Recently I have been going back to review some old Fibro information and some new. Glad to know that is more widely excepted by Dr.s. I found this article and it's not much but here it is:

http://www.spondylitis.org/press/news/284.aspx

Hi Pea,

I couldn't open any of these articles.

Janet

Did you copy and paste. Some places won't let me link, which I hate!

I could open your link but when I looked up the 3 studies I couldn't open them. I am very ingregged about this! I hope your days are getting easier to breath and that things are better Pea.

When I get some time, maybe tomorrow I will find that article again and see what the problem is. Not that I have had a lot of time to research, I need to study up more on the latest on Fibro. The article I was trying for was talking about a link with A.S and Fibro with A.S. with A.S. coming first and later the fibro.

See if this helps -


Fibromyalgia In Women With Ankylosing Spondylitis
www.spondylitis.org/press/news/284.aspx - Similarto Fibromyalgia In Women With Ankylosing Spondylitis
Fibromyalgia In Women With Ankylosing Spondylitis. Posted on: 08/6/07. A study published in the journal, Rheumatology International, examined the topic of ...
Fibromyalgia in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21176420
22 Dec 2010 ... Fibromyalgia in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: prevalence and utility of the measures of activity, function and radiological damage.
Apples and Ankylosing Spondylitis
feliciafibro.com/2011/03/02/apples-and-ankylosing-spondylitis/
2 Mar 2011 ... Apples and Ankylosing Spondylitis. For many people fibromyalgia is secondary to a condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). For those ...
[PDF]
Occurrence of fibromyalgia in patients with ankylo...
www.scielo.br/pdf/rbr/v50n6/en_v50n6a05.pdf
E-mail: valderilio@hotmail.com. Occurrence of fibromyalgia in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Valderilio Feijó Azevedo1, Eduardo dos Santos Paiva1, Lúcio ...
I have ankylosing spondylitis and fibromyalgia?

And if you put in the question : Fibromyalgia Question up comes many links, but don't know which one you had seen -

And yes, none of the links on the SAA site opened.

Hope this helps -

Molly, you rock. Thank you for all of your help. I had no idea that Fibro tied in with A.S. so during my research I found the first one on the spondylitis.org site. Thank's again Molly.

I'm glad to see that this is newer (as in, within the last ten years) research that's been done, and the focus on assessing the progression of this disease in women. FINALLY!!!

I also find it interesting that the secondary FM messes with the accuracy of BASDAI and such. I can see where it would, actually, because how do you know if the pain and imaired function you are assessing is due to AS or FM or both?

That said, exercise is the best treatment for FM. I know I go on about it, but it truly is. Weight training in particular. Peoples' FM pain levels go down when they weight train. Here's a very good article from WebMD on the subject: FM Treatment with Exercise

And this study, published in 2002, talks about the effect of aerobic exercise: Aerobic Exercise and FM

What I like is the emphasis on being careful when starting to exercise. If you haven't been able to for a long time, then you really do have to take care not to overdo it and cause yourself more pain by doing too much. The one article talks about starting with stretches in bed (if you've been bed-ridden, that is) and working up to going downstairs and then out to the post box. The Arthritis Society talks about taking it this slowly, too, when it comes to exercise. Start where you are and slowly build up until you can do 15 minutes of flexibility/stretching. Then add aerobic, one miunute at a time, 15 times a day, if necessary, until you can do 15 minutes in a go. Then when you can do that and 15 minutes of stretching, add the weight training - super low weights and one set of ten reps if necessary at first, or using dynabands (or a 500ml water bottle, half full of water that you slowly fill until you are using a full water bottle, then move into a low weight free weight) and working up to a weight training program using free weights or machines.

One of these studies found that a year after starting regular aerobic exercise, some of the patients had no FM pain at all. Something to think about when we feel unmotivated or unable to exercise. Not only will it help our AS, but it might make the FM pain almost non-existant.

Warm hugs,

Do you have Fibro too Kat?

It is hard to tease out what is Fibro and what is A.S. It is a lot easier for me now then it used to be. I can now telling when I am flaring from one or the other or both. Two beasts in the back is not fun. Exercise is very important. I agree with that. You have to be careful with that for all of the reasons you gave and as our bodies are fighting inflammation and pain, the fatigue of it all makes it hard to even turn over in bed. Very, very frustrating but doable when you can. A nice walk on a nice day will life the spirits too-BONUS!