July 1, 2010

Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer.

As we announced in our last newsletter, July 1 marks a transition time in the FM Wellness Project. At this time we are going to shift into our data analysis phase for the project in preparation for the completion of the study for the National Institutes of Health, aiming for September. Thus, we will be shifting our energies from the weekly analysis for your SMART Profiles to once a month, while we concentrate on analysis of the overall impact of the program for over a thousand users.

You are invited and encouraged to continue using SMARTLog as often as you wish. We will continue to offer an updated SMART Profile the first of each month. So, continue to use SMARTLog and you can look forward to further Profiles until September at least, and possibly further. We will keep you updated with new developments and the future of the program.

Please help us plan for the future!! You can do this by offering your honest feedback and observations via the Contact Us/Comments and Suggestions feature of the website. Your comments will be much appreciated in helping us plan for the future of the program. Please use the Comments feature to respond to the following:

1. What did you gain by using the program--what impact has it had on your well-being?

2. What are the strengths of the program?

3. What changes or improvements would you recommend?

4. Any other general comments you think should be considered in planning for the future.

Thank you very much for your participation!! This has been a truly exciting project, and we have received many heartwarming stories about how people have benefited. I hope to hear from you in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

----------

March 21, 2010

Dear Friends,
As we move into Spring, you are likely to find subtle improvements in symptom levels over the next several weeks. One of the contributing factors will be reduced stress in the form of reduced need for your body to compensate for less friendly climatic conditions. Another will be the slowly increasing amounts of sunlight each day, which you body uses to stimulate production of serotonin--a natural mood elevator and immune system regulator.

We are also moving into the home stretch of this project. At this time we are planning to finish the delivery of SMART Profiles about July 1, so you have a little over three months remaining to use the SMART system for this round of the project. I invite you to make the most of this opportunity, including the use of the traveling version of SMARTLog.

Comments of the week. Below are a few recent SMART Profile statements that help illustrate some important learnings participants are receiving.

STATEMENT. You have less stiffness when your evening snack is no more than light.

COMMENT. A relationship between evening-before snacks and next-day stiffness is being suggested here. This is showing up because the statistical analysis program found a significant association over the course of several SMARTLogs. Thus, this is worth considering for this user. This is a little challenging to explain, but one theoretical reason might be that the snacking puts a slight burden on her digestive system at a time of day (i.e., night) when the system wants to be resting. This added burden may be resulting in either lower sleep quality, or perhaps reduced efficiency (thoroughness) of digestion, either of which might result in increased stiffness the next day. This user might want to consider only very light snacks, or foods known to be very easy to digest.

STATEMENT. You have less difficulty sleeping when your afternoon mind/body/spirit practice lasts for no more than 15 minutes.

COMMENT. This user is being told that there is a point of diminishing returns in how long she uses mind/body practices. It may be that 15 minutes is just the right amount of time to induce the relaxation response and "hit the re-set button", re-setting her nervous system to a lower level of arousal, which enables better quality sleep that night. On the other hand, to practice longer than 15 minutes might be "too" restful, and make it harder for her to get to sleep at her normal bed time, thus resulting in lower quality sleep during the night.

STATEMENT. Your Difficulty waking up in the morning is less when you bathe in the evening for no more than 7 minutes.

COMMENT. This user is getting the feedback that 7 minutes is the max for evening bathing if she wants to have less difficulty getting up. This might be explained by the tiring effects of too much time under hot water; if she is "over tired" because of too long a soak in the evening, that could be counterproductive to sleep quality. In fact, extended heat can be a stressor on the body, making it necessary for the body to spend energy trying to restore dehydrated tissues during the night. Seven minutes might be just enough to take the edge off of stress, and help the nervous system relax for sleep, making it more refreshing, and thus making it easier to get up.

STATEMENT. You have less fatigue when your evening exercise lasts for no more than 5 minutes.

COMMENT. Here again we see a potential impact of evening activity on sleep quality. We know that fatigue is a function of poor sleep quality, so anything that we can do to improve sleep quality will reduce next-day fatigue. In this user's experience, evening exercise is a factor. It may well be that over 5 minutes is overly taxing or is actually a stressor on the body that interferes with fully relaxing and getting to sleep. Remember, if you are over-tired, it's harder to get refreshing sleep, just as it is if you are over-stimulated.
I hope you continue to find the SMART Profiles useful!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

February 27, 2010

Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well. If you have recently joined the project or would like to review past Newsletters, we have added a Newsletter Archives page to the site. See the link on the home page in the left column. Here you can see all past Newsletters in one place to review and perhaps get new ideas for things to experiment with in your daily routine.

Also, remember that you can always access your past SMARTLogs by using SMARTLog Review on the main navigation bar.

Comments of the week. This week I want to feature a rather dynamic set of Profile statements received by Warriorwoman in her latest Profile. This is an example of how it is possible to get several Profile statements at the same time, especially if things have been in flux or changing in your life. Warriorwoman is an exception in terms of the number of statements in one week’s profile, but she gives us some great illustrative material.

Here are her statements. Below I’ll discuss them as a whole:

PROFILE STATEMENT: You have less pain when you have your morning snack no earlier than 9:45 AM.

COMMENTS: WHEW!! Warriorwoman is getting feedback that her levels of pain, concentration, memory, anxiety and depression are all tied in some way to the timing of her meals throughout the day. This gives her pretty direct feedback about how she can reduce those symptoms. In addition, her stiffness, fatigue and concentration are all tied to her sleep quality; specifically, not being awake more than 22 minutes during the night. This reinforces the value of attending to sleep hygeine—perhaps going to bed at a different time, eating earlier in the evening, or a warm bath before bed, taking melatonin, or any number of other subtle things that might influence sleep quality.

Finally, she’s hearing that she has less anxiety following days in which her work activity is at least 3.5 hours. It may be that this modest amount of work activity is sufficient to provide some level of comfort or confidence that enables her to feel less anxious on subsequent days.

All in all, Warriorwoman is a great example of showing multiple interconnections among symptoms and daily behavior patterns.

Keep up the good work, all of you!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

February 14, 2010

Dear Friends,

The Forum on the FMWellness Project website is now available. We have taken great care to design it so that it cannot be accessed by outsiders or spammers--a person has to be enrolled in the project and logged into the website in order to access the Forum. I invite you to take this opportunity to begin using this new feature and  exchanging ideas with others.

Several of you have let me know that you are using the "SMARTLog for the Road" solution I discussed in the last newsletter. This is an excellent way to track your inputs and symptoms while traveling or away from your computer, or just to keep track during the day. We produced a one-page printable SMARTLog form for this purpose, so if you haven't tried it yet, you may find it helpful...

Comments of the week. Here are some recent Profile statements that you may find interesting...

PROFILE STATEMENT: You have less fatigue when you bathe in the evening for at least 13 minutes.
COMMENT: This user is getting feedback that her pain levels are lower the next day when she has been bathing the evening before. I would suspect that the explanation lies in the contribution of hydrotherapy in the evening to improved sleep quality, and this means more refreshing sleep. This fits with the observation that sleep quality is the single most important symptom to treat in CFS.

PROFILE STATEMENT: You have less pain when your bedtime is no earlier than 8:52 PM; or otherwise when your afternoon exercise lasts for at least 5 minutes.

COMMENT: Something about not going to bed too early seems to contribute to this user's lower pain levels the next day. Perhaps her sleep quality is better with retiring later. The "or" message adds another pathway to lower pain levels for her: getting afternoon exercise of at least 5 minutes. It's interesting that the afternoon exercise showed up, but not morning or evening exercise. Perhaps exercise in the afternoon has some beneficial effect on her metabolism or her ability to get better quality sleep that night, which could translate into reduced pain the next day.

PROFILE STATEMENT: Your concentration is better when your evening meal is no more than moderate.

COMMENT: This suggests an interesting connection between her evening meal size and concentration the next day. One explanation might be that the relatively lighter evening meal is more easily digested and metabolized, putting less burden on her digestive system during the night, in turn allowing more refreshing and restorative sleep. This for her may be the link to better concentration the next day.

PROFILE STATEMENT: You have less stiffness when your Humidity is no more than 7.5 (on a scale from 0 - 10).
COMMENT: Thus user is seeing a statistically significant link between her stiffness levels and the previous day(s) humidity levels. This insight could be used to plan ahead: if the weather forecast indicates higher humidity in the coming days, she might plan to either modify her activities so as not to do things that exacerbate stiffness, or she might take preventive measures like extra supplements or herbs that she knows help alleviate stiffness.

Keep up the good work, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

January 26 2010

Dear Friends,

I want to thank all of you who have provided feedback and suggestions for making the site better. WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK! Please continue to make suggestions as we want the program to as user friendly as possible.

SMARTLog on the road. One improvement we have recently completed is making the printable SMARTLog form much easier to use. We have condensed the entire form down to one page, rather than multiple pages as before. It's now a single PDF document on one side.

Now you can print out several SMARTLog forms to use as you wish when away from your computer, traveling, or just to keep track during the day. Then at your convenience, in the evening or even several days into the future, you can go into the site and upload the data from multiple days to update your database. (Don't worry about dates, you can enter as many as you want on one day, it won't affect your results.)

Comments of the week. Here are some recent Profile statements that you may find interesting...

You have less stiffness when you bathe in the morning for no more than 12 minutes.
COMMENT: As with all Profile statements, the lower stiffness ratings follow the inputs, so it seems that a routine of morning bathing 12 minutes or less (perhaps this is a shower?) is setting up a good pattern for this user. It's hard to speculate on why bathing longer would be counterproductive... perhaps it would make the person more tired (from the prolonged heat?), leading in turn to less active that day. If moderate activity helps keep stiffness under control, perhaps that's the explanation in this case...

You have less difficulty sleeping when your domestic activity lasts for at least 1 hour 30 minutes; or otherwise when your social activity lasts for at least 1 hour 30 minutes.
COMMENT: This user's data is telling her that sleep quality can be helped in either of two ways--domestic activity or social activity. These activities may somehow help her body and mind relax for relatively  uninterrupted sleep, as opposed to less activity which can have a counterproductive effect on sleep. As always, finding the right balance of activity without overdoing it is key.

Thanks again for continuing to send feedback about all aspects of the site. I look forward to hearing more from you!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

January 20, 2010

Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the new year!

Since we passed the winter solstice in December we are now the beneficiaries of slightly more daylight each day... you may begin to notice subtle influences on your mood as a result of this, because the increasing minutes of sunlight stimulate a slightly increased release of serotonin--a natural mood-enhancing hormone. In fact, serotonin is so good, maintaining its presence in your blood is the goal of many anti-depressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRI's).

Some cultures even observe the practice of a "sun bath" as a health promotion activity. You certainly can benefit, particularly at this time of year, from getting as much sunlight exposure as you can. Not only is serotonin good for mood, it also is good for regulating immune functioning, so go for the sunlight whenever possible!

The SMART Profiles continue to be very interesting. We have been refining the analytical methods over the last several weeks in order to continue to raise accuracy and usefulness of the Profile statements. For now, I'd like to share with you a few illustrative recent examples and comment on how you might interpret them. (Remember, these are the result of the individual's unique inputs, so they are not suggested as a guide for you.)

Your memory is better when your screen time lasts for no more than 5 hours 30 minutes.
Comment: Suppose this person's screen time consists of working at a computer screen each  day. On days following episodes of 5.5 hours or less, they have been reporting that their memory symptoms are less. Thus, planning to limit the tube time routinely to no more than this amount will help could be a long-term strategy to reduce memory problems. (Of course, if they adopt this strategy consistently, it will be absorbed into their new status quo, and thus will no longer show up in their Profiles!)

You have less fatigue when you are awake in the night no longer than 22 minutes.
Comment: In order for this statement to arise from the data, the user must have reported night-time awakenings on multiple occasions. This statement suggests that on days following night times in which time awake was no more than 20 minutes, fatigue ratings are better. So, the person would do well to attend to sleep hygiene practices (e.g., a warm shower before bed, not eating too late in the eventing, eating lightly, taking melatonin, etc.) in order to reduce time awake during the night.

You have less pain when you have your lunch no earlier than 1:22 PM.
Comment: This is an interesting one because the data is definitely finding a pattern connecting pain to meal time. Perhaps something about a later lunch leads to more relaxation in the afternoon (perhaps lunch is followed by a nap?), leading to more body-wide relaxation, and hence less pain. Remember, tension and stress exacerbate pain, and relaxation reduces it...

Your concentration is better when your evening meal is no more than moderate.
Comment: Remember that the symptom ratings point to patterns of behavior over multiple previous days. This user apparently has a pattern of improved concentration when the evening meals of recent days have been relatively light. We could hypothesize that the improved concentration the next day is due to better quality sleep, which was made possible by a lighter evening meal. See the SMARTNote about meals and snacks for more about the timing of eating, which may be very influential on sleep quality.

Keep up the good work, keep experimenting and trying new things... and may 2010 be a year of ever increasing well-being for you.

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

December 23, 2009

Dear Friends,

I hope  you are doing well as we move through the holiday period. With all that's going on that is out of the ordinary, there's no better time to practice awareness of subtle influences on well-being...

I would like to review the "Note" that you will see at the bottom of your SMART Profiles when they begin to appear. It begins like this:

"If you adopt the changes suggested here into your daily routine and follow them consistently, they may no longer be pointed out in future SMARTProfiles! This is a good thing because it will mean they have become part of a new positive pattern that is working for you..."

A few people have wanted some clarification on what exactly this means, so here goes.

Remember that this project aims to help you arrive at a new pattern of behavior through your day that results in reduced symptom levels compared to the old pattern. So, as you find a new pattern that reduces your symptom levels, and as you begin to adopt that as your new routine, it becomes your new baseline or "status quo" for future SMARTLogs and Profiles.

In making this adjustment, the new pattern loses its "newness". As a result there may be nothing "new" for a future Profile to report about, and your Profiles may be quiet for a while -- that is, until you make some new deviation from this pattern. By a new deviation, I mean a new input, a new behavior, or something that is a further change from the status quo.

In other words, as long as you are consistent with a new pattern that is working for you, you are less likely to get new Profile statements. This is why not getting a new Profile statement is not a bad thing, and may actually represent progress over where you were before you started this new pattern. It's up to you whether, and when, you feel like testing yet another new behavior to see how it plays out in future Profiles.

I hope this makes sense... drop me a message through the Support feature if you would like further clarification.

On behalf of myself and the rest of the research team of the FM Wellness Project, I want to wish you a happy and harmonious holiday time and a new year filled with breakthroughs in healing and happiness! May SMARTLog be your friend in the coming months as you turn a new corner to greater awareness and well-being.

Please click here for a little holiday cheer...

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

December 16, 2009

Dear Friends,

First some feedback from one of our users...

"I love this project! ... I am going to recommend it to my support group. I think that using these pages will help us to discover what might trigger a bad flair-up, or what made us feel better, so that we can manage our own health, rather than relying on our doctors to do it for us.  I am going to print up some smart log pages to show them what it entails, and hopefully they will see the advantages to using them. Thank you for including me in your project, CM."

It is gratifying to be hearing comments like these and others. It is our hope that you will not only use the program for yourself, but that you will also follow CM's lead -- pass the word and encourage others.

With all the ambiguity about treatments and medications, the one constant in FM is the day-to-day reality of symptoms waxing and waning. And the one thing you have the most control over is what you DO each day to take care of yourself. So hats off to all of you who are using the program regularly and getting Profile feedback about what's working.

Here are a few Profile statements others have received in the past week:

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your lunch is at least moderate. 

• Your memory is better when your screen time lasts for no more than 6 hours 30 minutes.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when you have your lunch no later than 12:37 PM. 

• You have less painwhen you have your lunch no earlier than 1:22 PM. 

• Your concentration is better when your evening meal is no more than moderate.

• Your concentration is better when your domestic activity lasts for no more than 52 minutes.

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your screen time lasts for no more than 52 minutes.

• You have less pain when your transit lasts for no more than 1 hour 30 minutes.

• You have less stiffness when your recreational activity lasts for no more than 2 hours 30 minutes.

• You feel less anxiouswhen you get up no later than 6:52 AM.

• You have less stiffnesswhen your Tramadol 50 mg is no more than 0.5 units. 

• You have less fatigue when your Tramadol 50 mg is no more than 0.5 units, and you have your lunch no later than 1:30 PM. 

• Your concentration is better when your domestic activity requires at least moderate exertion, and your Treadmill exercise is at least 2.9 mph. 

• Your memory is better when your Treadmill exercise is at least 2.9 mph. 

• You feel less depressed when your social activity lasts for no more than 15 minutes.

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your Treadmill exercise is at least 28 minutes.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when your overall activity is at least moderately satisfying. 

Keep up the good work. And remember that Profiles come and go, so don't be concerned when you don't get one. Just keep submitting and when the stars line up right you just might get something that surprises you!

Best wishes for the holidays,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Projectt

-------

December 10, 2009

Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I'd like to share with you some of the more interesting SMART Profile statements we are seeing. Keep in mind these are for unique individuals, and there's no reason it should apply to you, but you can get a sense of what kinds of feedback other people are getting. Here goes:

• You have less pain when you have your lunch no earlier than 1:22 PM.

• Your concentration is better when your evening meal is no more than moderate.

• You have less fatigue when you have breakfast no later than 6:45 AM

• You have less pain when your transit is not at all stressful.

• You have less stiffness when your domestic activity is very satisfying.

• You have less fatigue when you are awake in the night no longer than 22 minutes.

• Your concentration is better when your savella is at least 0.5 75 mg.

• Your memory is better when your savella is at least 0.5 75 mg.

• You feel less anxious when your social activity is very satisfying.

• You feel less depressed when your transit is not at all stressful.

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your domestic activity requires at least moderate exertion.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when your domestic activity is very satisfying.

• Your numbness in hands is less when you have breakfast no later than 8:37 AM.

• Your headache is less when your social activity lasts for at least 1 hour 30 minutes.

• Your irritability is less when your domestic activity is at least moderately satisfying.

• You have less pain when your transit lasts for no more than 52 minutes, and you have your lunch no earlier than 12:52 PM.

• You have less stiffness when your overall activity is no more than mildly stressful, and your social activity is no more than moderately satisfying.

• You have less fatigue when your domestic activity is not at all stressful.

• Your memory is better when your social activity is no more than moderately satisfying.

• Your Migraine headache is less when your Weight is no more than 121.2 Pounds.  

Isn't it amazing how utterly unique everyone is! I hope you are finding it interesting. Remember, the more often you use SMARTLog the richer becomes your personal database, and the more likely you will get useful Profile statements. Keep up the good work! You're making this project a success!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

December 1, 2009

Dear Friends,

We are happy to welcome participants from several countries besides the US, including Canada, the UK, and South Africa, among others. Through this project we can join together with our international friends in encouraging a world-wide movement toward greater self-empowerment in living with fibromyalgia.

As more and more of you are beginning to get SMART Profile statements each week, I want to take this opportunity to remind you of some aspects of how to interpret them.

First, the wording of the statements is intended to convey to you what inputs are "driving" or "predicting" your symptom levels. The symptom (which is always in bold) is what scientists call the "dependent variable". This means that the symptom "depends on" what you have been doing in terms of the input that follows it in the statement. The input, in turn, is what we might call the "independent variable". This means that it occurs independently of the symptom, and the symptom is "responding" to it.

So, consider the  example of this profile statement: "You have less pain when your domestic activity is not at all stressful." What this tells you is that the pain levels you have been reporting on your SMARTLog have been lower when your ratings of the stressfulness of your domestic activities has been lower on your SMARTLogs. The relationship between the two is "statistically significant", which is a fancy  way of saying there really is something objective and measurable happening there, it's not just random chance!

So, if you received a statement like this you could take it to the bank--you would do what you can to keep the stressfulness of your domestic activity at a minimum, and, according to your own data, you'd likely experience less pain. This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is noteworthy that this connection, among all the other possible connections, is the one that stood out!

Consider all your Profile statements in this light. And remember, the more often you do SMARTLog, the more likely you are to get Profiles that give you concrete guidance. We now have people  using it 5 and 6 times per week, which is great! Take advantage of printing hard copies to carry through your day if that makes it easier.

Have a great week!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

November 24, 2009

Dear Friends,

We are beginning to see more SMART Profiles being produced now that many of you are accumulating several weeks of  SMARTLog entries. Below are printed some samples of the Profile statements different individuals have received. Keep in mind these statements are not general advice to people with FM. Rather, they are completely individualized feedback for the people who received them in their SMART Profile, and they are not relevant to others. But, you can get a sense of what the statements look like once you accumulate enough SMARTLogs. Try for 4 or 5 a week to get there sooner...

Please note: If you need or want to change your email address for the project, you can do so by clicking on the "My Info" tab.

And now (drum roll...) some Profile statements for this week!

• Your concentration is better when you have your lunch no later than 12:52 PM.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when your overall activity level is no more than 4.

• Your concentration is better when your work activity lasts for no more than 3 hours 30 minutes.

• You feel less depressed when your overall activity is no more than mildly stressful.

• Your headache is less when your social activity lasts for no more than 37 minutes.

• You have less fatigue when your overall activity is very satisfying.

• Your concentration is better when your afternoon nap lasts for no more than 1 hour 22 minutes.

• You feel less depressed when your overall activity is at least moderately satisfying.

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your overall activity is no more than mildly stressful.

• You have less stiffness when your overall activity is at least moderately satisfying.

• You have less fatigue when the time needed to fall asleep is no longer than 37 minutes.

• You feel less anxious when your overall activity level is at least 5.

• Your aching hands & feet is less when your bedtime is no earlier than 9:37 PM.

• You have less stiffness when your Treadmill exercise is at least 38 minutes.

• You have less fatigue when your Treadmill exercise is at least 45.5 minutes.

• You feel less depressed when your domestic activity is at least moderately satisfying.

• Your gastrointestinal symptoms are less when your Treadmill exercise is at least 41.5 minutes.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when your afternoon mind/body/spirit practice lasts for at least 3 minutes.

• Your Muscle Weakness (jello type) is less when your Treadmill exercise is at least 2.6 mph.

• You have less stiffness when your screen time lasts for no more than 1 hour 30 minutes.

• Your concentration is better when your afternoon exercise lasts for at least 3 minutes.

• Your memory is better when your afternoon exercise lasts for at least 3 minutes.

• You feel less depressed when your domestic activity is at least mildly satisfying.

• You have less difficulty sleeping when your work activity requires very mild exertion.

• Your concentration is better when your Lortab is at least 5 7.5 mg.

• Your memory is better when you have breakfast no earlier than 8:45 AM.

• Your headache is less when you have your lunch no later than 12:45 PM.

I hope you find these interesting, and perhaps inspiring. Happy SMARTLogging, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

November 18, 2009

Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the change of seasons. Autumn is often a challenging time for people with FM or CFS, as the body has to adjust to the "change of climate." This may require additional rest to help your body adapt to the subtle stress of changing temperatures and also to the gradual reduction of sunlight.

Remember, sunlight stimulates serotonin, which is a natural mood elevator and immune modulator. To compensate for the reduced hours of sunlight now and through the winter, you may want to make extra efforts to get plenty of sunlight exposure during your day. In fact, you could even make "Sun time" a Unique Input on your SMARTLog to test its impact on your symptoms!

My Journal. I am pleased to announce the "My Journal" tab on the FMWellness Project navigation bar is now available for your use. You can click "My Journal" to see all your journal notes from past SMARTLogs in one convenient place. Each note lists the date, beginning with the most recent and going back in time.

If you haven't been using the My Journal feature at the bottom of SMARTLog, you may want to try it out. You can write notes to yourself about the day so you can review them down the road. This may help shed light on your progress and on SMART Profiles you receive.

A Note about SMART Profiles. Each week more of you are accumulating enough SMARTLogs in your database to produce a SMART Profile. This is exciting, because it can give you completely personalized feedback about what is working to reduce your symptoms. There are a couple of helpful things to remember about SMART Profile:

1. It may take a few weeks to accumulate enough data in your database to begin producing Profiles for you.

2. Whether or not you get a Profile statements depends on how much your inputs vary from one day to the next. That is, if you keep doing the same things consistently there may be little or no variation in your symptoms. Profiles serve to compare the effects of changing behavior patterns, so you can test out new behaviors and get feedback. There may be subtle shifts in symptoms that you may not realize on your own, but the Profile can point them out to you.

Don't be discouraged if you don't get a Profile statement. This could simply mean that you have been steady and consistent with your behavior. If you're satisfied with your symptom levels, then you may want to stick with the pattern, in which case you won't get new Profile statements. Then if you try changing something for a few days, this makes it possible for a new Profile statement to give you feedback on its effects.

Thank you for being part of this journey!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project

-------

November 10, 2009

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the FM Wellness Project Newsletter! I will be sending these newsletters regularly during the course of the project to keep you informed about developments and add suggestions about how you can get the most out of the program.

I hope you are doing well and getting used to the SMARTLog experience. You'll notice it gets easier and quicker with practice. It's still early, but a few of you early starters now have SMARTProfiles available for viewing. To see if you do, just log in at FMWellness.org and click on the SMARTProfile tab. Remember it takes a few weeks using SmartLog to build up your database.

In the news you may have heard that a retrovirus has recently been discovered which may have a role in chronic fatigue syndrome and possibly fibromyalgia. It's called xenobiotic murine retrovirus (XMRV). It's unknown whether or to what extent XMRV plays a role in these conditions, whether it would affect some people more than others, requires certain co-factors, etc.; in short, there are many unanswered questions. However, if it is found to play a role, this would give rise to hopes that a drug treatment may possibly, eventually, be found that could help.

Meanwhile, we are left with the question, "What can I do now, today, with the resources I have available at this moment?"

SMARTLog can help you discover personal strategies that reduce symptoms on a day to day basis. Your patterns of rest, activity, nutrition, self-care and stress all affect your resistance to disease. This includes your resistance to viruses or other pathogens that may be playing a role in your health. When you are in greater harmony and balance each day, your resistance is stronger and your symptoms will be less. Your immune system functions better, and all other bodily systems do better too.

SMARTLog offers an unprecedented opportunity to get personal feedback. This approach has never before been tried with FM, but our early indications are that people who stick with it are well-rewarded. I hope you will make the most of this opportunity! Your participation also has the potential to offer great hope to others in the future, so thank you for being part of the project!

Best regards,
William Collinge, PhD
Principal Investigator
The FM Wellness Project