|
Questions posted in the
Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
| ||||
|
Subject: Re: Fibromyalgia I have a question concerning my mother... She is 52 yrs old and has been in good health until she was injured on the job last June. The doctors have told her she has fibromyalgia. In the injury she received a blow to the left side of her head along with other injuries. She has been told she has now has Temperal artitis.. which she had slight lost of vision in her left eye and was placed in the cardaic unit where her heartbeat was 40 and pausing, the vessel inflamed from the brain to the heart and may now have to have a pacemaker. The doctors here seem quite unsure how to treat fibromyalgia and we are not sure with everything going on with her now is part of the diease. Are there any doctors in the southeast that can treat firbromyalgia? Or where does my mother need to go to recieve help? This diease is getting worse and worse and she is receiving no help..... Thank you for you helps = Temporal arteritis and fibromyalgia are not the same thing, by a long shot. Fibromyalgia is not strictly a neurologic disease, and usually involves joint pains and body aches that act like arthritis but without the x-ray or blood test results that you'd expect for arthritis. On the other hand, temporal arteritis (giant cell arteritis) is an inflammatory disease of a specific set of blood vessels in the head. It results in painful headaches and there are definite laboratory abnormalities ("sed rate") associated with it. It can cause blindness in one eye because the blood vessel which supplies the retina can be affected. Diagnosis is confirmed by biopsy, and treatment is usually with steroids such as prednisone. Specific details about treatment may vary. Temporal arteritis is an acute serious disease, whereas fibromyalgia is something that people live with for a long time, chronically. I hope this helps. I don't know much about doctors in the southeast, but check into medical schools or affiliated hospitals (such as Emory, or other major centers). As you know, this information is provided for your general medical education only. Specific comments regarding diagnosis, treatment, prognosis must come from your doctor after appropriate evaluation. CCF MD mdf. |
| |||