Pain and the moon

[Alsithee4]

Hello everyone, a weird question to ask, but has anyone noticed an increase in pain and fatigue round the full moon? I think I need to research this!!!

[ratoncita]

oh yes. For sure.

[Bethenny]

Yes, definitely feel different when there's a full moon 🙂

[Tilly1957]

oh yes. Thinking how the seas are pulled backwards & forwards depending how close the moon is. We are comprised of a high amount of fluids and that too gets pulled back and forth. Also, depending on the low or high weather fronts, people who are sensitive to barometric pressure will feel it. It is all to do with air pressure etc. The chap that diagnosed Fibro for me agreed 100% about the effects of moon and weather on many people.

These changes can affect you physically and mentally.

So at the moment I personally have the increased pain triggered by a full moon plus coming out of a low pressure weather front into a higher pressure one - triple whammy 🤣

Fibromyalgia was originally called ‘muscular Rheumatism’ (edited) and people forecast changes in the weather ‘cos the could ‘feel it in their bones’

[Carlt in reply to Tilly1957]

1. Seas are massive that is why they have tides. Lakes and ponds are much smaller, that is why they don't (well barely measurable), people are tiny so the effect that the moon has on them is negligible ( apart from apocryphal or supernatural).

Weather is local so can have a measurable effect on our bodies though.

2. Fibromyalgia has never been called rheumatism, they both peacefully co-exist as separate conditions.

[Tilly1957 in reply to Carlt]

Why do you state fibromyalgia had never been called rheumatism?

If you look at a historical timeline, for fibro physicians wrote, somewhere around the 1800’s, about a condition that led to pain, fatigue and disturbed sleep. No joint involvement was noted, and they called it muscular rheumatism - I didn’t intend it to imply fibro is the same as rheumatism, just that historically it came under that name before it was explored and documented further and became known as a separate condition in its own right.

I personally am extremly sensitive physically to even the slightest changes in atmospheric pressure, and the phases of the moon.🙄

[Carlt in reply to Tilly1957]

Studies have shown that physical effects due to moon cycles are down to the amount of light we are exposed to, not tidal effects.Barometric differences are local therefore far more likely to have an effect on you.

Many different conditions were confused with one another in the early days of modern medicine. I like to think we've moved on a bit since then.

As far as moon cycles are concerned I don't think we can do much about them and their benefits outweigh their disadvantages so I'm not going to worry too much about them.

Buying heavier bedroom curtains may help.

[Tilly1957 in reply to Carlt]

Yes Definitly moved on since the days what we now know as fibromyalgia was labelled as muscular rheumatism, thankfully! I am glad for all the advancements made.

It isn’t the ebb and flow of the tide that I believe affects some people, it is the effect of the moon and/or barometric pressure. I used the comparison of the ebb and flow of tidal water to illustrate, in simplistic terms, how the fluid within us may also respond, for those who are extra sensitive to such energies.

My bedroom is dark when I sleep, otherwise I don’t sleep well.

It’s about finding the right balance in relation to the effects of our own individual environment. Someone could be getting exceedingly stressed and worried about recurring migraines etc, not knowing it may be linked to moon cycles or weather, and once they are shown a possible link it can help reduce stress.

i love all the things we talk about in this forum - we can all discuss things with different points of view and beliefs with acrimony and arguement 🥰

[Carlt in reply to Tilly1957]

"It’s about finding the right balance in relation to the effects of our own individual environment. "

Wise words indeed!

Perhaps we should all move to the South of France as the Mediterranean is not tidal though I suspect the warm weather, sea air, good food and relaxed lifestyle may benefit our health more than the Moon.

[Tilly1957 in reply to Carlt]

Sounds like a very pleasant idea - I feel a lot better in a warm, dry climate. …. Damp/humidity mixed with heat or cold cripples me! I live on the east coast, near Clacton, and we don’t do too badly for dry weather….. but doesnt compare with the Med 🤣

[ratoncita in reply to Tilly1957]

I’m very sensitive to those things too and I recognized the effect barometric pressure had on me years ago. I can predict weather changes almost as good as the weather man/lady on tv.

[Tilly1957 in reply to ratoncita]

Excellent!

[ratoncita in reply to Tilly1957]

Having one of those days today. ☹️

[ratoncita in reply to Tilly1957]

And tonight is a full moon too! Double trouble.

[Tilly1957 in reply to ratoncita]

Explains why I am wide awake at 2am with a stinking headache - haven’t had one since the last full moon..

[Cat00]

One of my triggers for my chronic migraines is barometric pressure, I had 5 weeks of non-stop migraines last spring. I have a male friend that says the full moon triggers his migraines.Then there is also the fact that more women go into labour on a full moon than at any other time in the month.

My daughter's due date was on a full moon, I was one of less than 4% of women that actually had my baby on my due date. The maternity department was so over run that evening that I didn't have a midwife for have the time I was there even though I was high risk. There were women in labour in the corridors. When I had my son, not on a full moon, there was only one other women there.

The midwives always loved telling us about the moon thing because it annoyed the doctors that such a thing could be true, although apparently it is very obvious in the data that births wax and wane with the moon, so they couldn't deny it 😄.

[Tilly1957 in reply to Cat00]

I have a paramedic friend who says mental health call-outs go up phenomenally around the full moon more than any other time of the month. They also said their police colleagues say they have more violence to deal with them to.

And didn’t people use to be put in asylums because of ‘lunacy’?

I find all this fascinating 😊

[Cat00 in reply to Tilly1957]

Yes it's an awkward fit with modern science isn't it ?😂

[desquinn Partner Volunteer FMAUK Trustee in reply to Tilly1957]

There have also been studies that show that events are more memorable with the big white thing in the sky being present rather than the incident rate being different.

[Carlt in reply to Cat00]

"Is it true that the full moon impacts labour?

Despite these anecdotal accounts, there’s not much hard data to support the moon having any influence on pregnancy or labour.

In one dedicated studyTrusted Source on the matter (again, from 2005), researchers examined 564,039 births that happened over 62 different lunar cycles in North Carolina between 1997 and 2001.

The results were somewhat underwhelming, if you’re team full moon.

The study looked at things like the frequency of births, method of delivery, and pregnancy complications throughout all eight phases of the moon. No significant associations were found between the lunar cycle and births (for example, more women having babies during a full moon) or pregnancy complications over the 5-year period.

In the end, the researchers concluded that the lunar effect on labour is merely a “pervasive myth” lacking evidence to back it up."

[desquinn Partner Volunteer FMAUK Trustee in reply to Carlt]

their cohort was obviously deficient in lycans soa bit skewed.......

[Cat00 in reply to Carlt]

"However, more detailed analyses on the subset of babies born specifically during the nighttime hours (N = 362) revealed the number of births varied in relation specifically to the changing amount of moonlight during the nighttime at different stages of the lunar cycle, with highest number of births at or around the time of the full moon"[pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/327...]

[Carlt in reply to Cat00]

If you read my other posts you will see that I commented on the effect of moonlight, as opposed to tidal, influence.

There is a noticeable difference in the effect of lunar cycles in rural areas where there is a lack of artificial illumination.

[Cat00 in reply to Carlt]

That's what we were told, that more births occurred in the full moon because of light.

[Fibrooh in reply to Cat00]

I get severe migraines at full moon too.

[Cat00 in reply to Fibrooh]

It's the worst trigger because there's nothing you can do about it, not that I seem to be able to manage my stress, sleep and hormones, but at least in theory we could do something about those!

[Princess61]

I definitely notice when there's a full moon, my sleep is more disturbed, what little I get, and notice a lot more pain. 😊

[desquinn Partner Volunteer FMAUK Trustee]

Nope.

[Carlt]

Here's a reasonable place to begin your research...

researchgate.net/profile/To...

[Alsithee4]

Wow, I'm absolutely fascinated with all your replies. I have reiki once per month and it was my therapist that mentioned it as I'd noticed how my pain increases so much when there is a full moon.

I'm definitely going to research this more. Thank you everyone xx

[Midori]

Women in particular are lunar- affected, it affects not only the menstrual cycle, but the sleep cycle also, and Yes, I find the pain measurably worse at both Full and New Moons.

Cheers, Midori.