Illness and Sleep
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ever wonder why when suffering from an illness, drowsiness it is often accompanied by fatigue? An immunologist at the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland by the name of Thomas Birchler and his team have "tracked down how the chemical responsible for such drowsiness works."
"The culprit is a small protein called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), named for its anti-tumour properties...Mice given TNF-alpha were also less active and spent less time on their running wheels or walking around their cages — as if they were tired...This is the beginning of connecting it with genes involved in circadian rhythms."
Those of us will chronic illness know all too well how tiring a daily battle can be. This discovery is a small part of the puzzle to understand how the circadian rhythm works. The circadian rhythm regulates our internal clock. It is also involved in cluster headaches. This is likely why cluster attacks usually come at the same time every day during a cycle. I hope this will be another piece in puzzle towards a way to fight cluster headaches.
How Sickness Makes us Sleep
-Paul
1 comments
"The culprit is a small protein called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), named for its anti-tumour properties...Mice given TNF-alpha were also less active and spent less time on their running wheels or walking around their cages — as if they were tired...This is the beginning of connecting it with genes involved in circadian rhythms."
Those of us will chronic illness know all too well how tiring a daily battle can be. This discovery is a small part of the puzzle to understand how the circadian rhythm works. The circadian rhythm regulates our internal clock. It is also involved in cluster headaches. This is likely why cluster attacks usually come at the same time every day during a cycle. I hope this will be another piece in puzzle towards a way to fight cluster headaches.
How Sickness Makes us Sleep
-Paul
Labels: circadian rhythm, fatigue, TNF-alpha
1 comments
1 Comments:
Nice Job V,
And congrats on the award.
Bobw
By 
pinkfloyd_fan44, at
22 July 2007 at 10:19
Medical terminology can cause confusion at the best of times. If there is a word you do not understand all you have to do is double-click on it and the definition will appear! Don't forget to drop me a line by email at versilleus@gmail.com with your comments, questions‚ recommended resources‚ concerns‚ & especially your experiences with clusters. Or come find me on my Facebook Profile to add me as a Friend. Whether you are a supporter‚ care-giver or sufferer. I would love to hear from you!
*Please do not use this information for self diagnoses. Writing about my experiences with chronic cluster headaches & epilepsy is a good outlet for me. Consult your Dr. with any kind of headache or chronic pain you may have. The 3rd party links on my site I have found to be a good resource to me over the past few years & dearly hope they will benefit you as well.*
