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VOA慢速英语2013 身体疼痛常引起纤维肌痛

时间:2013-09-29 14:43:49

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Body Pain Often Caused by Fibromyalgia

From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News. American officials say fibromyalgia syndrome1 affects up to six million people in the United States each year. In some nations, fibromyalgia is said to affect more than three and a half percent of adult women and one-half percent of adult men. In our show today, Faith Lapidus and Christopher Cruise report on this disabling disease.

Fibromyalgia can have many symptoms, including depression and low energy levels. But pain -- often throughout the body -- is the main problem. Patients often have pain in their muscles and joints2. And they always feel tired.

Many people with fibromyalgia have trouble persuading doctors that their pain is real. Some of the most common symptoms of fibromyalgia are the same as those of other diseases. As a result, doctors often have trouble recognizing and confirming the presence of the disease.

Treating fibromyalgia can be difficult. Since there is no cure, doctors may experiment with different treatments and medicines. Some drugs work with some patients, but do not work with others. Patients with mild fibromyalgia often do not need any drugs. Their condition can improve with a combination of low-impact exercises, a good diet, getting enough rest and patient education.

Treatment of fibromyalgia patients can be costly3 and difficult for doctors, because the pain only lessens4. It never goes away completely.

America’s Food and Drug Administration has approved three drugs for fibromyalgia – Lyrica, Cymbalta and Savella. These medicines have been shown to reduce pain for about half of patients.

Doctor Russell Rothenberg is a leading expert on fibromyalgia. For many patients, he says, a thirty percent reduction in pain is enough so they can work and take care of their family. Once fibromyalgia is treated, patients can be stable for many years -- not getting better, but not getting worse, either.

Some patients have described fibromyalgia as taking control of their lives and making them a prisoner of their own body. Plenty of physical activity in one day can make muscles sore for days afterwards. Foot pain can be so intense that wearing shoes is impossible. Even after getting eight hours of sleep, some sufferers wake up feeling tired. Normal activities like socializing with friends can be impossible.

The drug manufacturer Pfizer makes the drug Lyrica, which has been advertised as a treatment for fibromyalgia. In two thousand seven, the Food and Drug Administration approved Lyrica as the first drug specifically for the disease. Studies involving one thousand eight hundred patients showed that some patients have less pain after taking the drug.

The FDA called Lyrica an important development in the fight against the disease and a reason for hope in patients. At the same time, the agency said it is not known why Lyrica works. It also said that not everyone who took the drug was helped. Lyrica causes side-effects in some patients, including problems with mental concentration and attention.

The FDA has also approved the drugs Cymbalta and Savella to treat fibromyalgia in individuals over age eighteen.

Gail Cawkwell is a rheumatologist who treats children and young people with arthritis5 and fibromyalgia. She is also a Vice6 President at Pfizer. Doctor Cawkwell told VOA that fibromyalgia is a very mysterious disease that has proved difficult to diagnose and treat. She says Pfizer believes Lyrica helps doctors ease their patients’ pain and other symptoms.

 “Lyrica’s primary effect we believe is on pain, we believe is on calming down excited nerves, and its impact on fibromyalgia overall is there beyond just the pain of fibromyalgia.”

Doctor Cawkwell says she has treated thousands of fibromyalgia patients in the past fifteen years. She says that, with good medicines, doctors can make a real difference in the lives of people with fibromyalgia. She says patients make an effort to find out what is happening in the body and how to get better.

But she notes that people can be healthy one day and the next day wake up feeling tired and everything hurts. And, she adds, the disease can last many years, even a lifetime.

Lyrica is an important product for Pfizer. In two thousand ten, the drug produced three billion dollars in sales worldwide. Doctor Cawkwell says Pfizer is studying patients with fibromyalgia in China and Japan. And she says the company is looking at what she calls “bio-markers” in people with fibromyalgia. Bio-markers help researchers know what is happening in the bodies of people with a disease or medical condition. Doctor Cawkwell says it is important to find bio-markers for fibromyalgia.

 “One of the really frustrating7 things for patients with fibromyalgia is that there’s nothing to measure in labs or in X-rays. And sometimes people think if you can’t measure something then maybe it’s not real. So we are looking at bio-markers, we’re doing sophisticated X-rays, like functional8 MRI and spec-scanning to understand what happens in the brains of patients with fibromyalgia when they have pain, what happens to their brains when we treat that pain.”

Doctor Cawkwell says people are rarely hospitalized because of fibromyalgia, and most patients do not die from it. She says this is why it can be difficult to know how many people suffer from the disease.

Researcher Brian Walitt believes that all of the advertising9 for Lyrica may be bad for people with fibromyalgia. Doctor Walitt is the director of the Fibromyalgia Research Center at Georgetown Hospital Center in Washington, DC. He is studying sixty-seven patients with the disease. He is critical of doctors who look to drugs first to help their fibromyalgia patients.

 “Much of what I do is actually remove people from their medications so they can remember what they were like.”

Doctor Walitt says the heavy advertising of a drug to treat fibromyalgia may give some people the idea that it can be cured. He says that is not reality. And he says studies of fibromyalgia patients have shown that very few get much better, and some get much worse, even with treatment. He says it is wrong to expect that patients will take a drug and all of their symptoms will go away.

 “One can pursue one’s health and try to get better, but to expect a cure is unlikely and the best thing that one can do is stop chasing cures and deal with the reality of one’s situation.”

Doctor Walitt says drug manufacturers market their treatments because they are concerned about making a profit. He says fibromyalgia drugs available today are very limited, and drug makers10 should not be selling a cure. He says that a return to a happy and pain-free life because of modern medicine does not match the reality of fibromyalgia.

Doctor Walitt says he helps patients understand that they are not alone in their suffering. He gives them a better understanding of the disease and shows them how others have found ways to live with it.

Fibromyalgia sufferers have learned to enjoy the good days and control the pain on the bad days. They have come to accept the fact that a life without pain is probably not possible. However, there are more treatment choices available now than in the past. As a result, an improvement in the quality of their life is possible. Patients know they may be able to regain11 control of their life with the right medicine and by setting aside time each day to rest.

Exercise like walking helps. So does gently stretching muscles and physical therapy, including water therapy. Help could also come from acupuncture12, yoga, a healthy diet, counseling and emotional support.

People with fibromyalgia syndrome can lead healthy and productive lives. And they can have long and successful careers. Experience and better science have made fibromyalgia easier to control for many, even if there is not a cure.

In the twenty years since fibromyalgia was identified and given a name, much has been written about the disease. Much free and well-documented information about the disease is available. And groups have been created to help doctors who treat the disease and patients who suffer from it.

Doctor Russell Rothenberg says the future is looking brighter for those who suffer from fibromyalgia.

 “I don’t know if I believe that the disease will be cured in my lifetime, but I hope it will. But I am definitely optimistic about how my patients are doing and how they will do in the future, because the science of fibromyalgia is growing, so as the science grows we’re going to be better able to take care of these patients. There’s a little bit less guesswork for me at this point. That’s what experience and science bring to the table. And so, yes I’m excited about the future of fibromyalgia. We know a lot more about it than we did when it didn’t have a diagnosis13 name.”

This program was written by Christopher Cruise. He and Faith Lapidus were your announcers. Our producer was June Simms. I'm Bob Doughty14.

Join us again next week for more news about science on the Voice of America.?


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 syndrome uqBwu     
n.综合病症;并存特性
参考例句:
  • The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
  • Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。
2 joints d97dcffd67eca7255ca514e4084b746e     
接头( joint的名词复数 ); 关节; 公共场所(尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所) (非正式); 一块烤肉 (英式英语)
参考例句:
  • Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
  • Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。
3 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
4 lessens 77e6709415979411b220a451af0eb9d3     
变少( lessen的第三人称单数 ); 减少(某事物)
参考例句:
  • Eating a good diet significantly lessens the risk of heart disease. 良好的饮食习惯能大大减少患心脏病的机率。
  • Alcohol lessens resistance to diseases. 含有酒精的饮料会减弱对疾病的抵抗力。
5 arthritis XeyyE     
n.关节炎
参考例句:
  • Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
  • He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎,在医院住了三个月。
6 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
7 frustrating is9z54     
adj.产生挫折的,使人沮丧的,令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间,真令人懊恼。
  • It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 functional 5hMxa     
adj.为实用而设计的,具备功能的,起作用的
参考例句:
  • The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了,但现在可以用了。
  • The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的,只是为了实用。
9 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
10 makers 22a4efff03ac42c1785d09a48313d352     
n.制造者,制造商(maker的复数形式)
参考例句:
  • The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
  • The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 regain YkYzPd     
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复
参考例句:
  • He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
  • The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。
12 acupuncture 3zEznF     
n.针灸,针刺法,针疗法
参考例句:
  • Written records show that acupuncture dates back to the Song Dynasty.文字记载表明,宋朝就已经有了针灸。
  • It's known that acupuncture originated in China.众所周知,针灸起源于中国。
13 diagnosis GvPxC     
n.诊断,诊断结果,调查分析,判断
参考例句:
  • His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。
14 doughty Jk5zg     
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
参考例句:
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

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