Health Expert Karen Lee Richards shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/5949/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/5949/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/5949/index http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153399/physicians Wed, 30 May 2012 05:32:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards It can be difficult to find a doctor who knows how to diagnose and treat chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis. Unfortunately, many doctors still don't believe it is a real illness, attributing its symptoms to psychological problems. And even those who do believe it's real often don't know a great deal about treating ME/CFS patients.   In an effort to correct this situation, the International Association for... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153399/physicians http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153398/management Wed, 30 May 2012 04:05:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards In an effort to improve pain management training for health care professionals, the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium announced that it has selected 11 health professional schools to be designated as Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). The CoEPEs will act as hubs for the development, evaluation, and distribution of pain management curriculum resources for medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy schools to enhance and... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153398/management http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153388/fibromyalgia Tue, 29 May 2012 18:11:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards If you have fibromyalgia and haven't yet completed the Fibromyalgia and Family Impact Survey, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes and fill out the survey. The survey will be available through June 5, 2012.   So far, 5,850 people have participated in the survey. That's an amazing number and Dr. Marcus and I are so grateful to each and every one of you who has responded. Now we're trying to make one last effort to see if we can... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153388/fibromyalgia http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153249/fibromyalgia Thu, 24 May 2012 08:07:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards Despite the fact that a great deal has been learned about the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in fibromyalgia in recent years, many primary care physicians (PCPs) are still reluctant to diagnose and treat FM patients. As a result, it is estimated that FM remains undiagnosed in as many as three out of four people who have it. And it is still taking an average of five years to get an accurate diagnosis.   For this reason, in 2009 a... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153249/fibromyalgia http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153240/distraction Thu, 24 May 2012 02:38:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards Many of us with chronic pain have noticed that when we get deeply involved in a task that requires concentration, we don't notice our pain as much. I always figured that was because we were focusing our minds on the task at hand rather than on the pain. But according to the findings of a recent two-part study published in the journal Current Biology, when our minds are engaged in a difficult mental task, our bodies actually send fewer pain... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153240/distraction http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153013/fibromyalgia Wed, 16 May 2012 09:20:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards A new study published in the 26 April 2012 issue of the Molecular Pain journal found that fibromyalgia patients had significantly less connectivity in the areas of the brain that are involved in modulating and inhibiting pain when compared with healthy controls.   The Route Pain Takes   Our bodies have both ascending and descending pain pathways. When a healthy individual receives an injury, the body sends a signal from the site of the... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153013/fibromyalgia http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153008/needymeds Wed, 16 May 2012 04:25:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards Medical costs continue to rise and unemployment is still high. The result? More and more of us are finding ourselves without medical insurance; or if we do still have insurance, we're finding that they are paying for less and less.   Two nonprofit organizations recently teamed up to help us find resources that offer assistance when we we find ourselves in those situations. PANDORA, a nonprofit serving people with fibromyalgia, ME/CFS and... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/153008/needymeds http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152820/mother-relief Wed, 09 May 2012 13:39:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards Someone recently Tweeted that what she wanted for Mother's Day was some fibromyalgia relief, a foot massage and some chocolate. That got me to thinking about all of us mothers who live with some type of chronic pain. I suspect that pain relief would be near the top of all of our Mother's Day wish lists.   If I'm going to be honest, though, for me there's another fibromyalgia symptom I'd like relief from that's even higher on my list than... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152820/mother-relief http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152551/fibromyalgia Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:44:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards   Although May 12 may be best known as Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, it is actually the Awareness Day for a number of neuro-immune disorders, including: Fibromyalgia (FM)  Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) This year marks the 20th anniversary of Awareness Day.  The idea was originally developed by Tom Hennessey, founder of RECIND, Inc. and has... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152551/fibromyalgia http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152550/fibromyalgia Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:21:00 -0400 Karen Lee Richards With Fibromyalgia Awareness Day approaching (May 12), I thought this would be a good time to talk about why awareness of this or any illness is so critical.  I would even go so far as to say that awareness is the cornerstone upon which future medical advances are built.  Following are a few of the areas in which I believe awareness has made a tremendous difference for fibromyalgia patients.  I'll use my own personal experience as... http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/5949/152550/fibromyalgia