Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue
My previous radio program and my present webcast program are both entitled “It’s all in your head!” How I came up with this title was listening to the discouraged patients that I routinely treated, and still treat, who have been told, by the doctors they have consulted, that the pain, discomfort, distress, debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance and depression that they endure is “all in your head.” What this remark is meant to imply, of course, is that there is no physical cause of the condition and that the symptoms are manifestations of psychological factors. My response to these patients is that “of course it is in your head, where else would it be?” My remark however is not disparaging but rather indicates the actual location of many of the patients symptoms. The brain controls everything so all symptoms are associated with brain activity. The remarkable effectiveness of neurotherapy for the treatment of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue is due to the fact that the brain functioning associated with the symptoms is treated. Although this derogatory sentiment about fibromyalgia patients was widespread among health care providers in the past, it is remarkable to me that it still persists with many doctors to this day. A few days ago I was surfing the internet health news feeds and was dismayed to find an item entitled “Fibromyalgia: A mental illness?” In this item was a quote from a Canadian neurologist stating that fibromyalgia was a term waiting for a definition.