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Research on Fibromyalgia
Function of the hypothalamic adrenal axis in patients with
fibromyalgia syndrome undergoing mud-pack treatment.
| AUTHORS:
| Bellometti S; Galzigna L
| AUTHOR AFFILIATION:
| Thermal Research Center P. d'Abano,
Padua, Italy.
| SOURCE:
| Int J Clin Pharmacol Res
1999;19(1):27-33
| CITATION IDS:
| PMID: 10450540 UI: 99379034
| ABSTRACT:
| Fibromyalgia (FM) is a nonarticular
rheumatological syndrome associated with diverse clinical and
psychological features. One of the major complaints in FM is reduced pain
tolerance, especially in tender points (TP) for which patients derive
significant benefit from nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs or
corticosteroids. Patients with FM also have altered reactivity of the
hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis where the predominant feature is
reduced containment of the stress response system through diminished
adrenocortical output and feedback resistance. Our results show that mud
packs together with antidepressant treatment are able to influence the HPA
axis, stimulating increased levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone,
cortisol and beta-endorphin serum levels. The discharge of corticoids in
the blood and the increase in beta-endorphin serum levels are followed by
a reduction in pain symptoms, which is closely related to an improvement
in disability, depression and quality of life. It seems that the synergic
association between a pharmacological treatment (trazodone) and mud packs
acts by helping the physiological responses to achieve homeostasis and to
rebalance the stress response system. To clarify and optimize the
effectiveness of this synergic association, studies involving a larger
number of FM patients and a different pharmacological treatment are
needed.
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