Fibromyalgia And Bipolar Disorder
Courtesy of a brave man who has bipolar disorder, and whose son has both bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia, here's a remarkable statistic.
Patients with fibromyalgia are twice as likely to have Major Depression as are patients with rheumatoid arthritis. (The latter, RA, was selected in this study as a comparison group because it has a relatively well-established basis in an immune system malfunction; or as the basis for fibromyalgia is still very unclear but does not appear to be a straightforward autoimmune problem like RA).
But here is the remarkable part: by comparison, patients with fibromyalgia are 153 times more likely than those with RA to have bipolar disorder.
Makes you wonder what is going on, doesn't it? The fellow who forwarded this to me wonders if exposure to antidepressant medications, in people who have bipolar disorder, might be the basis for this connection. So far, to my knowledge, there is nothing more than that striking statistic above to even raise that possibility. It does make you think, though, doesn't it?
Dr. Phelps
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Patients with fibromyalgia are twice as likely to have Major Depression as are patients with rheumatoid arthritis. (The latter, RA, was selected in this study as a comparison group because it has a relatively well-established basis in an immune system malfunction; or as the basis for fibromyalgia is still very unclear but does not appear to be a straightforward autoimmune problem like RA).
But here is the remarkable part: by comparison, patients with fibromyalgia are 153 times more likely than those with RA to have bipolar disorder.
Makes you wonder what is going on, doesn't it? The fellow who forwarded this to me wonders if exposure to antidepressant medications, in people who have bipolar disorder, might be the basis for this connection. So far, to my knowledge, there is nothing more than that striking statistic above to even raise that possibility. It does make you think, though, doesn't it?
Dr. Phelps
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9 Comments:
Dr. Yves De Koninck, whom has done a lot of research on neuropathic pain, might have an idea about the link.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17182282&query_hl=2
Glen
My personal experience is that I had fibromyalgia and bipolar disorder concomittantly (both undiagnosed) for at least a decade before beginning any antidepressants. While the connection is striking, I think determining a causative factor will be a matter of extensive study.
Yes, definitely, there are more ways to fibromyalgia than just bipolar disorder. The latter appears to raise the risk of landing there. Whether that is bipolar disorder or antidepressant exposure or both remains to be determined. Thanks for the comment.
JP
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in my mid-twenties and did not suffer from depression at the time. Seventeen years later I was diagnosed Bipolar II and I have to admit that I had the Bipolar symptoms long long before I ever put an anti-depresent into my system. It is amazing though that a lot of people I know that have Fibromyalgia are also Bipolar.
Thank you for your insight.
Lise
My wife was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago and our lives were changed forever. I am developing an online community for people suffering from fibromyalgia. The online community, “You're Not Alone” ( http://fibromyalgia.ning.com ), will allow members to participate in fibromyalgia-related discussions in the Forum, share their thoughts and ideas in their blog, and post their personal photos and videos. There is no cost to join. Members of the site follow a simple process to create their profile page, which they can later customize including a profile photo and additional details about themselves. I created the project while participating in a Landmark Education leadership program. Part of the coursework was to create a project that benefits the community. When I had the opportunity to create a project that would make a difference in the community, it was only natural that my wife's illness would be the inspiration.
My wife was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago and our lives were changed forever. I am developing an online community for people suffering from fibromyalgia. The online community, “You're Not Alone” ( http://fibromyalgia.ning.com ), will allow members to participate in fibromyalgia-related discussions in the Forum, share their thoughts and ideas in their blog, and post their personal photos and videos. There is no cost to join. Members of the site follow a simple process to create their profile page, which they can later customize including a profile photo and additional details about themselves. I created the project while participating in a Landmark Education leadership program. Part of the coursework was to create a project that benefits the community. When I had the opportunity to create a project that would make a difference in the community, it was only natural that my wife's illness would be the inspiration.
I'm glad I came across this excerpt about the relationship between bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia. I'm diagnosed with Bipolar II and I developed Fibromyalgia after stopping Effexor. It seemed as if my whole body crashed including my immune system. I was also diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis around the same time to complicate things. I'm doing a lot of research regarding the relationship between all three. Unfortunately, I went off my lithium about three months ago and again found myself in crippling pain. I thought it was related to my A.S., a rheumatological disorder. I ended up in the hospital and was put on Cymbalta and Trileptal since I had a thyroid condition and the psychiatrist felt that it wasn't a good idea to go back on Lithium since the two compete with one another. I agreed even though Lithium curbed my Fibro but brought on a number of horrible side effects including IBS and weight gain. My pain went away almost instantly, but now about three weeks into it, I'm starting to get really irritable and I need to go off it, but I'm afraid that the pain will come back or I'll be confronted with horrible mood swings or further depressions. All I can say is be very careful of what you put into your body. I believe less is more. A lot of doctors feel like they have to offer a quick fix but there is no such thing as a miracle drug and sometimes you have to ride through the storm. I wish that my p.doc in the hospital would have just tried the Trileptal and uped my Seroquel. He said he was going to give me something for my pain and didn't mention that Cymbalta was an antidepressant. If I had known, I never would have agreed to take it, especially knowing that it was in the same family as Effexor which was a really horrendous drug to come off of. It literally did minimal benefits for my mood and changed my whole life in a matter of months.
Ah for god's sakes!! Where were you 4 years ago?
Thank you for getting the word out that Bipolar is more than raving mania mood swings. I wish I had known about Bipolar II 10 years ago, my life sure would have been different.
I've had depression for years. Responded extremely well to Paxil for 3 years (15 years ago) and it made me rather energetic in a good way. Now NO antidepressant works, makes things worse. I have chronic pain, Interstitial Cystitis (Bad!), fibro, depression, hypoglycemia, sleep problems congenital spinal stenosis, and I actually forget the rest. I see plenty of doctors.
Recently I started Lyrica for pain, increased the dose to 300mg daily and am finding my sleep is better and my mood is better. Thinking about quitting Welbutrin (slowly!) since it never did much. There sure are a lot of folks calling it a horrible drug, except for the fibro and chronic pain folks. What is your opinion about Lyrica as a mood stabilizer?
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