User:Parkla/sandbox

Article Evaluation
Their introductory paragraph concludes with a claim that fibromyalgia may be beneficial to some. I think they need to further elaborate here because it sounds as if they are saying having this painful disease is beneficial, when they are probably trying to claim that finally having a diagnosis is beneficial because then one can begin to seek treatment for the disorder.

There are a lot of sources, mostly from academic journals which is good. This shows that most of the information in this article is true. However, some of the articles are from the early 2000's. Because this is a disease that just began being researched in the 90's, I have to question how up to date and relevant these articles are. I value the statements more that are sourced from the articles in the journals published in the past 5 years.

The author claims that this disorder is most likely polygenic; however, this isn't a claim that should be made because he previously says the genetic relation is unknown and there isn't a lot of data associated with it.

They talk about medications that are used for fibromyalgia; however, it should be addressed that no drug is designed for fibromyalgia specifically, their side effects [of drugs being used] are the benefits of these drugs.

They have a section in the drug category for antidepressants and a section in the drug category for other; however, half of the drugs in the other category are antidepressants and should be in that category instead.

How I can improve this
-Reviewing and editing the article Fibromyalgia In this article there is a limited section on the benefits of exercise to a patient with fibromyalgia so I wish to expand the information here for the 1-2 sentences that I will add. My citation will be: Ryan, S. (2013). Care of patients with fibromyalgia: Assessment and management. Nursing Standard, 28(13), 37-43. doi:10.7748/ns2013.11.28.13.37.e7722 In this article they are lacking a section on the benefits of a healthy BMI, so I will add a section here regarding that and cite my source with the citation: Timmerman, G., Calfa, N., & Stuifbergen, A. (2013). Correlates of body mass index in women with fibromyalgia. Orthopaedic Nursing, 32(2), 113-119. doi:10.1097/NOR.0b013e3182879c08

section is weight management
Additionally, exercising on a regular basis helps maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI). Recent research has identified the presence of a high BMI as an independent risk factor for fibromyalgia (Timmerman, Calfa, & Stuifbergen, 2013, p. 118). “In a 20 week behavioral weight loss intervention, which included both exercise and nutrition components, percent of weight lost predicted improvements in [fibromyalgia] symptoms, pain interference, and [quality of life] in overweight/obese women with [fibromyalgia]” (Timmerman et al., 2013, p. 114). Another study found that weight loss from bariatric surgery yielded the same results of a positive relationship between percent of weight lost and improvement in fibromyalgia symptoms (Timmerman et al., 2013, p. 114). This shows that weight loss directly improves fibromyalgia symptoms, which should health care professionals to educate their patients on the benefits of exercise as a pain management therapy for this disease.

I will need to change my in text citations to the proper way to cite on wikipedia, it is easiest for me to do this while I'm looking at the examples of other citations in the article already so I will add this when I am editting directly on my wikipedia article

Reflective Essay
Fibromyalgia is not well understood. Many patients feel like they are not being heard by their health care professionals because even they don't fully understand and know how to treat this condition. Because of this, patients begin to feel isolated and depressed. From the research I have done throughout the semester, it appears that the author has a lot of information on their page already. I think that I contributed to this article by posting on the talk page for the fibromyalgia article. From their introductory paragraph they made a comment that some people find this disorder beneficial. From learning how to do an article critique, I knew to question this. I questioned what it is that is found beneficial. Is it beneficial to finally have a diagnosis, because it takes years to receive a diagnosis because it is one of exclusion, or was the author trying to claim that there is something beneficial about having this disorder. I think if any fibromyalgia patient were asked if they found this painful, exhausting illness beneficial, they would disagree so I cautioned the author that they should change this or further explain because this was extremely misleading to me as a reader.

I think what I contributed to the section about exercise was valuable. Many people are told that they need to begin to exercise and it is very anxiety causing. If they havent exercised in some time because of the pain of the disease, they will find this fearful. Or, it is possible that when a patient is told they need to begin to exercise they will start off too intensely-similar to what they may have been able to do years ago before this condition. People with fibromyalgia need to be cautioned that when they begin to exercise, they should start off with a graded exercise program where the level of activity will increase in intensity, but in the beginning it is far more important to be consistent than it is to be vigourous.

I noticed that a lot of the sources from this article are from many years ago. I chose articles that are from the past 4 years to help update some of the information. It is newly being studied that an increased BMI can increase the effects of fibromyalgia. I think because of this, my section on the effects of maintaining a healthy BMI is valuable.

I think everything that I contributed to this article is factual and anyone seeking information on fibromyalgia will benefit from the information that I have contributed.

Looking back now, I see that a lot of my information that I contributed to the fibromyalgia page has been removed from and I don't know why. I suppose that is the frustrating thing about wikipedia and the fact that anyone can edit it. I found that the section I added on weight management with fibromyalgia was crucial. It is newer information that weight loss directly links to improved fibromyalgia symptoms which makes sense because their is less mass pushing on the painful pressure points that these patients have. This though, is something that is rarely discussed when discussing pain management. Exercise is suggested as a means to stay loose, explaining the improvements in fibromyalgia pain on less stiffness and flexibility and not on the likelihood the patient will lose weight with exercise. The article I cited on the subject noted that most patients who have fibromyalgia are overweight women. I wish my information were still there so that people researching this topic will know this is directly related.