Post by News Desk on Jun 1, 2006 10:23:57 GMT -5
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Local News
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Posted: 11:15 a.m. EDT
Blue Ash doctor leader in fibromyalgia fight
BY CHIP CUTTER | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF INTERN
Twelve years ago, Linda Striker, 48, couldn't explain what was wrong with her.
Following a neck injury, she began feeling a sharp, stabbing pain throughout her body and aches that made her feel as if she was sick with the flu. She had tingling sensations in some of her extremities, and was constantly fatigued. Some days she couldn't even get out of bed.
"I became where I was limited to my activities because of the pain and the fatigueness and I became very ill with it," Striker, a Greenhills resident, said.
Searching for answers, she went to several local doctors, including a neurosurgeon, rheumatologist and neurologist, before she was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
The condition, which affects approximately 10 million people nationwide, according to the National Fibromyalgia Association, is characterized by dysfunction in some part of the body, said Dr. Hal Blatman, a Blue Ash-based doctor who treats patients in his pain clinic off Creek Road.
"It's a syndrome and it affects people in different ways," he said.
The causes are varied, and still not completely known, but can be triggered by poor food or nutritional choices, stresses to the body, such as a move to a new city or an emotional trauma, and physical injuries or illness, Blatman said.
"In general there's an insult to the body big enough so the body starts to decompensate," he said. "When it decompensates far enough that we have enough symptoms, then we diagnosis it as fibromyalgia syndrome."
Nancy F. Derby, director of public policy and education for the National Fibromyalgia Association said, though, that fibromyalgia is a brain, not muscle, based disorder, that includes sensory malfunction in the pain centers of the body.
Hallmarks of the condition include chronic pain in 11 of 18 pressure points in the body plus other problems like sleep disorders, fatigue and cognitive impairment, she said.
"It sometimes seems like your brain is trying to work through a fog," she said. "It shows no boundaries; it affects all parts of the body."
Derby, who also has the disease, said getting a proper diagnosis can be difficult because, unlike other illnesses, there is no simple test to determine the existence of fibromyalgia, and symptoms are often hard to recognize.
"We are considered an invisible illness because there is not a physically observable manifestation and you really have to observe the person to determine if they have fibromyalgia or any of these disorders," she said.
To help build an understanding of the disease, her association held a fibromyalgia awareness day Friday, May 12, which was celebrated nation-wide.
The day was meant to promote the association's services, but also to show the pervasiveness of the problem.
"I like to say, 'I'm never more than three feet from someone who knows someone with fibromyalgia,'" she said.
There is not a cure for the disease, although those affected by it and Blatman said it is possible to manage the symptoms.
He recommends a holistic approach to the condition, and employs education, aromatherapy, nutrition tips, massage therapy, trigger point injections, acupuncture and other approaches to help patients. Some also receive medications, or attend physical therapy, he said.
"We pay attention to the whole of the person as much as possible, because everybody's different," he said.
He also wrote a new book, "The Art of Body Maintenance: Winners' Guide to Pain Relief," to help those with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and myofascial pain, usually an underlying condition of fibromyalgia that includes tight knots in the muscles.
The 280-page book, which includes illustrations, is meant to serve patients who are in between office visits to the physician, chiropractor or physical therapist, Blatman said. Its material emphasizes treatments that help to reduce the pain in the muscle by using a rubber ball and a series of stretching exercises.
All are tried and true methods, he said.
"The book is really a hardware manual for how to treat the muscular system in the body, whether it's normal or whether it's in pain and needs to be treated," he said.
The need to treat the psychological and emotional components of fibromyalgia is just as important as caring for the physical problems, some people say.
"It's more than just pain and chronic fatigue, it goes deeper than that," said Jennifer Leahy, 48, who has fibromyalgia and is a patient of Blatman. She said the disease places a strain on family and friends and makes relationships more difficult.
At home, where she has an active teenage daughter, she said her family worries about her, and she in turn feels guilty because she can't do everything that she could previously do with them. Now, she said family vacations, even hikes in the park, are different because of her physical limitations.
"It affects the whole family," she said. "When you're married and you have children, it's give and take and I feel like I'm not picking up on my end of the deal here."
Striker, who is also a patient of Blatman, said it is important to stay positive and focus on what's been gained from the disease, not lost.
While she's not without pain today, and still must spend the occasional day in bed, she says she has learned to realize her limits and communicates them to others.
"It's not an illness that's going to take your life, it's something that you're living with everyday," she said "You learn to be patient with yourself when you have an illness, and to learn to accept where you are. It doesn't mean you have to give up and think this is the way it has to be the rest of your life."
On that end, she leads a 125-person support group at the Mercy Center for Health and Wellness in Fairfield, to help educate other people and to provide a social outlet for those with the disease.
It meets monthly, and discusses a range of topics related to the condition, and is sometimes led by guest speakers. Striker said it's not a "pity-party," but a chance to talk about positive solutions to problems.
"The support group helps people ... to learn that you can still have a life with fibromyalgia," she said.
nesuburban@communitypress.com
news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/NEWS01/605310576/1078/Local
Local News
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Posted: 11:15 a.m. EDT
Blue Ash doctor leader in fibromyalgia fight
BY CHIP CUTTER | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF INTERN
Twelve years ago, Linda Striker, 48, couldn't explain what was wrong with her.
Following a neck injury, she began feeling a sharp, stabbing pain throughout her body and aches that made her feel as if she was sick with the flu. She had tingling sensations in some of her extremities, and was constantly fatigued. Some days she couldn't even get out of bed.
"I became where I was limited to my activities because of the pain and the fatigueness and I became very ill with it," Striker, a Greenhills resident, said.
Searching for answers, she went to several local doctors, including a neurosurgeon, rheumatologist and neurologist, before she was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
The condition, which affects approximately 10 million people nationwide, according to the National Fibromyalgia Association, is characterized by dysfunction in some part of the body, said Dr. Hal Blatman, a Blue Ash-based doctor who treats patients in his pain clinic off Creek Road.
"It's a syndrome and it affects people in different ways," he said.
The causes are varied, and still not completely known, but can be triggered by poor food or nutritional choices, stresses to the body, such as a move to a new city or an emotional trauma, and physical injuries or illness, Blatman said.
"In general there's an insult to the body big enough so the body starts to decompensate," he said. "When it decompensates far enough that we have enough symptoms, then we diagnosis it as fibromyalgia syndrome."
Nancy F. Derby, director of public policy and education for the National Fibromyalgia Association said, though, that fibromyalgia is a brain, not muscle, based disorder, that includes sensory malfunction in the pain centers of the body.
Hallmarks of the condition include chronic pain in 11 of 18 pressure points in the body plus other problems like sleep disorders, fatigue and cognitive impairment, she said.
"It sometimes seems like your brain is trying to work through a fog," she said. "It shows no boundaries; it affects all parts of the body."
Derby, who also has the disease, said getting a proper diagnosis can be difficult because, unlike other illnesses, there is no simple test to determine the existence of fibromyalgia, and symptoms are often hard to recognize.
"We are considered an invisible illness because there is not a physically observable manifestation and you really have to observe the person to determine if they have fibromyalgia or any of these disorders," she said.
To help build an understanding of the disease, her association held a fibromyalgia awareness day Friday, May 12, which was celebrated nation-wide.
The day was meant to promote the association's services, but also to show the pervasiveness of the problem.
"I like to say, 'I'm never more than three feet from someone who knows someone with fibromyalgia,'" she said.
There is not a cure for the disease, although those affected by it and Blatman said it is possible to manage the symptoms.
He recommends a holistic approach to the condition, and employs education, aromatherapy, nutrition tips, massage therapy, trigger point injections, acupuncture and other approaches to help patients. Some also receive medications, or attend physical therapy, he said.
"We pay attention to the whole of the person as much as possible, because everybody's different," he said.
He also wrote a new book, "The Art of Body Maintenance: Winners' Guide to Pain Relief," to help those with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and myofascial pain, usually an underlying condition of fibromyalgia that includes tight knots in the muscles.
The 280-page book, which includes illustrations, is meant to serve patients who are in between office visits to the physician, chiropractor or physical therapist, Blatman said. Its material emphasizes treatments that help to reduce the pain in the muscle by using a rubber ball and a series of stretching exercises.
All are tried and true methods, he said.
"The book is really a hardware manual for how to treat the muscular system in the body, whether it's normal or whether it's in pain and needs to be treated," he said.
The need to treat the psychological and emotional components of fibromyalgia is just as important as caring for the physical problems, some people say.
"It's more than just pain and chronic fatigue, it goes deeper than that," said Jennifer Leahy, 48, who has fibromyalgia and is a patient of Blatman. She said the disease places a strain on family and friends and makes relationships more difficult.
At home, where she has an active teenage daughter, she said her family worries about her, and she in turn feels guilty because she can't do everything that she could previously do with them. Now, she said family vacations, even hikes in the park, are different because of her physical limitations.
"It affects the whole family," she said. "When you're married and you have children, it's give and take and I feel like I'm not picking up on my end of the deal here."
Striker, who is also a patient of Blatman, said it is important to stay positive and focus on what's been gained from the disease, not lost.
While she's not without pain today, and still must spend the occasional day in bed, she says she has learned to realize her limits and communicates them to others.
"It's not an illness that's going to take your life, it's something that you're living with everyday," she said "You learn to be patient with yourself when you have an illness, and to learn to accept where you are. It doesn't mean you have to give up and think this is the way it has to be the rest of your life."
On that end, she leads a 125-person support group at the Mercy Center for Health and Wellness in Fairfield, to help educate other people and to provide a social outlet for those with the disease.
It meets monthly, and discusses a range of topics related to the condition, and is sometimes led by guest speakers. Striker said it's not a "pity-party," but a chance to talk about positive solutions to problems.
"The support group helps people ... to learn that you can still have a life with fibromyalgia," she said.
nesuburban@communitypress.com
news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/NEWS01/605310576/1078/Local