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 4,687 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The history of psychosomatic medicine in the 20th century is predominantly marked by a concern with studies of major diseases (e.g., angina pectoris, bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus, essential hypertension, neurodermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.). Traditional physicians also narrowly focus on disease--a trend that began with Morgagni in the 18th century. But disease (defined by structural alterations) is not the only cause of illness and disability. In fact, most persons seeking health care are ill without having a disease. It is only recently that this distinction has been fully made. The various manifestations of ill-health go by a variety of descriptive names--the functional or irritable bowel and hyperventilation syndromes, fibromyositis, psychophysiological, functional and somatoform or somatization disorders. They lead to loss of productivity, cost the health care system excessively, produce negative reactions in physicians, and are fertile ground for iatrogenic disease. They do not constitute discrete syndromes but overlap, each also being closely associated with anxiety and depression, sleep disturbances or marital disruption. They are the manifestations of sick persons not only of disturbances of bodily systems. They may be precipitated by unemployment, marital discord, bereavement, and job dissatisfaction. Curiously, ill-health has not been the major area of investigative interest of psychosomatic medicine. This presentation will emphasize why it should be, and why proper interventions may radically reduce the cost of medical care, prevent iatrogenic disease, and reduce the use of ill-advised procedures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Some unexplored regions of psychosomatic medicine. 333 83

Neurogenic switching is proposed as a hypothesis for a mechanism by which a stimulus at one site can lead to inflammation at a distant site. Neurogenic inflammation occurs when substance P and other neuropeptides released from sensory neurons produce an inflammatory response, whereas immunogenic inflammation results from the binding of antigen to antibody or leukocyte receptors. There is a crossover mechanism between these two forms of inflammation. Neurogenic switching is proposed to result when a sensory impulse from a site of activation is rerouted via the central nervous system to a distant location to produce neurogenic inflammation at the second location. Neurogenic switching is a possible explanation for systemic anaphylaxis, in which inoculation of the skin or gut with antigen produces systemic symptoms involving the respiratory and circulatory systems, and an experimental model of anaphylaxis is consistent with this hypothesis. Food-allergy-iducing asthma, urticaria, arthritis, and fibromyalgia are other possible examples of neurogenic switching. Neurogenic switching provides a mechanism to explain how allergens, infectious agents, irritants, and possibly emotional stress can exacerbate conditions such as migraine, asthma, and arthritis. Because neurogenic inflammation is known to be triggered by chemical exposures, it may play a role in the sick building syndrome and the multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome. Thus neurogenic switching would explain how the respiratory irritants lead to symptoms at other sites in these disorders.
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PMID:Neurogenic switching: a hypothesis for a mechanism for shifting the site of inflammation in allergy and chemical sensitivity. 762 26

In the second part of their article on the emerging field of neuroimmunology, the authors present an overview of the role of neuroimmune mechanisms in defence against infectious diseases and in immune disorders. During acute febrile illness, immune-derived cytokines initiate an acute phase response, which is characterized by fever, inactivity, fatigue, anorexia and catabolism. Profound neuroendocrine and metabolic changes take place: acute phase proteins are produced in the liver, bone marrow function and the metabolic activity of leukocytes are greatly increased, and specific immune reactivity is suppressed. Defects in regulatory processes, which are fundamental to immune disorders and inflammatory diseases, may lie in the immune system, the neuro endocrine system or both. Defects in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis have been observed in autoimmune and rheumatic diseases, chronic inflammatory disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Prolactin levels are often elevated in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and other autoimmune diseases, whereas the bioactivity of prolactin is decreased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Levels of sex hormones and thyroid hormone are decreased during severe inflammatory disease. Defective neural regulation of inflammation likely plays a pathogenic role in allergy and asthma, in the symmetrical form of rheumatoid arthritis and in gastrointestinal inflammatory disease. A better understanding of neuroimmunoregulation holds the promise of new approaches to the treatment of immune and inflammatory diseases with the use of hormones, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and drugs that modulate these newly recognized immune regulators.
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PMID:Neuroimmune mechanisms in health and disease: 2. Disease. 887 36

Patients reporting sensitivity to multiple chemicals at levels usually tolerated by the healthy population were administered standardized questionnaires to evaluate their symptoms and the exposures that aggravated these symptoms. Many patients were referred for medical tests. It is thought that patients with chemical sensitivity have organ abnormalities involving the liver, nervous system (brain, including limbic, peripheral, autonomic), immune system, and porphyrin metabolism, probably reflecting chemical injury to these systems. Laboratory results are not consistent with a psychologic origin of chemical sensitivity. Substantial overlap between chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome exists: the latter two conditions often involve chemical sensitivity and may even be the same disorder. Other disorders commonly seen in chemical sensitivity patients include headache (often migraine), chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal aching, chronic respiratory inflammation (rhinitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, asthma), attention deficit, and hyperactivity (affected younger children). Less common disorders include tremor, seizures, and mitral valve prolapse. Patients with these overlapping disorders should be evaluated for chemical sensitivity and excluded from control groups in future research. Agents whose exposures are associated with symptoms and suspected of causing onset of chemical sensitivity with chronic illness include gasoline, kerosene, natural gas, pesticides (especially chlordane and chlorpyrifos), solvents, new carpet and other renovation materials, adhesives/glues, fiberglass, carbonless copy paper, fabric softener, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, carpet shampoos (lauryl sulfate) and other cleaning agents, isocyanates, combustion products (poorly vented gas heaters, overheated batteries), and medications (dinitrochlorobenzene for warts, intranasally packed neosynephrine, prolonged antibiotics, and general anesthesia with petrochemicals). Multiple mechanisms of chemical injury that magnify response to exposures in chemically sensitive patients can include neurogenic inflammation (respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary), kindling and time-dependent sensitization (neurologic), impaired porphyrin metabolism (multiple organs), and immune activation.
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PMID:Profile of patients with chemical injury and sensitivity. 916 75

This review presents the relationship between serious life events, chronic family difficulties and illness, and focuses on how healthy children cope. Hospitalised children had experienced about twice as many serious life events as children in healthy environments. Known diseases related to stress are eczema, upper respiratory tract infections, asthma, ulcerative colitis, heart disease in adults, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and juvenile diabetes. Research on healthy children at risk (resiliences) has revealed a number of social and interpersonal protective factors. A modified biopsychosocial model, for the purpose of understanding the health status and care of children at high risk, is presented. More research is needed to understand these multietiological diseases in order to develop strategies for the promotion of good health.
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PMID:[Are life experiences of children significant for the development of somatic disease? A literature review]. 941 58

'Toxicant-induced loss of tolerance' (or TILT) describes a two-step disease process in which (1) certain chemical exposures, e.g., indoor air contaminants, chemical spills, or pesticide applications, cause certain susceptible persons to lose their prior natural tolerance for common chemicals, foods, and drugs (initiation); (2) subsequently, previously tolerated exposures trigger symptoms. Responses may manifest as addictive or abdictive (avoidant) behaviors. In some affected individuals, overlapping responses to common chemical, food, and drug exposures, as well as habituation to recurrent exposures, may hide (mask) responses to particular triggers. Accumulating evidence suggests that this disease process might underlie a broad array of medical illnesses including chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, depression, asthma, the unexplained illnesses of Gulf War veterans, multiple chemical sensitivity, and attention deficit disorder.
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PMID:Are we on the threshold of a new theory of disease? Toxicant-induced loss of tolerance and its relationship to addiction and abdiction. 1041 80

Representing a challenge for current concepts of stress research, a number of studies have now provided convincing evidence that the adrenal gland is hypoactive in some stress-related states. The phenomenon of hypocortisolism has mainly been described for patients, who experienced a traumatic event and subsequently developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, as presented in this review, hypocortisolism does not merely represent a specific correlate of PTSD, since similar findings have been reported for healthy individuals living under conditions of chronic stress as well as for patients with several bodily disorders. These include chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, other somatoform disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, and many of these disorders have been related to stress. Although hypocortisolism appears to be a frequent and widespread phenomenon, the nature of the underlying mechanisms and the homology of these mechanisms within and across clinical groups remain speculative. Potential mechanisms include dysregulations on several levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis. In addition, factors such as genetic vulnerability, previous stress experience, coping and personality styles may determine the manifestation of this neuroendocrine abnormality. Several authors proposed theoretical concepts on the development or physiological meaning of hypocortisolism. Based on the reviewed findings, we propose that a persistent lack of cortisol availability in traumatized or chronically stressed individuals may promote an increased vulnerability for the development of stress-related bodily disorders. This pathophysiological model may have important implications for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the classical psychosomatic disorders.
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PMID:The potential role of hypocortisolism in the pathophysiology of stress-related bodily disorders. 1063 33

Drug addiction and multiple chemical intolerance (abdiction) appear to be polar opposites--the former characterized by craving and dependency, the latter by aversion. However, when the two are viewed in juxtaposition similarities emerge, revealing a common underlying dynamic, one which appears to be a new paradigm of disease. TILT, or toxicant-induced loss of tolerance, bridges the gap between addiction and abduction and has the potential to explain a variety of illnesses, including certain cases of asthma, migraine headaches and depression, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and "Gulf War syndrome". This paper argues that both addiction and chemical intolerance involve a fundamental breakdown in innate tolerance, resulting in an amplification of various biological effects, particularly withdrawal symptoms. While addicts seek further exposures so as to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, chemically intolerant individuals shun their problem exposures, but for the same reason--to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. These observations raise critical questions: do addictive drugs and environmental pollutants initiate an identical disease process? Once this process begins, can both addictants and pollutants trigger symptoms and cravings? TILT opens a new window between the fields of addiction and environmental medicine, one that has the potential to transform neighboring realms of medicine, psychology, psychiatry and toxicology.
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PMID:Toxicant-induced loss of tolerance. 1117 24

Chronic therapy-resistant low back pain is a major problem in medical care. In Germany there are many millions concerned, and the treatment expenses range at the top. Many of these patients underwent non-successful operations at the vertebral column and suffered a long-lasting odyssey of therapies before they are treated psychosomatically for the first time. Chronic low back pain is a disease including social, psychological as well as physiological aspects, and not only a problem of bones, muscles, or intervertebral disks. The problem is similar to that of fibromyalgia. On the basis of 9,000 case reports obtained during psychosomatic orthopedic treatment, character structures, unsolved problems of life and repressed emotional disturbances such as anger, jealousy, fear, and mourning could be identified as major psychosomatic risk factors for chronic low back pain. There is a high coincidence with other psychosomatically influenced diseases such as gastric and duodenal ulcera, asthma bronchiale, migraine with depressions, anxiety disorders, character neuroses, and narcissistic and other structural disturbances of the self. Exclusively somatic treatments without considering the existential situation and psychological methods hold the danger of a symptom shifting. The inpatient treatment from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ('Tagesklinik') with a combination of medical, physiotherapeutic and psychotherapeutic methods promotes a social training that counteracts the increasing constrictions in the accustomed life surroundings caused by low back pain. Chronic low back pain is an 'illness of the upright walk' in an anthropological, ethical sense. Considering low back pain as a strictly somatic disease is a modern myth of a medical treatment without existential understanding of human illness. It provokes failure of treatment and an enhancement of treatment cost.
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PMID:[Medical diagnosis of pain between myth and reality--chronic lower back pain, as an illness of upright walking]. 1169 57

Some chronic diseases have a favourable course and are cured spontaneously. Allergic diseases such as eczema, hay fever and asthma have a good outcome in more than 75% of cases within 7 to 25 years, depending on the kind of allergy. Migraines have also a good evolution in children and after menopause. Many symptoms due to menstruation such as dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome or anemia, disappear after menopause as well as diseases due to estrogens such as uterine leiomyoma, endometriosis and prolactinoma. The risk of epilepsy relapse after a first seizure is about 40% after 2 years. The risk is lower in children. Attention deficit disorder affects 3 to 5% of children but is present in only 30% of them in adult age. The prevalence of depression decreases in women between 30 and 60 years of age. Functional somatic syndromes such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome or dyspepsia decrease in 2/3 of cases within 5 to 10 years if there is no history of anxio-depressive symptoms. However, prognosis is reserved when initial symptoms are severe or if they are connected to sexual abuse, domestic violence or depression. Other diseases have a spontaneous favourable course such as myopia, idiopathic infertility, polycystic ovary disease or ventricular arrhythmia. The knowledge of a good prognosis enables to avoid unnecessary treatments and to reassure many patients.
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PMID:[The benefits of aging. I. Patience and cure: spontaneous beneficial course of certain diseases]. 1172 11


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