A: Happily, our recently published placebo-controlled study proved that by using this information over 90 percent of people with CFS and fibromyalgia can improve significantly. The average patient (including those who dropped out of the study) had an almost doubling in quality of life and pain was decreased in most and eliminated in a very large percentage of the patients. This improvement began by about seven weeks and continued to increase after two years -- with most people being able to wean off of most of their treatments! A large number of patients had no more pain or fatigue and felt very healthy by the end of the study. The conclusion of the study was that CFS and fibromyalgia are now treatable syndromes. The full text of the study can be seen on our web site at www.endfatigue.com and is also in our recently released and markedly updated edition of my book "From Fatigued to Fantastic".

Because of the effectiveness of the protocol in our study, I recently received an exciting e-mail. It was to notify me about an editorial in the upcoming (April) journal of the major medical society for pain management in United States. The editorial notes "that the comprehensive and aggressive metabolic approach to treatment detailed in the Teitelbaum study are all highly successful approaches and make fibromyalgia a very treatment responsive disorder. The study by Dr. Teitelbaum et al. and years of clinical experience make this approach an excellent and powerfully effective part of the standard of practice for treatment of people who suffer from fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome, both of which are common and devastating... it is very exciting that this research helps to usher in a new, more effective era in medical care by treating the patient and not only the laboratory tests." I find it very gratifying that the journal of the largest pain management group in American medicine has now accepted our treatment approach as the standard of practice!

One of the reasons it has taken so long for successful treatment of CFS and fibromyalgia to be both discovered and accepted is because it is not a single disease. We have found that there are over 100 different processes that can contribute to the syndromes. Each patient must be thoroughly evaluated for all of these, and treated simultaneously for all the problems that are present. In our clinic in Annapolis, this takes over four hours per patient of my "one-on-one" time. Most doctors have not treated the thousands of FMS/CFS patients we have, and it takes a long time to learn how to treat the syndromes properly. Because of this, I will begin a series of workshops for health-care professionals (Nov. 2002) who want to learn how to treat the syndromes. Currently, our web site referral list has health-care professionals who at least have expressed an interest in treating people with CFS/fibromyalgia. Some are excellent but some have no knowledge of how to treat the syndromes effectively. In time, it is our hope that our web site referral list will consist only of health professionals trained by us in effective treatment.

Many people choose to come to our clinic in Annapolis Maryland (410-573-5389) from all over the world to be treated. Because it takes four to six hours of my time, and my teaching responsibilities only allow me five days a month for patient care, not everybody can afford to come to see me. Because of this, and to assist patients while their health-care professionals are learning how to treat these complex syndromes, we have created an online "CFS/fibromyalgia specialist". People can go on our web site at www.endfatigue.com and enter a detailed medical history and their lab tests. You can even get a lab requisition for the tests if your doctor will not give you one. The web site program will then analyze your case to tailor a treatment protocol to your situation! Because most doctors cannot spend four hours even once they are fully trained, the program will create a complete medical record of your case and supply detailed treatment instructions for you, which will allow your health professional to take care of you in the time they have available.

The next 2 installments of the newsletter will discuss what the web site program does and also the many free tools on our web site that you can use to get well. We will then proceed with reviewing the underlying medical conditions and diagnoses that cause your CFS/fibromyalgia, how to evaluate them, and how to treat them so you can get well and get your life back!