Summary:Researchers have developed a reliable way to use a finger-stick blood sample to detect fibromyalgia syndrome, a complicated pain disorder that often is difficult to diagnose
Thanks for the quote, it's then easy to find!
A finger-stick is a finger-prick, so that fits. So yes, 2013 was the first pilot study, before the one I found above - also by the Ohio researchers around Hackshaw and Buffington. The old ScienceDaily article was called "Faster, simpler diagnosis for fibromyalgia may be on the horizon" and the study "A bloodspot-based diagnostic test for fibromyalgia syndrome and related disorders."
At the time they were testing if their method which seemed to work for cats also work for humans. So nothing like a clinical trial. Also they hadn't even clearly identified any molecules at that time "Though more analysis is needed to identify exactly which molecules are related to development of the disorder itself, the researchers say their pilot data are promising." They had only found that the method might work. In 2019 they then got a little further and tested 50 people with fibro. Apparently not particularly successfully, otherwise they'd be moving a lot faster.
In between, in 2016, they did "A pilot study of health and wellness coaching for fibromyalgia" on 9 women, showing that this might help.
Only Hackshaw is a rheumatologist, whilst Buffington is a veterinarian, and other people working on this
work were health coaches, someone from Nestlé-Purina (the pet food branch of Nestlé).... - a truly intriguing combination of specialists.
I'm wondering why you get an e-mail from sciencedaily about a 9-year-old study!
As if nothing more important had happened since then...
Interesting. . . what’s the molecule called?actually what’s the test called?
The method is called "vibrational spectroscopy". (There are 2 sorts, mid-IR and Raman.) But it's
not a test. Which doesn't mean it won't develop into one in a few decades from now. Maybe this method may help get closer to more helpful biomarkers. (A biomarker = biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition.)
In the 2019 study quoted above, it says the method could roughly see similarities and differences between FM and RA or OA, but
couldn't prove the molecules involved, but
may have to do with
tryptophan.
("Pattern recognition analysis of the spectra allowed us to discriminate FM patients from those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA) that appeared to be metabolically similar. The approach did not conclusively identify the metabolites responsible for the diagnostic spectral differentiation, although changes in tryptophan catabolism seemed to be involved.")
Tryptophan would be interesting for me, because tryptophan has to do with serotonin and the GABA that helps me. However I tolerate neither L-tryptophan nor the related 5-HTP as supps, only GABA itself. That shows how identifying slight differences is still a far distance from actually finding substances that will help and not harm.
There's a very recent similar article about chronic pain biomarkers from May 2022, called Toward Composite Pain Biomarkers of Neuropathic Pain—Focus on Peripheral Neuropathic Pain. (This cites above article, that's how I found it.)
The "molecules" found generally for chronic pain (including fibromyalgia) listed there are
- endocannabinoid (ECB) biomarkers - which also have to do with pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (the ones used in the so-called "FM/a-test" we've taken apart here several times).
- "mu opioid receptors expressed on immune B cells was found to be a biomarker for chronic pain in fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis" (mu lympho-marker)
- "Dysregulations in microRNAs have been reported in several pain disorders".
But these don't prove someone's got fibromyalgia, just they have chronic pain, and sometimes whether it is severe, moderate or slight.
The biomarkers relevant to fibro I've collected to date are
- Proinflammatory/neuroinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8) / chemokines / mast cells...
- Salivary Biomarkers
- Muscle pressure
- Less gut bacteria & serum: molecular biomarkers and altered glutamate metabolism
- Hormones: serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, cortisol...
- protein backbones and pyridine-carboxylic acids using vibrational spectroscopy
Ah, there's the vibrational spectroscopy, like above.... and the cytokines and the serotonin etc.
Rather than "Way to Go" to this research, I'd say "There's a long way to go"...