Features Related to Arthritis

1. Fibromyalgia and Medical Marijuana
   

   Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome, is hard to treat and impossible to cure. With pain so debilitating, patients may wonder about trying medical marijuana to ease their discomfort. Still widely controversial, "medical marijuana" refers to the smoked form of the drug. It does not refer to the synt

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2. Fibromyalgia: The Diet Connection
   

   The condition is called fibromyalgia. It consists of a complex array of symptoms that include widespread muscle and joint pain along with overwhelming fatigue. And none of it goes away, no matter how much rest you get. Fibromyalgia affects up to 4% of the population -- mostly women. And there is sti

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3. Alternative Treatments for Fibromyalgia
   

   To get relief from fibromyalgia pain, more and more people are trying alternative treatments. It's often instinctive -- putting an icepack on a painful spot or reaching for the heating pad when muscles hurt. Or it feels good – like a massage. Even acupuncture is becoming a mainstream pain treatment,

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4. Water Exercise for Fibromyalgia: Easing Deep Muscle Pain
   

   If you have fibromyalgia pain, you're likely clenching right now. "Clenching is an involuntary reaction to stress," says Doris Cope, MD, director of Pain Management at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "People tense their muscles, and probably don't even realize they're doing it. That red

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5. Treating Fibromyalgia Pain: Medication Options
   

   If you have fibromyalgia pain, hang in there -- pain relief is possible. Today doctors have better insight into fibromyalgia, and are using many types of medications to treat its symptoms. Antidepressants, anticonvulsants, narcolepsy drugs, pain relievers, sleep aids -- all these medications work wi

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6. Finding Dr. Right for Your Fibromyalgia
   

   Not every doctor understands fibromyalgia well -- yet it's critical to find one who is up to date on the latest fibromyalgia treatment and research. Wherever you live, you'll have to do some research to find a health care provider who is the best fit for you. Here's the good news: "It's easier now t

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7. Fibromyalgia Pain at Night
   

   Do you toss and turn at night because of fibromyalgia pain or discomfort? "People with fibromyalgia tend to have very disturbed sleep," says Doris Cope, MD, director of Pain Management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "Even if they sleep 10 hours a night, they still feel fatigued,

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8. Ease Aching Joints
   

   By Ben Kallen It may start as morning stiffness, but it eventually becomes a dull ache that grows more severe over time. That’s how Jason Theodosakis, M.D., describes arthritis—the catchall term for conditions involving joint damage and the complaint of nearly 46 million Americans who suffer from it

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9. Scientists Search For Rheumatoid Arthritis Genes
   

   After a half-dozen pint-sized robots organize genetic material onto plates and feed it into computers, Peter K. Gregersen, MD, painstakingly mines the data, hoping to discover the unique genes that make some people more susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Gregersen, head of the Feinstein Insti

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10. Life With Rheumatoid Arthritis
    

    Carla Guillory was in her 30s -- enjoying life, raising her kids -- when the first symptoms began. "We'd been hiking on vacation, and I thought I had bruised my foot, but it didn't seem to get better. Then my hands started aching," she remembers. Right away, doctors suspected she had rheumatoid arth

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