Watching and facing any screens that emit blue lights can be harmful to one's eye in general, but what more damage can these blue lights cause to patients with severe conditions? Research that was presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2022 annual meeting claims that wearing special green eyeglasses for many hours a day decreases pain-related anxiety and may help minimize the need for opioids to manage intense pain in fibromyalgia individuals and possibly others who endure chronic pain.
Doctor Padma Gulur, the study's main author and executive vice chairman of Duke Anesthesiology as well as Duke Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, claimed that there is an urgent need for new treatments to minimize opioid usage in individuals with fibromyalgia and other kinds of chronic pain, and green spectacles might give a simple, non-drug solution. Their study was able to come up with a discovery that particular wavelengths of green light trigger brain circuits that assist in regulating pain, under a report stated by Medical Xpress.
Anxiety-Related Pains Caused by Fibromyalgia
Based on the statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 4 million individuals in the United States suffer from fibromyalgia. There are few alternatives to opioids, particularly non-drug solutions, for people suffering from severe and chronic pain problems such as fibromyalgia, which also causes agony throughout the body. Anxiety and pain share biological pathways. Furthermore, dread of discomfort worsens anxiety, which frequently leads to greater opiate usage, as explained by Dr. Gulur.
The scientists evaluated 34 fibromyalgia patients who were randomly assigned to wear different tints of eyewear four hours a day for two weeks: 10 patients used blue eyeglasses, 12 wore clear eyeglasses, and 12 wore green eyeglasses. Medpage stated in a report that patients who wore green spectacles became approximately four times more probable to have lessened anxiety than the participants in the other groups, who had no reduction in their anxiety.
Dr. Gulur exclaimed that, alongside her colleague, they were able to discover that individuals who decided to wear the green spectacles required fewer opioids, indicating that overall pain was effectively managed, while their pain ratings were unchanged. She also advises green eyewear therapy for persons with fibromyalgia and therefore is investigating if it might be good in individuals with some other chronic pain illnesses.
This green eyewear is particularly constructed to filter a certain wavelength here on the green light spectrum. The scientists observed that the majority of individuals who wore the green spectacles described experiencing better and wished to continue wearing them.
A new study suggests that with the use of green glasses, Fibromyalgia patients can induce pain related anxiety.
ALSO READ: Brain Mechanisms Link to Opioid Use Disorder and Chronic Pain, Study Says
Closer Glance of Fibromyalgia
CDC's data states that fibromyalgia is a disease that induces widespread pain, sleep difficulties, exhaustion, and frequent emotional and mental discomfort. Fibromyalgia patients may be more vulnerable to pain than the general population. The term for this is aberrant pain perception processing. Fibromyalgia affects around 4 million US individuals, accounting for approximately 2% of the population. Although the etiology of fibromyalgia is unknown, it is treatable and manageable.
The most frequent fibromyalgia symptoms include widespread pain and stiffness, weariness and exhaustion, depression and anxiety, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, and headaches, including migraines.
Doctors frequently use detailed diagnoses, medical examinations, X-rays, and lab tests to diagnose fibromyalgia. Medication and self-management measures can successfully treat and control fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia must be treated by a rheumatologist or a team of healthcare specialists that are experts in the management of fibromyalgia as well as other kinds of arthritis. Doctors typically treat fibromyalgia with a combination of treatments that may include prescription or over-the-counter pain relievers, aerobic or exercise strengthening workouts, stress management techniques such as meditation and yoga, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat the manic depressive disorder. CBT is a sort of conversion therapy that aims to alter how individuals act or think.
RELATED ARTICLE: How the Brain Turns Threat Cues Into Fear, Reveals Molecular Pathway That May Lead to Treatments for PTSD, Autism, Migraines
Check out more news and information on Medicine and Health in Science Times.
