Latest news with #fibromyalgia
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Through nature walks, insect trails and stained glass, this artist seeks healing in wonder
Montreal-based interdisciplinary artist Laura Hudspith's experience with language, her body and its relationship to nature changed when she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic illness. Hudpsith's work spans sculpture, installation, photography and text. She's worked extensively with copper, algae and sea glass. Her art explores her understanding of health, the body and the molecular. While completing her MFA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Hudspith became inspired by language and the weight words carry in different circumstances. Language, like meditation, can offer healing, clarity and introspection, she explains. Through her ritualized walks, which have become central to her life, Hudspith discovered insect trails in the wood of fallen trees. The language-like shapes left by the insects became the inspiration behind her latest exhibition, Wanderer, which is now on view at Zalucky Contemporary in Toronto Hudspith's newest body of work seeks to find the connections between autoimmunity, language and magic. Guided by her experiences with illness and her interests in philosophy and science, Wanderer explores the microbiological implications of turning inward to heal oneself. The exhibition is made up of floor and wall-mounted sculptures made from stained glass and copper. The organic and fluid shapes of each work mirrors the asymmetry often found in nature. Tendrils of copper branch out throughout the borders of each mounted piece, paralleling the insect-like sculpture, a head, and behind, and to either side. CBC Arts spoke with Hudspith to discuss her work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. CBC Arts: You explain that your experience with chronic illness has informed your view and interpretation of nature in a metaphysical sense. Can you elaborate on this further? Laura Hudspith: Becoming chronically ill marked a profound shift for me in many ways. I witnessed the transmutation of my psyche and soma. Through these experiences, I've learned to allow my body and illness to act as guides, and endeavour to train my focus toward considering the bio-possibilities that could emerge from rethinking bodies and illness through the lens of the molecular. I've come to see molecules and cells, viral and inorganic matter, as possessing distinct autonomies. These kinds of recognitions open me up to experiencing the healing properties of coming to know something truly profound about oneself and the world — what I call "wonder." And the experience of wonder can be so encompassing that it begins to matter-me to its shape, soothing my body, even assuaging a flare-up of autoimmune symptoms altogether. In this way, wonder becomes a form of molecular healing, and I seek this sensation out. You've brought up this concept of "magical thinking," something that stems from meditative walks. Could you explain what magical thinking means to you in the context of your art and how it informs your work? I've found that the act of walking can be practised as a form of healing, particularly when walking amidst densely wooded or pastoral areas outside of urban spaces. There's something really special that happens here: the thump of footfall feels as though it's held closer to our bodies, and to all of the many non-human bodies around you, be they animal, vegetal, geological. In my experience, the effect of this sound dampening, at least of my own movements, creates a spatial sense much like being in a bubble of tranquillity and solitude that moves with you, a bubble that I find ideal for turning inward. And yet, in these spaces, you simultaneously become so much more aware of the density of a place, its liveliness and also its expansiveness. I find this heightened, dual awareness to be ideal for reattuning ourselves to self, to our innermost core, but also the world. Walking opens us up for encounters, both within and without. The work marks a turn toward "magical thinking" insofar as peeling back the metaphysical properties and biomechanical processes behind how immaterial matters — such as language, or the social and cultural structures that order our everyday lives — affect the material world in meaningful ways, such as making us ill or well. Their effects can seem almost "magical" in nature. In entering the terrain of inquiry that this word "magic" opens up as it relates to healing, Wanderer draws from my image archive of insect trails I've collected while walking, and from mystical figures of our own making, said to represent the core of our being. Here, I look to the archetypal figure of the "wild woman." Like walking rituals that carve pathways in me for healing, wild woman mythos offers insight for deepening our self-knowledge and worldly connection. She embodies our intuition and wisdom and the untamability of our core being. She is conceived of as a healer and life-giver, and as a death doula, even a necromancer or a witch. As our wise and intuitive core, she senses what is no longer working for us about ourselves and guides us through transforming that self-material into something that will better serve us. That is, if we attune ourselves to listen and allow our bodies to act as guides. How did you make the connection between language and the insect trails found on your meditative walks? I've always been drawn to words and texts — how meaning can change and deepen when a few words are strung together. I became more particularly fascinated with semantic linguistics through my experiences with autoimmunity and coming to understand how language shapes our bodies and internal systems. The same words can carry distinct meanings and connotations when uttered outside or inside the medical sphere — for example, differences in meaning that can gnaw at you. Through my years of practicing walking meditation, I've amassed an archive of photographs documenting the burrowed insect trails in the cambium layer of the wood in fallen trees. Their trails have always appeared to me as some kind of arcane language or unknowable script that articulates a wisdom truly its own; its meaning is wholly illegible to me as a human, yet nevertheless intelligent. I began tracing these complex markings and serpentine trails, building stained glass patterns for what would become my Seer series, the wall-hanging works inWanderer. What sparked the evolution of the Seer series? Seers is inspired by the intricate, organic patterns produced by these wood-burrowing insects. Wild woman's eye (2024), made of stained glass and copper, was the first piece made in the Seer series, composing my imaginings of what her ancient and wizened, milky eyes might look like if she were to take corporeal form. She is perhaps capable of reading non-human text. My glassworks incorporate these tracings as either reflections in her eye or a way of seeing. Throughout the series, I began to evolve a geometrically perfect oval into increasingly amorphous eye forms with slight asymmetries. Our brains have a preference for symmetry, and encountering slight asymmetries can produce a subtle psychedelic effect. I love the idea that meeting the wild woman's gaze — whose gaze is also our own — might have this effect. What was the process like translating the intricate, microscopic realities of insect trails into tangible art forms? The process of translation has looked different for each body of work. In my Seer series forWanderer, using my walking image archive was most intuitive. Some glass patterns were created by tracing the trails directly, building the eye form around them, while others were formed by bringing together or overlaying several trails more instinctively. I felt that allowing for an intuitively-led process would serve as a way for me to honour the source of these images, while also echoing notions of wandering and meandering that are explored throughout the exhibition. I love glass, copper, algae and salts. Copper atoms have free electrons that are constantly searching for space and a point of connection, which I find so beautiful. Copper atoms are indeed on the move, changing and becoming just like you and I. I see my materials as collaborators who might help reorient our thinking as we peer into our being. Through other bodies of work, I've observed and imaged many of my own cellular structures — breast, ovary, and lymph, for example — as well as molecular bodies that we are often in close relation to, from algae to sedimentary rock. I find that the varied textures and uneven luminosity inherent to stained glass render these microscope-gathered histologies with such clarity and revelation.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Doctor warns millions of Britons have undiagnosed sleep condition that's linked to swathe of killer diseases
A GP has warned patients to check for signs of a hidden sleep problem linked to a host of conditions that could shorten your life. Dr Asif Ahmed took to social media to raise the alarm about what he labelled 'one of the most chronically undiagnosed conditions out there' sleep apnoea. This is a condition where a patient suffers interruptions to their breathing while they sleep and is estimated to blight the lives of millions of Britons. 'We need to stop missing this diagnosis' Dr Ahmed said on Instagram. 'If you've been diagnosed with chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia, or you can't lose weight or a prediabetic, this condition has to be ruled out. 'Nothing will work, nothing will get better until we treat this.' Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body. As well as causing exhaustion, sleep apnoea is linked to an increased risk of deadly conditions like high blood pressure, stroke and type 2 diabetes as well as depression. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr Asif Ahmed (MBBS, MRCGP, BSc) (@dra_says) One recent study even found a link between the sleep apnoea and lung cancer, though this is still being explored. Its connection to numerous health problems is part of the reason Dr Ahmed said that if sleep apnoea goes untreated it can knock 10 to 14 years off your lifespan. He said the impact of sleep apnoea on a person's health couldn't be understated and it could act as barrier to successfully treating other conditions. 'It is so significant, it really messes with your metabolism,' he said. 'If it's undiagnosed and untreated, nothing we do therapeutically is going to work.' Despite the dangers, Dr Ahmed said sleep apnoea often remains hidden particularly among single people, as it is often partners who spot it first. 'They complain of loud snoring or recognise anionic episodes (periods where a person stops breathing) while the other person is sleeping,' he said. Thankfully, he added that there are now simple test kits that can be used at home to tell if a person had the condition within days. 'I urge everyone whose got chronic fatigue or are feeling tired all the time or can't lose weight to really get checked for sleep apnoea,' he said. While sleep apnoea has multiple types the most common is called obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). This where the walls of the throat relax and narrow or close during sleep, limiting the flow of oxygen into the body. In response the brain instinctively pulls a person out of deep sleep to get more oxygen. This leads to significant sleep interruptions and as a consequence exhaustion in daily life and additionally—in the longer term—an increased risk of serious health problems. Almost 4million people in the UK are estimated to have moderate or severe OSA, although it is considered to be under-diagnosed and could affect up to 10million. Causes of sleep apnoea vary but include obesity leading to more tissue on the neck, smoking and drinking as well as having large tonsils. The most obvious symptoms of sleep apnoea are the aforementioned snoring and breathing interruptions noticed by partners. Individuals themselves may notice they wake up a lot in the night and feel exhausted during the day, suffer concentration problems at work or school, have mood swings or have a headache upon waking. The NHS encourages anyone with signs of sleep apnoea to contact their GP due to its links to serious health problems and the impact it can have on a patient's life. Diagnosis is usually done through special kits that measure breathing rate and heartbeat which can often be worn at home. Data from the kit is then analysed to see if a patient does have sleep apnoea and if so, how severe it is. Treatment can involve wearing mechanical masks that pump fresh air into the nose and mouth as a patient sleeps or surgery to open the airways more. However, some low-tech methods like taping a tennis-ball to your back to encourage you to sleep on your side—which can help with sleep apnoea—can also be tried. Regardless, medics urge patients not to self-diagnose and seek help from their GP if they have symptoms.
Medscape
08-07-2025
- Health
- Medscape
GLP-1s May Ease Symptom Burden in Patients With Fibromyalgia
TOPLINE: The use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was linked to lower pain and fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia, according to a large-scale health records analysis. METHODOLOGY: Researchers used the TriNetX database to identify patients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, with or without documented use of GLP-1s. Used propensity score matching to form two patient cohorts (GLP-1 users vs nonusers), each consisting of 38,439 patients. Assessed for documented opioid use and International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes for chronic pain, fatigue, and malaise. Followed patients for 5 years, starting 1 year after their fibromyalgia diagnosis and initiation of GLP-1 medication. TAKEAWAY: Patients with fibromyalgia who were taking GLP-1s were less likely to use opioids than the comparison group (47.3% vs 59.9%). The GLP-1 group also had lower rates of reported fatigue, malaise, and pain. Ongoing fibromyalgia care (defined by the presence of the ICD-10 code for fibromyalgia) was lower in the GLP-1 group (39.1%) than in the nonuser group (55.7%). Additional research is needed using validated outcome measures like the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System. IN PRACTICE: 'The way that I use it in my practice these days is that if I have a patient with chronic pain or with fibromyalgia who has comorbidities that already have an FDA approval for GLP-1 use, such as obesity, diabetes, or obstructive sleep apnea, I would encourage them to go to their primary care physician and maybe consider getting started on a GLP-1,' said presenter Nouran Eshak, MB ChB, of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. SOURCE: This abstract was presented at the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) 2025 Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain. LIMITATIONS: This study had a retrospective design and relied on ICD-10 coding. Validated fibromyalgia-specific symptom scales or outcome measures were not available. Researchers were unable to account for confounders such as duration of illness, symptom severity, GLP-1 dosage, or access to healthcare. DISCLOSURES: The study authors disclosed having no relevant financial relationships.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Piper Sandler Reaffirms Price Target on Axsome (AXSM) Despite AXS-14 FDA Hurdle
Axsome Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) ranks among the 30 stocks expected to beat the market by 20 percentage points this year. Piper Sandler analysts maintained their $148 price target for Axsome Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) and reaffirmed their Overweight rating on June 10. This decision comes after the company revealed that the FDA had sent it a Refuse to File (RTF) notice regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for AXS-14, an oral norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used to treat fibromyalgia. Although Piper Sandler analysts acknowledged the setback, they stressed that Axsome's shares are not significantly impacted by this incident. Given the lack of new agent approvals in the fibromyalgia sector over the past ten years, the analysts pointed out that the FDA's requested additional study would be useful, and claim that Axsome Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) can support the new study with its current commercial infrastructure. Axsome Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that contributes to the creation of novel therapies for disorders of the central nervous system. While we acknowledge the potential of AXSM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. Read More: and Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Suffering in silence no more: How peer support helps people with chronic pain
Janice MacMillan recalls driving home from work trying to breathe through a flare-up of excruciating chest pain, all while contemplating this heavy question: "What's the point of living if this is my life?" MacMillan has suffered from chronic pain for more than 45 years. She once felt hopeless, alone and invalidated — until she found a new purpose. The 62-year-old woman has made it her life's mission to help people with chronic pain in a province where people wait years to see specialists and where pain clinics are understaffed. "I was meant to be here and I'm fighting hard so that every person on the South Shore, even Nova Scotia, not be left behind," said MacMillan, who is originally from Ontario but moved to Liverpool, N.S., in 2021. MacMillan's experience is not unique. More than 20 per cent of Canadians live with chronic pain, an invisible condition advocates say is still widely misunderstood by not only the public but even doctors and nurses. After experiencing barriers to the health-care system first-hand, MacMillan started a grassroots support group for people with chronic pain on the province's South Shore, just as similar groups are cropping up in other areas of the province and across Canada. WATCH | How peer support groups can help people with chronic pain: MacMillan was diagnosed with fibromyalgia — a condition that causes widespread pain in muscles and soft tissues — in her late 20s. At the time, there were no treatments, and she was often dismissed by health-care professionals, given the condition was not yet widely recognized. She was denied medications and had no information about how to deal with her lifelong affliction, which — to this day — can be debilitating. So she suffered. "I don't think people understand what chronic pain can do. It's like someone taking a chisel and chiseling a part of you little by little," said MacMillan, who was an ICU nurse before her condition forced her to stop that line of work. "My family didn't believe me and the world didn't believe me. They treated me like I was an idiot or I was not mentally all together." Her pain was made worse by a head injury resulting from a fall in October 2015 and from being hit by a truck in January 2016. These accidents caused brain damage and impacted her short-term memory. 'The silent screams' Four years ago, she decided to leave her life in Ontario behind and move to the Maritime province where her ancestors came from. She also left behind her pain specialist. Unable to access one in a timely manner in Nova Scotia and discovering Yarmouth Regional Hospital did not have a staffed pain clinic, she had an epiphany. "Long ago, I said I wanted something good to come out of all the pain, all the silent screams and all the tears," she said. "I had to go through all that so I understood what other people have gone through." She decided to organize a support group for people with chronic pain, funding the startup costs with her own savings. The South Shore Chronic Pain Support Community — which was recently incorporated as a non-profit — holds monthly meetings where people come together in an empathic environment to share experiences and learn coping strategies. They also invite guest speakers, such as acupuncturists, to offer tips on pain management. Peer support groups for people who suffer from chronic pain are gaining traction across Canada, where roughly 7.6 million people will suffer from chronic pain during their lifespan. In 2019, Ottawa created a task force that looked at the state of chronic pain, finding it has a "tremendous impact" on the economy, with direct and indirect costs that totalled nearly $40.3 billion that year. The task force's work resulted in an action plan, where 150 recommendations were made and six overarching goals were outlined to improve care and support. Those included having equitable and consistent access to care and legitimizing and destigmatizing chronic pain, which can be brought on by everything from injury to disease. It also recommended providing resources to further develop and scale peer-support initiatives across Canada. Maria Hudspith, co-chair of the task force and the executive director of the advocacy groups Pain Canada and Pain BC, said peer support is a crucial piece of the puzzle in someone's pain management. "When people are living with pain, they don't just need a doctor — they need coaching, they need peer support and to feel understood by other people living with the same condition," said Hudspith. "If you think about any experience in your own life and then you think about the value of somebody who shares that experience, whether it's losing someone and grieving, whether it's getting fired … you just think about when you connect with somebody who gets that, it's so important." Pain Canada tracks the progress of the action plan on its website. Only one of the report's recommendations has been completed as of June, but as many as 120 recommendations are in progress. The recommendation related to peer support is listed as ongoing. Hudspith said British Columbia has the most robust peer support network, with 14 biweekly groups. But groups are also getting off the ground in Alberta and Quebec, as well as the Atlantic region. Virginia McIntyre, 61, has been living with chronic pain for more than a decade after a workplace injury prompted her to need shoulder surgery, leaving her with pain in her upper back. The pain eventually forced her to temporarily leave her career in diagnostic imaging and prevented her from doing activities she enjoyed like running marathons and playing soccer. Her mental health suffered. That is, until she learned how to manage her pain after seeing a pain specialist and going through Nova Scotia Health's self-management program. She wanted to help others, so she started the People in Pain Network in 2017, which offers virtual peer-support meetings and in-person meetings in the Annapolis Valley and Sydney, with plans to expand into Newfoundland and Labrador. McIntyre said managing pain has a multidisciplinary approach that involves an array of professionals like primary care providers, psychologists and social workers. But it can take years of waiting to get that kind of holistic care, all while the person is still in pain. "We build connections. We decrease that isolation," said McIntyre in an interview from her home in Coldbrook, N.S., where the walls are decorated with photos of her two daughters and toys for grandchildren are stacked in the corner of the living room. "For some people, they say this is the only time they get out of the house or they join us virtually to be in a space that they feel heard and call it their home base." McIntyre, who was able to return to her job after three years, said her network has partnered with other organizations like Pain BC and Pain Canada to develop a curriculum and train facilitators, so that people wanting to set up support groups in their community can do so based on best practices. Pain clinic wait times Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson declined a request for an interview. In a statement, Nova Scotia Health said it offers a virtual group-based educational program for people living with chronic pain that does not require a referral and covers topics to self-manage pain such as body awareness, mindful movement and goal setting. Asked what the current staffing levels and wait times are at the province's 10 health-care sites with chronic pain services, spokesperson Jennifer Lewandowski said wait times vary from clinic to clinic, but would not provide specifics. "As with other areas of care, we have ongoing efforts occurring to improve access to care and better co-ordinate how we manage and deliver care to patients with these unique and complex needs," said Lewandowski. WATCH | Here's what living with chronic pain can be like: Bruce Wentzell attended the very first meeting of the South Shore Chronic Pain Support Community last September and liked what he heard, so he became a board member. Wentzell was 67 years old and working as a transit driver when his foot became caught in the hydraulic arm of a bus, causing him to fall and unknowingly rupturing his spleen, leading to months of internal bleeding that caused permanent nerve damage in his legs and gut. Now 72, Wentzell said his family supported him as he navigated his new way of living, but knows not everyone has that kind of help. That's why this group is so important, he said. "I think that people sometimes, in the system that we're in, think that it's the government's job to fix them, to take care of them. But it's your job too," said Wentzell, his forearm crutches resting on the table beside him. "There are ways that you have to act to try and get help. And if your problem has got you so far down that you're just mad at everything, you have to change your attitude a little bit so that people can help you." MacMillan said while Wentzell's words ring true, politicians do have a role to play and more government resources should be devoted to chronic pain clinics in the province. She vows to fight for that "to my dying day." "I want the people that are making the decisions to come down here and hear the stories," said MacMillan, pausing to compose herself. "Every person I meet makes me more and more determined." MORE TOP STORIES
