Is Fibromyalgia...

Hi! Dr. I was never told what category Fibromyalgi (fibromyalgia) falls into. Would his be considered an "auto-immune" dis-ease?
I was  told that Fibromyalgia does not progress. If this is true, then why can I no longer do the job that I used to do,
nor can I do household chores, easily? I used to be able to when I was diagnosed in 1996, even last summer. (not easily,but I did it) Now, I deal with pain that never goes away, fatigue beyond comprehension, and flu-like symptoms
on  a constant basis?

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

Fibromyalgia syndrome or FMS should be considered a fatiguing illness. It shares certain signs and symptoms with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but it has the additional symptoms of painful body areas to the touch and pain in general.  Obviously fatigue is a major symptom.  This syndrome can progress and become quite acute or it can cycle with periods where symptom severity is less.  There are a variety of treatments for FMS. For example, the latest issue of the newsletter Fibromyalgia Network (www.fmnetnews.com) compares various drugs used to treat FMS.

In our studies on FMS we found that over 70% of FMS patients had chronic infections (see our website www.immed.org for more information under Fatiguing Illnesses).  If you have one or more chronic infections, these probably need to be treated.

Also, for the fatigue we have found that NTFactor can help.  You can read about this at www.ntfactor.com.