I’ve been tagged to do a 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Me Meme by PsychScribe, so here goes (apologies if you’re reading this and you already know some of these!)…

1. I’ve read a lot of Tolkien and love the Tolkien mythology.
2. I have had issues in the past with empathising too much with other people, even fictional characters, so I am not allowed to read sad books or watch sad movies.
3. I have a phobia of sharks and can’t swim in the sea if there are even fish near me!
4. I adore clothes and shoes and only wish I could afford them and they would look good on me (even if they fit, I can make the best clothes look scruffy within an hour).
5. I’m addicted to cinnamon - cinnamon toast, cinnamon in my coffee, cinnamon Krispy Kremes, cinnamon Danish…
6. I’m also addicted to Krispy Kreme donuts (yep, that was me who ate the best part of half the box when helping friends move last weekend).
7. I have hyperlordosis (excessive curvature of the lower back).
8. Logic means a lot to me. If someone is behaving illogically, it drives me mad (yes, even if it’s me doing it!).
9. Until I got Fibro, the most consistent ambition of my life was to race around the world on a yacht.
10. I trained as a meteorologist.

I’m tagging:

lilwatchergrl at Through Myself and Back Again

Christine at ButYouDon’tLookSick

Laurie at A Chronic Dose

Abide

Chronic Chick Talk

Psydchick

Kerrie at The Daily Headache

Fighting Fatigue

How To Cope With Pain

CIDP and me

They may not all respond, but check them out, there are some great blogs here.

The June Pain Blog Carnival is up at How To Cope With Pain with the theme of pain & summer/vacation.

Grand Rounds, Volume 4, #40 is up at shrink rap with the theme of the new iPhone 3G. Grand Rounds is the best of the medical blogosphere, as chosen by a different host each week.

There are plenty of good posts included in this selection, including:

• How To Cope With Pain discussing video games to reduce pain.
• Barbara at In Sickness and In health talking about the hard question “Can You help Me?”.
• JeffreyMD talking about trying to achieve excellence in the pursuit of perfection.
• Jolie at The Fitness Fixer talking about how to use your neck correctly when eating, rinking or talking on the phone.
• Jenni at ChronicBabe discussing hypochondria.

Over at FibroAction, we’ve got an interview with Christine Donato (nee Miserandino), founder of ButYouDontLookSick.com and author of The Spoon Theory. It’s great to get to know Christine a bit better and to hear her talking about The Spoon Theory, looking good when sick, relationships as a Spoonie and being positive and proactive.

There has been a bit of discussion on the web about the recently published preliminary paper from the 3 year City of Hope Study instigated by Dr R Paul St Amand.

The paper, e-published ahead of print in Experimental biology and medicine, is by a group of researchers including Dr. R. Paul St. Amand, Claudia Craig Marek and Dr John (Jack) Shively PhD

As it says on the FibroAction website, “Dr. R. Paul St. Amand is the originator of the Guaifenesin Protocol for Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro), a much debated treatment protocol that is not widely accepted by the medical community. Claudia Craig Marek, his medical assistant, is the author of ‘Fibromyalgia: The First Year’. The “City of Hope Fibromyalgia Study” is a three-year investigation involving patients of Dr St Amand, which is taking place at City of Hope Hospital in California, USA, where Dr Shively PhD is Chair of the Division of Immunology.”

The City of Hope study is looking for possible links with autoimmunity/inflammation and Fibro, as well as a genetic link. Many of the participants are on the Guaifenesin Protocol.

Part of the discussion online regarding the paper has centred on how incomprehensible the abstract is, even to someone with some medical knowledge. Having read and re-read the full paper and asked questions of both the lead researcher, Dr J Shively PhD, and advisors, I have written an article discussing the paper, which you can read here.

Working with Chronic Illness has got a great post up about a Hollywood producer who has come out - after years of keeping it secret - and admitted that she has Lupus and has battled cancer.

Rosalind at Working with Chronic llness finishes the post by saying:

“..here we go again - a woman … afraid to say the truth about physical health out of fear that people would make assumptions.

As I said, hooray that she has told her truth. It’s tiny steps to change attitude about what people with chronic illness can do and what they need to do it  What’s it going to take to change the  environment we work in?”

It’s completely understandable that someone with a chronic illness would be concerned that admitting their illness in the workplace could damage their career. But the culture of trying to hide chronic illness really damages awareness, both of the respective conditions and also of how many working people actually have a health condition. If everyone with Fibro for example, was going round telling everyone they know about the condition, then a large proportion of the UK population would know about the condition (2-4% of the population is the same as 1-in-50 to 1-in-20: surely we all are acquainted in someway with 20+ people?). And if everyone who works with a health condition was open about it, then it wouldn’t be seen as a rare, “different” thing to be sick, injured or disabled and still working. And if it was accepted as being normal, then employers and colleagues would behave very differently.

Eli Lilly today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved their medication Cymbalta for the treatment of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro).

Cymbalta (Duloxetine hydrochloride) is a selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SSNRI or SNRI) and it is only the second drug to be approved by the US FDA specifically for the treatment of Fibro. Last year, Pfizer’s Lyrica (Pregabalin) became the first drug to be FDA approved for the treatment of Fibro.

For more information, see the FibroAction article.

The PolkaDotGals Calendar for Fibromyalgia Awareness is now available to pre-order from the PolkaDotGals website.

The PolkaDotGals calendar was the brainchild of former model Bianca Embley. The tasteful and artistic part-nude calendar featuring Fibro sufferers, along with celebrities like model Danni Wells, international hurdler Sara McGreavy, America’s Cup sailor David Carr and Coventry Ciy footballers. For more information, see here.

FibroAction has got an article discussing how a medication to help prevent osteoporosis and invasive breast cancer in post-menopausal women may also help those who have Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro), according to a recently published study.

The study, by a group of Iranian researchers, looked at Raloxifene (Evista) in the treatment of Fibro.

According to FibroAction, “Raloxifene is a type of medication called a selective oestrogen receptor modulator…licensed in the USA and UK for the treatment of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women and also for the prevention of invasive cancer in post-menopausal women who either have osteoporosis or are at high risk of invasive breast cancer.”

FibroAction is a new organisation, basd in the UK, which aims to make accurate, up-to-date information about Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) readily available, as well as raise awareness of the condition.

According to FibroAction, a major trial of the drug Reboxetine for Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) is currently recruiting patients in the USA and Canada.

The 14 week randomised double-blind Phase III trial, sponsored by Pfizer, will recruit around 1150 Fibro patients in 120 locations across the USA and Canada. Pfizer estimate that the trial will be completed in April 2009.

For more information, see the FibroAction article.

FibroAction is a new organisation, basd in the UK, which aims to make accurate, up-to-date information about Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) readily available, as well as raise awareness of the condition.