pain, has an additional contribution in patients with fibromyalgia receiving standard pharmacological treatment.”
7.
Riphah International University researchers in Pakistan will “compare the effects of Muscle Energy Techniques with breathing exercises for improving functional outcomes in patients with fibromyalgia.”
8.
Pain Rehabilitation Virtual Reality: Innovations to Enhance Mobility in the Presence of Pain
This Stanford University study will compare pain rehabilitation virtual reality vs. standard physiotherapy rehabilitation among adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions like fibromyalgia.
9.
Effect of Transcranial Static Magnetic Field Stimulation in Fibromyalgia Syndrome
Spanish researchers from the University of Seville are attempting to find out if “transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) reduces the perception of pain in patients with fibromyalgia and its effect on health-related quality of life. In addition, it will seek to limit the parameters necessary to achieve efficiency with the technique,” reads ClinicalTrials.gov.
10.
Explosive Synchronization of Brain Network Activity in Chronic Pain
University of Michigan researchers will “evaluate the impact of explosive synchronization (ES) and its treatment with non-invasive brain stimulation in fibromyalgia. The study design has three components; however, only two aims are enrolling participants. The first part (aim 1) is a cross-sectional assessment of brain network explosive synchronization activity, connectivity and response to pain in healthy controls and age and sex-matched fibromyalgia patients. The third part (aim 3) is a longitudinal assessment of fibromyalgia patients undergoing one week of sham [treatment] followed by high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) of the motor cortex or one week of ES HD-tDCS of a brain region identified from computer modelling (aim 2).”
11.
Montage of HTDCS in Psycho-cognitive Functions in FM
More than 60 fibromyalgia patients will participate in a Brazilian study “to map the impact of anodic transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for prolonged home use applied to the primary motor cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal córtex compared to the respective treatments simulated in fibromyalgia.”
12.
This study sponsored by the Practitioners Alliance Network will determine if a supplement combining D-ribose, ashwagandha, rhodiola, schisandra, licorice and green tea extract improves pain, sleep, fatigue and cognition among fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
13.
Treatment of CFS and Fibromyalgia With HRG 80 Red Ginseng
This Practitioners Alliance Network sponsored study will determine if HRG 80 red ginseng improves functionality and symptoms among 70 fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
14.
Effectiveness of virtual FIBROWALK study
Spanish researchers from the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron Research Institute will compare patients who undergo treatment-as-usual plus a virtual FIBROWALK program to patients who only had treatment as usual.
15.
This study involving researchers from the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron Research Institute in Spain will compare the “usefulness of a new educational tool developed by Pain Revolution, a compendium of nine fact sheets along with a related quiz” in fibromyalgia patients versus those who didn’t receive the educational materials.
16.
Telehealth Stretching Exercise Program for Women With Fibromyalgia During the Covid-19 Pandemic
During this small Brazilian study, Federal University of Pelotas researchers will “verify the effects of a telehealth stretching exercise program on pain, depression, sleep parameters and functionality of women with fibromyalgia during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to ClinicalTrials.gov.
17.
Intervention for Self-Regulation to Physical Exercise in People With Fibromyalgia
Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche researchers in Spain seek to “establish the effectiveness of implementation intentions to manage the preference for avoiding pain and fatigue and stop walking exercise versus to maintain the approximate behavior (walking), taking into account high and low pain catastrophizing conditions.”
18.
This study will track patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) for patients with bodily distress syndrome seeking treatment from Helsinki University’s Clinic for Functional Disorders in Finland.
(Read more: What is bodily distress syndrome?)
19.
Fibromyalgia in Rheumatoid and Psoriatic Patients
Researchers from Sohag University in Egypt will study how fibromyalgia affects disease activity in those with the comorbidities of rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis, and its relation to vitamin D levels.
Lyme disease studies
1.
Biomarker Study of Previously Treated Lyme Disease Volunteers in Comparison to Healthy Volunteers
FlightPath Biosciences, Inc. will compare biomarkers contained in blood and stool samples collected from people previously treated for Lyme disease versus health volunteers.
2.
Around 600 healthy volunteers will test out three different schedules for administering a potential vaccine for Lyme disease.
3.
PEMF Therapy to Treat Lingering Symptoms of Lyme Disease After Treatment With Antibiotics
This National Centre for ElectroMagnetic Therapies study in the United Kingdom will determine if PEMF therapy is effective for relieving or reducing lingering Lyme disease symptoms following antibiotic treatment.
Want more fibromyalgia and Lyme research?
New fibromyalgia and Lyme research studies (May 2021)
I’m Donna, a longtime newspaper reporter, health writer and chronic illness thriver! Fed Up with Fatigue provides weekly news, research, treatments and more to help you live better with fibromyalgia and/or Lyme.
Have you heard anything about any studies that is looking at the pituitary, and real, hypothalamus axis with the amygdala ? I am just a little tired of the continued never ending studies that seem to be focused only on psychological bent issues of operant conditioning, exercise avoidance (or exercise enhancement that proves out that Fibro is a state of mind issue), or transdermal electrode use? I am hoping at some point to find someone willing to look at whether or not there is a switching problem with HPA axis and an amygdala signaling that could actually be at the basis of not only run away pain, higher than average fight or flight issues with our brain, but why our brains don’t seem to shift and signal to us the proper sleep responses. A lot the current studies still seem to be going over the Sanford Studies, Dr Wolfe studies of the 1980’s that fail to take into consideration that Fibro being a syndrome may well have a genesis somewhere perhaps in the brain not just in genetics.
I’m not aware of any studies like that. It’s frustrating that they keep doing the same studies over and over again, getting us nowhere. 🙁
However, there are some brain retraining programs for fibro and chronic fatigue that are based on that same idea. The most popular ones are the Gupta Program, DNRS and ANS Rewire. The Gupta Program is backed by a research study. I’ve done a couple of reviews on the Gupta program:
5.0 version: https://fedupwithfatigue.com/gupta-program-review-2020/
Original program: https://fedupwithfatigue.com/gupta-programme-review/
Dan Neuffer, the creator of ANS Rewire, wrote a book about how autonomic nervous system dysfunction manifests as conditions like fibro, chronic fatigue, etc.: https://fedupwithfatigue.com/cfs-unravelled/
I just remembered a video that you might find interesting from Ashok Gupta, the creator the Gupta Program. I’ve heard a lot of different theories on what causes fibro, but his resonates with me more than most of the others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWUNCMvU5Ik
Hi Donna. How are you doing? Could you tell me he brand of vitamins/supplements you’ve written about that you especially like because they don’t have additives? I’d appreciate it!
Hey Kathy, it’s probably easiest to read through my protocol posts b/c those link to the various products I use. You’ll need to look at the ingredients for each product b/c some are pretty clean and some still have additives.
https://fedupwithfatigue.com/lyme-treatment-protocol-2019/
https://fedupwithfatigue.com/2017-protocol/
You can also find many of my favorites here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-450c9cab