The Guardian Newspaper – Fibromyalgia Study- One The Year’s Top 10 Science Stories, Chosen By Scientists- click here for full article
We are reaching out to you to support us and be part of this game changing research and bring hope to the millions of Fibromyalgia sufferers.
Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a debilitating condition and ultimately can be life-changing not only for the sufferer but also their family. It is an under-recognised condition that causes whole body sensitivity and pain, sleep difficulties, and chronic fatigue. Way before any quality research was done on this condition, many patients would be dismissed and stigmatised for the limits they inadvertently have to place on their day-to-day lives. It is now widely accepted to be a genuine condition that affects the way the body processes external stimuli. Through some unknown mechanism, the brain of a fibromyalgia sufferer is constantly stuck in the state of “on”, and does not know how to switch off, rest and rejuvenate.
Despite discovering that there is a biological basis to fibromyalgia, there has sadly not been much advancement in the development of effective treatments. The few drugs prescribed for the condition are often ineffective and come with intolerable side effects that add to the sufferer’s daily problems. Many patients buy into private alternative therapies that they can hardly afford, to find they sometimes do not work for long, if at all. In today’s best practice, patients are supported in managing their pain, in coming to terms with their losses and in trying to make the most of what they have.
This Is Not Good Enough. We Can And Must Do Better.
Recently there has been emerging evidence that a maladaptive immune system plays a key role in orchestrating the disease. This is an exciting time for the fibromyalgia community. It opens up the possibility that one or more of the many treatment options available for immune-mediated disease can have a real impact in fibromyalgia too. Some of the most exciting developments in this field have come from the labs of Professor Andreas Goebel’s and his collaborators. Andreas is the Director of the UK Pain Research Institute, and a highly respected researcher in the field: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/translational-medicine/staff/andreas-goebel/. His team has shown that IgG taken from FMS patients can trigger FMS in models of the disease. This ground-breaking work has conclusively indicated that dysregulation of the immune system holds the key to understanding and curing fibromyalgia [Goebel et al., JCI 2021; 131(13)]; https://www.jci.org/articles/view/144201/pdf.
To translate this work into an actual opportunity to develop effective treatment, Dr Goebel requires more funding support. His work is essential to progress in this important research angle. In the initial phase he hopes to raise £500,000 which will unlock other philanthropic funding, to fund two new therapeutic treatment trials for FMS and the development of prognostic and diagnostic blood tests. While the blood test research aims to help diagnose patients with greater ease, the two clinical trials are to develop treatments that reduce the harmful impact of the immune offender, IgG. The first trial assesses a drug that targets the neonatal Fc receptor complex (FcRn) in order to reduce IgG load. The second looks at Plasma Exchange, which removes IgG from the system. Both are known treatments with a good safety record when used in other immune-related conditions; they have just not been formally tried in FMS.
Clearly in an ideal world the government should fund this but if past experience is anything to go by this will take years to arrive and some FMS patients simply cannot wait that long. The hard reality is that without donations this research isn’t getting funded anytime soon.
Donate Now To Give The Fibromyalgia Community A Brighter Future
To donate by Bank Transfer please use the following details:-
HSBC Bank plc
99-101 Lord Street
Liverpool
L2 6PG
Account name – Pain Relief Foundation
Sort Code: 40 – 29 – 08
Account No: 84075366
Reference: FMS New Treatments
IBAN – GB38HBUK40290884075366
BIC – HBUKGB4105D
To donate by Cheque :-
If you wish to send a cheque, you can post them along with a covering letter quoting reference
FMS New Treatments to the below address:
Pain Relief Foundation
Clinical Science Centre
University Hospital Aintree
Lower Lane
Liverpool
L9 7AL