A friend forwarded an article about the connection between arteriole-venous shunts and fibromyalgia (see “Fibromyalgia is not all in your head…” in library).  And I thought – of course! Silly me!  Why didn’t I think of that?  Essentially what the article is talking about is how people with fibromyalgia have more sensory fibers around the arteriole-venous shunts in the palm of the hand.  The arteriole-venous shunts are the little guys that connect arterioles (carrying oxygenated blood) and venules (carrying deoxygenated blood).  With more sensory fibers around the shunts, they malfunction and blood flow is disrupted.  This in turn, after a domino effect, contributes to the hyperactivity of the brain, which stimulates pain mechanisms needlessly.

At first glance it seemed the researchers were saying that the cause of fibromyalgia was in the palm of our hands, but those were just the shunts that they had studied. Other articles about the same research were clear that shunts throughout the body were probably malfunctioning the same as the ones in the hand.

I have to look further, but after a cursory review I’m not finding anything but a brief mention of this potential cause of fibromyalgia in 2014.  There is a strong connection between the study and financial support by medical industry, and the study essentially justifies the use of medications produced by these industry partners.  This does not necessarily make the study suspect or this potential cause out of the realm of possibility, but my eyebrows raise.  The meds that these industry partners produce do not cure fibromyalgia, they relieve the symptoms, so there is a strong conflict of interest.  Of course with the exception of the virus/infection theory, very few of the theories (including this one) seem to have any possibility of cure.  Symptom relief may be the best chance.  And inevitably, one of the meds that is mentioned is one I can’t take.  I haven’t tried the other one…