Journal of psychosomatic research
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Eleven women with a clinical diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and ten non-PMS control women were compared on physiological measures in the intermenstrual and premenstrual phases of their menstrual cycle. Heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL) were monitored during baseline conditions and in response to a stressful laboratory procedure. ⋯ Pain intensity ratings were found to be overall higher in the PMS group irrespective of menstrual cycle phase. The role of cognitive-perceptual processes is discussed in the context of the acquisition and maintenance of PMS symptomatology.
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Prevalence and correlates of posttreatment and anticipatory nausea and vomiting (NV) were examined in 149 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at four treatment centres. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that posttreatment NV was associated with treatment centre, diagnosis, drug toxicity, and frequency of antiemetic premedication. ⋯ Variables showing significant unique effects included age, treatment centre, posttreatment NV and the age by posttreatment NV interaction. Results suggest the importance of examining environmental, psychosocial, and treatment-related variables that may differentiate treatment centres and strongly support the role of classical conditioning in the development of anticipatory NV.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Effects of acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on cold-induced pain in normal subjects.
The effects of acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) at high (100 Hz) and low (8 Hz) frequency and placebo on pain induced by cold immersion of the hand were studied in 46 young healthy male and female volunteers. Acupuncture produced significant elevations of pain threshold, while 100 Hz TENS or placebo had no effect. ⋯ There was some evidence that the L scale score of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire predicted analgesic outcome for 8 Hz TENS. No significant relationship was found between baseline pain threshold or tolerance and personality variables.
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Review
Effectiveness of biofeedback for treating migraine and tension headaches: a review of the evidence.
A review of the research reveals no evidence that finger temperature biofeedback training or temporal artery pulse biofeedback training is effective for treating migraine headaches. On the other hand, there is evidence that EMG biofeedback training is effective for treating tension headaches, but the EMG biofeedback training is not more effective than less complex and less expensive relaxation training. Reasons for the ineffectiveness of biofeedback training are discussed. The results of the controlled investigations are in sharp contrast to the prevailing beliefs and the results have a variety of implications.
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This study investigated the effects of three types of laboratory stressors (stressful imagery, mental arithmetic, pain) on temporal artery, skeletal muscle, general autonomic [digital blood volume pulse (DBVP), spontaneous resistance responses (SRR's)] and self-report measures of distress in chronic migraine, mixed, muscle contraction and non-headache controls. All subjects were female, free of medication at time of testing and equated for age. Headache subjects reported a 19 year history of headache. ⋯ The results do not support the general autonomic dysfunction theory of migraine or the specificity hypothesis implicating an overreactive temporal artery or skeletal muscle response to stress in migraine and muscle contraction headache, respectively. Despite epidemiological research supporting the stress-headache relationship, the present results indicate that the psychophysiological mechanism underlying this relationship does not appear to involve abnormal tonic levels or phasic response to stress. It is argued that the temporal artery dilation response to pain questions the role of stress in triggering the two stage vasoconstriction-dilation mechanism of migraine and suggests the need to evaluate a four stage model as a potential psychophysiological mechanism underlying the stress-headache relationship.