|
Home
Contact Us
Our Mission
Our Accomplishments
How You Can Help
In Memory of
Q&As
News
Positions
Other Websites
|
|
| How we spend donated money |
Our thanks for your donations |
| Help fund a specific upcoming study
| Directors, Officers, Advisors |
Clinical &
Scientific Achievements
The single most important accomplishment of
FRF-related research is a clinical achievement: We developed and refined
the form of treatment termed "metabolic rehabilitation." Some 75% to
85% of patients diagnosed as having fibromyalgia who undergo metabolic
rehabilitation completely and lastingly recover. By "recover" we
mean the patients no
longer meet the American College of Rheumatology criteria for fibromyalgia.
The patients are symptom free and fully functional at long-term follow-up.
Publications
Our work has been cited or described in
at least twenty-three books.
These books include:
1. Ridha Arem, MD: The Thyroid
Solution. New York, Ballantine Books, 1999.
2. Ken Blanchard, MD and Marietta Abrams Brill. What Your Doctor
May Not Tell You About Hypothyroidism: A Simple Plan for
Extraordinary Results. Warner Books, 2004.
3. David Brownstein, MD. Overcoming Thyroid Disorders.
Medical Alternatives Press, Inc. 2002.
4. Leon Chaitow, ND, DO: Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Practitioner's Guide to
Treatment. London, Churchill Livingston, 2000.
5. Leon Chaitow, ND, DO: Fibromyalgia and Muscle Pain, 2nd edition. London,
Thorsons, 1998.
6. Barry
Durrant-Peatfield, MB, S, LRCP, MRCS: The Great Thyroid Scandal and How to
Survive It. London, Barons Down Publishing, 2002.
7. Jonathan Forester, MD. Conquering
Chronic Fatigue: Answers to America's Most Misunderstood
Epidemic. Ventura, Regal Books, 2003.
8. C.C. Goodman,
PT, W.G. Boissonnault, and K. Fuller: Pathology: Implications for the Physical
Therapist, 2nd ed.,
Philadelphia, Harcourt Health Sciences, 2002.
9. Gina
Honeyman-Lowe, DC and John C. Lowe, MA, DC:
Your Guide to Metabolic Health.
McDowell Health-Science Books, Boulder, 2002.
10. Stephen Langer,
MD and James
Scheer: Solved: The Riddle of Illness,
3rd edition. New Canaan, Keats Publishing, Inc., 2000.
11. Life Extension Foundation. Disease Prevention and Treatment,
4th edition. Life Extension Media, 2003.
12. John C. Lowe, MA, DC:
The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia. Boulder,
McDowell Publishing Company, 2000.
13. Siegfried Mense, Dr Med and David G. Simons, MD: Muscle Pain:
Understanding Its Nature, Diagnosis, and Treatment. Philadelphia,
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001.
14. J. Pizzorno, ND and M. Murray, ND.: A Textbook of Natural Medicine,
3rd ed., 2006.
15. Mary Shomon: Living Well With
Hypothyroidism. New York, Avon Books, 2000.
16. Mary Shomon:
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease. New York,
HarperCollins, 2002.
17. Mary Shomon: Living Well with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia. New York,
HarperCollins, 2004.
18. Mary Shomon: Living Well with Graves' Disease and
Hyperthyroidism. New York,
HarperCollins, 2005.
19. David G.
Simons, MD, Janet G. Travell, MD, and Lois S. Simons, PT: Travell
& Simons' Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, vol.1, 2nd. edition. Philadelphia, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins,
1998.
20. Devin
Starlanyl, MD: The Fibromyalgia Advocate. Oakland, New Harbinger
Publications, Inc., 1998.
21. Devin Starlanyl, MD and Mary Ellen Copeland, MA: Fibromyalgia &
Chronic Myofascial Pain Syndrome, 2nd edition. Oakland, New Harbinger
Publications, Inc., 2001.
22. Jacob Teitelbaum, MD: From Fatigue to Fantastic, 2nd edition. New
York, Avery, 2001.
23. Janie A. Bowthorpe:
Stop the Thyroid Madness. Moab UT, Laughing Grape
Publishing, 2008.
The
following
twenty-five journal
papers have
resulted
from the research activities of FRF:
1. Lowe, J.C., et
al.: Improvement in euthyroid fibromyalgia patients
treated with T3 (tri-iodothyronine). J. Myofascial Ther.,
1(2):16-29, 1994.
2. Lowe, J.C.: T3-induced recovery from fibromyalgia by a
hypothyroid patient resistant to T3 and desiccated thyroid. J.
Myofascial Ther., 1(4):21-30, 1995.
3. Lowe, J.C., Garrison, R.L.,
Reichman, A.J., Yellin, J., Thompson, M., and Kaufman, D.: Effectiveness and
safety of T3 (triiodothyronine) therapy for euthyroid
fibromyalgia: a double-blind placebo-controlled response-driven crossover
study. Clin. Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2:(2/3):31-58, 1997.
4. Honeyman, G.: Metabolic
therapy for hypothyroid and euthyroid fibromyalgia: two case reports. Clin.
Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2(4):19-49, 1997.
5. Lowe, J.C., Reichman, A.J.,
and Yellin, J.: The process of change during T3 treatment for
euthyroid fibromyalgia: a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study. Clin.
Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2(2/3): 91-124, 1997.
6. Lowe, J.C.: Thyroid status of
38 fibromyalgia patients: implications for the etiology of fibromyalgia. Clin.
Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2(1):47-64, 1997.
7. Lowe, J.C., Garrison, R.L.,
Reichman, A.J., and Yellin, J.: Triiodothyronine (T3) treatment
of euthyroid fibromyalgia: a small-N replication of a double-blind
placebo-controlled crossover study (abstract). Clin. Bull. Myofascial
Ther., 3(14):23-24, 1997.
8.
Lowe, J.C.: Results of an open trial of
T3 therapy with 77 euthyroid female fibromyalgia patients. Clin. Bull.
Myofascial Ther., 2 (1):35-37, 1997.
9. Lowe, J.C., Cullum, M.,
Graff, L., and Yellin, J.: Mutations in the c-erbAß1 gene:
do they underlie euthyroid fibromyalgia? Medical Hypotheses,
48:125-135, 1997.
10. Yellin, J.: Why is substance P
high in fibromyalgia? Clin.Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2(2/3):23-30, 1997.
11. Lowe, J.C., Reichman, A., and Yellin,
J.: A case-control
study of metabolic therapy for fibromyalgia: long-term (1-to- 5 year)
follow-up comparison of treated and untreated patients (abstract). Clin. Bull.
Myofascial Ther., 3(1):23-24, 1998.
12. Lowe, J.C., Reichman, A.J.,
et al.: Thyroid status of fibromyalgia patients. Clin.
Bull. Myofascial Ther., 3 (1):47-53, 1998.
13. Lowe, J.C. et al.: Facilitating the decrease in fibromyalgic pain during
metabolic rehabilitation: an essential role for soft tissue therapies. J.
Bodywork Movem. Ther., 2(4):208-217, 1998.
14. Lowe, J.C. et al.: Thyroid dysfunction and fibromyalgia. In
Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide to Treatment, edited by
Leon Chaitow, N.D., D.O., Edinburgh, Churchill Livingston, 1999.
15. Lowe, J.C.: The Metabolic
Treatment of Fibromyalgia. Boulder, McDowell Publishing Co., 2000.
16. Lowe, J.C. and
Honeyman-Lowe, G.: Ultrasound treatment for trigger points: differences in
technique for myofascial pain syndrome and fibromyalgia patients. Lyon
Méditerranée Médical: Médecine du Sud-Est. 2:12-15, 1999.
17. Lowe, J.C. and
Honeyman-Lowe, G.: Fibromyalgia and thyroid disease. Paper presented in
Grenoble, France, May 6 (conference of the French Fibromyalgia Association
of Région Rhône-Alpes) and discussed in Toulon, France on May 11 (at the
Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal), 2000.
18. Honeyman, G.:
Ultrasound treatment of the fibromyalgia patient. Paper presented at the
French Fibromyalgia Association of Région Rhône-Alpes, Grenoble, France,
May 6, 2000.
19. Lowe, J.: Thyroid disease
and fibromyalgia syndrome. Lyon Méditerranée Médical: Médecine du
Sud-Est., 36(1):15-17, 2000.
20. Lowe, J.C. and
Honeyman-Lowe, G.: Fibromyalgia: a debilitating syndrome. Chiro. Prod.,
Aug. 2000, pp. 48-52.
21. Honeyman, G.:
Ultrasound treatment of the fibromyalgia patient. Lyon Méditerranée
Médical: Médecine du Sud-Est., 36(1):3O-31, 2000.
22. Eisinger, J., Starlanyl, D., Blotman, F., Bueno, L., Houvenagel, E., Juvin, R.,
Kaminsky, P., Lawson, K.,
Le Loët, X., Lowe, J.C., Manesse, P., Mechtouf, K., Memran, N., Muller, W.,
Nicollet, M., Perragut, J.C., Plantamura, A., Poinsignon, J.P., Reig, E., Ruiz
Lopez, R., Schmitt, K.L., Sichère, P., Teitelbaum, J., Trèves, R., and
Zakarian, H.: Protocole d’informations anonyme sur les fibromyalgiques. Lyon
Méditerranée Médical: Médecine du Sud-Est., 36:9-11, 2000.
23. Lowe, J.C., Yellin, J., and Honeyman, G.: Female
fibromyalgia patients: lower resting metabolic rates than
matched healthy controls.
Medical Science
Monitor, 12(7):CR1-CR8, 2006.
24. Lowe, J.C., Honeyman, G., and Yellin, J.: Lower resting
metabolic rate and basal body temperature of fibromyalgia
patients compared to matched healthy controls.
Thyroid
Science, 1:T1-T24, 2006.
25. Lowe, J.C. and Yellin, J.G.: Inadequate
thyroid hormone regulation as the main
mechanism of fibromyalgia: a review of the evidence.
Thyroid Science, 3(6):R1-14, 2008.
For questions about
the Fibromyalgia Research Foundation
and its on-going research, please write to us at
tammy@FibromyalgiaResearch.org
michele@FibromyalgiaResearch.org
Please
help by donating to the Foundation's ongoing research.
|
|
"In 1996 and
1997, our FRF research team conducted and published three
double-blinding placebo-controlled crossover studies. In the
studies, we tested the
effectiveness of T3, the most metabolically-active thyroid hormone,
for fibromyalgia patients. In the three studies, we found that we
significantly decreased and increased patients'
pain distribution. In T3 phases of the studies, their pain
distribution decreased; in placebo phases, their pain increased
again. The effect of T3 and placebos on their pain was akin to
decreasing and increasing flow of very cold water by turning
the faucet handle one way and then decreasing it by turning in the
other way."
—Dr. John C. Lowe
The line graph below is from one of FRF's
three double-blind studies published in 1997. The trend line in the
graph shows a study patient's changing pain distribution during four
phases of the study. The red line and data points
represent her pain distribution (the percentage of her body in pain) during the baseline phase (far left in the graph), and
during two placebo phased (to the right in the graph). The blue line
and data points represent the patient's pain distribution during the
two T3 phases of the study.
The FRF research team found that during the two T3 phases, the
patient's pain distribution significantly decreased; during
the two
placebo phases, her pain precipitously increased. As with the most other
patients in the three 1996-1997 studies, FRF researchers
decreased and increased the pain distribution by
switching patients from T3 to placebos.
References to the three
1997 study reports: •
Lowe, J.C., Garrison,
R.L., Reichman, A.J., Yellin, J., Thompson, M., and Kaufman, D.:
Effectiveness and safety of T3 (triiodothyronine) therapy for
euthyroid fibromyalgia: a double-blind placebo-controlled response-driven
crossover study. Clin. Bull. Myofascial Ther.,
2:(2/3):31-58, 1997.
• Lowe, J.C., Reichman,
A.J., and Yellin, J.:
The process of change during T3 treatment
for euthyroid fibromyalgia: a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover
study. Clin. Bull. Myofascial Ther., 2(2/3):
91-124, 1997.
• Lowe, J.C., Garrison,
R.L., Reichman, A.J., and Yellin, J.:
Triiodothyronine (T3)
treatment of euthyroid fibromyalgia: a small-N replication of a
double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study (abstract). Clin. Bull. Myofascial
Ther., 3(14):23-24, 1997. |
