Study proves fibromyalgia is the real deal Fibromyalgia sufferers have gotten a raw deal for years. Many doctors think the disease is all in their head because there's no lab test that can confirm the source of their symptoms. And with symptoms as elusive as chronic fatigue, muscle pain, and persistent doubt, it's not hard to figure out why these docs are so stumped. Past research has implied that depression was actually the true source of the fatigue and pain of fibromyalgia. But a new study has detected brain abnormalities in fibromyalgia patients. So while these new findings may not be a cure, they're sure to give peace of mind (and no small sense of vindication) to any fibromyalgia sufferer who's gotten a skeptical look from his physician. In this new study, 30 women (20 with fibromyalgia, and 10 with no disorders) were given a brain imaging test called Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). The result? The fibromyalgia sufferers had blood flow anomalies known as "brain perfusion" that the healthy women did not. What's more, the researchers found that the degree of brain perfusion was in direct proportion to the severity of the suffers' reported symptoms. The lead author of the study, Dr. Eric Geudj of France's Centre Hospitalier-Universitaire de La Timone, said the results of the study showed "that the functional abnormalities observed were mainly related to disability" rather than depression and anxiety. I can only imagine the frustration of the 10 million people (most of them women) who live not only with fibromyalgia's symptoms, but also with the added stress of the doubt of the medical community. Think of dealing with the constant symptoms of pain, memory and concentration issues, stiffness, and sleeping problems - and then having your doctor looking at you sideways because his tests show that you're perfectly healthy. Hopefully this new study will help to create a wider acceptance throughout the medical of fibromyalgia as a legitimate disease. Which should open the door to more research into the source and - most importantly - the cure. Here's something to consider during the winter school break: when teens get to sleep in, they are at lower risk for death or injury in a car accident. Now there's an excuse no parent has heard yet: "Hey, mom let me sleep five more minutes … it could save my life!" According to the research, school districts that started their day at 8:30a.m. instead of 7:30a.m. experienced a 16.5 percent drop in the rate of auto accident among teens. The reason: kids who get more sleep are more alert at the wheel. According to psychologist Fred Danner, the co-author of the University of Kentucky study, the teen tendency to stay up later and sleep in more is actually hardwired into the teen brain. At puberty, the biological clock prefers to stay up later. But this is about the same time these kids hit high school, where earlier class start times run head-on into their new sleep patterns. "It's as if [teens] are operating on west coast time in an east coast world," Danner says. Statistics show that there are about 100,000 accidents among sleepy 16 to 25 year olds each year. I say we let the kids sleep in a bit. | 
