News — chronic pain

Each year approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. The CDC estimates more than 300,000 infections will occur this year in the United States. Lyme disease can become a crippling lifelong chronic illness affecting children, adults and pets. Lyme ticks are active year-round, except during subfreezing weather, but spring is the most dangerous season because that's when the baby ticks (which are so small they are almost invisible) are born. Deer ticks are already tiny, as small as a poppy seed, and easy to miss, and not...

Fibromyalgia syndrome affects the muscles and soft tissue. Symptoms include chronic muscle pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and painful tender (trigger) points. It is not one condition but a compilation of different syndromes; therefore, one treatment does not fit all patients. More than that, treatment of two patients with similar fibromyalgia symptoms may be drastically different due to different underlying triggers. Dr.Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD, director of the Nerve Injury Unit in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Neurology says, “Fibromyalgia is too complex for a 'one size fits all' explanation. However there are some basics that apply to most...

CBD Oil is what everyone is talking about! However, there is a lot of confusing information out there. After researching for several weeks these are some of the facts about CBD oil I have found. CBD (Cannabidiol) is a non-intoxicating component of the cannabis plant. Cannabis is an umbrella term that includes two different varieties of plants "cousins" called marijuana and hemp. THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) is the major component of marijuana which gives people the psychoactive high feeling. The hemp plant is significantly lacking in THC and to be classified as hemp, a cannabis plant must contain less than 0.3% THC...

The body senses painful stimuli through certain receptors located in the skin, joints and many internal organs. Specialized nerve fibers relay these signals to the brain, where pain becomes recognized and “felt”. Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is one of the primary neurotransmitters your body produces to calm your central nervous system. Research has shown with chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or after nerve damage following an injury, the pain inhibiting action of GABA becomes severely compromised and pain signals conducted to the brain are almost unfiltered. Also when the body fails to produce enough GABA, or utilize the...