Topic: Medical Care
So What are Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Really Anyway?- Part 2
Fibromyalgia as an Illness of Overly Ambitious Middle Class Women
From the article “A Mind-Body Approach to the Treatment of Fibromyalgia”:
And the fibromyalgia personality, defined as perfectionistic, driven and highly ambitious, may actually indicate an exhaustion of biochemical resources that may contribute to the syndrome.
http://www.naturalmatters.net/article-view.asp?article=301
One of the more blatant contradictory and confusing aspects regarding who is more likely to receive the fibromyalgia diagnosis socioeconomically/sociodemographically and personality-wise, are two groups women who are nearly on polar opposite ends of the socioeconomic/sociodemographic spectrum from each other- socioeconomically and educationally disadvantaged low income women living under unstable and potentially dangerous circumstances; and middle class educated and ambitious white collar career women from stable backgrounds and families. But the one thing both groups have in common is somehow certain aspects of their lives as women, being members of the so-called 'weaker sex', is to blame for their medical predicaments. For low income women, their medical lot in life is based upon their being from the bottom rungs of society: lifelong socioeconomically and educationally disadvantaged, having a low income, having bad lifestyle habits which are often viewed as walking hand-in-hand with poverty/lower income (heavy smoking and drinking, drug use and abuse, caffeinated beverage addiction, poor dietary habits, obesity, etc.), and being frequently abused by the men in their lives from childhood straight through adulthood. These women are the ones most often discussed in fibromyalgia literature, particularly since much is made of clinic patient based studies.
Yet on the other end of the spectrum are fibromyalgia patients with middle class educational and career values, which are deemed as overly ambitious, workaholic, and perfectionist in nature specifically because these patients are women- women who aren't staying in their traditional 'place', their traditional womanly 'role' in our modern society where women now have greater educational, career and economic opportunities open to them than their grandmothers and great-grandmothers had.
It primarily a disease of young to mid-life women, although it can effect children and the elderly as well. Patients are usually in the middle to upper earning brackets: ambitious, hard working, perfectionists- - what I call the “Type AAA” personality. It occurs much less often in men, or so it appears; perhaps they just don't seek help for it as readily as women do. (p.5, “Fibromyalgia”, by Chanchal Cabrerea)
A Suitable Job For A Woman
Who gets "cured" of fibromyalgia? The lawyer who walks away from her eighty-hour workweek and takes a lesser-paying job at a bank (or becomes the forest ranger she always wanted to be). The middle-aged empty nester who finally throws her chronically unfaithful husband out of the house and returns to the sculpting career she gave up 30 years earlier. from “Fibromyalgia”, by David Edelberg, M.D. http://www.consciouschoice.com/1999/cc1202/fibromyalgia1202.html
It's interesting how that works. One woman can be seemingly cured of her fibromyalgia by throwing out her cheating husband and taking up a career to support herself- in this case as a professional artist- which the author obviously views as a suitable and acceptable job for a woman. For the high powered female lawyer (undoubtedly with a nice income well into the six figures), a return to good health comes from giving up her high powered career- an ambitious 'male' career- and accepting, in Dr. Edelberg's words “a lesser-paying job” which he deems more acceptable for her as a woman (with a much lower five-figure income attached).
Blaming Fibromyalgia and CFS on the Middle-Class Lifestyle
“Helping and hard driving” refers to the over extended lifestyles of people with CFS and FM. They are often working full-time, taking care of families and helping others- and then squeezing even more activities, such as volunteer work and exercise programs, into their remaining hours. People with CFS and FM also tend to be highly responsible, conscientious, and caretaking of others (particularly in FM).Yet they often feel inadequate for failing to meet the high standards they set for themselves, both before and after the onset of their illness...
Despite these feelings of inadequacy, many people with CFS and FM will say that they were quite happy with their lives before they became ill. That may be; however, many individuals also led unhealthy, overextended lifestyles before illness onset. When you were well, you probably did a lot to achieve certain things and allowed little time for recuperation and personal reflection; you may have ignored the effects of your busy lifestyle on your health and well-being...
Even after the illness begins, your lifestyle may still be overextended- although probably to a lesser degree, and not just in terms of paid employment. You could be spreading yourself too thin with too many commitments. (p. 24, “Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: 7 Proven Steps to Less Pain & More Energy”, by Fred Friedberg, Ph. D)
Welcome to contemporary middle-class life in the U.S.A. Adults, both male and female, juggle job and family and financial responsibilities with various other commitments and never feel they have enough time to accomplish everything they need to get done. There's nothing at all unique about this, and since every adult in the U.S. isn't developing Fibromyalgia and/or CFS, blaming these patients' illnesses on contemporary middle-class life is ridiculous.
Another related aspect to this is blaming these patients' busy middle-class lifestyles on low-self esteem issues. In turn the self-esteem related overachieving over-ambitiousness causes these women to burn out, resulting in Fibromyalgia, CFS or both. According to this mindset, the reason these patients work so hard and have so many commitments isn't because they are doing their part to be responsible, productive members of society while raising their kids and doing their best to make sure all the bills are paid on time, while trying to sock away some money for their kids' college education funds and their retirement fund, help out their frail elderly relatives, and give back to their community through volunteer/charity work. Nope, they do this because they are merely overcompensating for their low self-worth/low self-esteem and their desire to make up for the fact that someone in their lives (possibly a parent, or a spouse/significant other) didn't or doesn't give them the love and recognition they deserve.
More generally, your helping others may be motivated, in part, by your desire to be viewed as a nice or good person. Or, you may be seeking love, approval, and support from people who aren't capable of giving it- or less capable than you like. This amounts to pursuing life goals that are mostly or entirely unattainable, and results in endless frustration, exhaustion, and more stress. (p. 25, Ibid.)
The Use of Poorly Defined and Subjective Terms which are Open to Interpretation and Personal Biases
Define the terms: overachiever, overly ambitious, overly goal-oriented, overly career/job focused, Type A personality, and workaholic. To you, what makes someone an overachiever, overly ambitious, or a workaholic?
Next try defining these terms according to gender. What makes a man an overachiever, overly ambitious, overly -goal and -job oriented?
What makes a woman these things?
Try asking your friends, family, co-workers, or classmates these questions. How do their answers differ from yours?
What about gender biases? For some people it's far more acceptable for a man to be extremely focused on educational, career and economic goals and ambitions than it is for a woman. What could be viewed as overachieving, over-ambitiousness and workaholic type behavior for a woman would be viewed as normal, responsible behavior for a man. The woman is an overachiever, while the man has a good, strong work ethic. Men are the main breadwinners and women are the nurturers whose main focus is supposed to family and the home, with higher education and a career outside the home as a secondary factor in her life.
A 'food for thought' question
How likely is it that our society would ever accept the following statement as true?:
A man who is a reliable hard worker, a responsible family man who puts in long hours on the job, who spends the rest of his time focused on his family, various other commitments, does volunteer work when he can, and squeezes in an hour-long work-out at the gym twice a week is someone who is overachieving because he suffers from low self-esteem issues, and is overcompensating for the fact he didn't receive the love, acceptance and approval he needed from someone in his life, possibly a parent.
Obviously this type of language wouldn't be used against men in our society, and wouldn't be used as a so-called psychological explanation for illnesses men are especially prone to developing. Could you ever imagine men's illnesses such as prostate problems and erectile dysfunction being labeled as psychosomatic illnesses caused by emotional burn-out due to overachieving workaholic behavior, low self-esteem, and childhood abuse 'issues'? It will never happen.
Middle Class FMS/CFS Patients as 'Damaged Goods'
According to the 'rules', Fibromyalgia and CFS patients must be emotionally damaged in some way or else they'd be perfectly healthy physically. The socioeconomically and educational disadvantaged folks- the low income women from bad homes, with bad personal lifestyle habits, who've been abused all their lives- are damaged in one way. While the middle class women from stable backgrounds are damaged goods in their own way- committing the sin of 'becoming chronically ill while middle-class'.
Many of our fibromyalgia patients are overachievers. Prior to becoming ill, they led very busy lives with personal, work, and societal commitments. A perfectionist tendency is evident where every detail of each daily activity is comprehensively thought out an analyzed...When the symptoms of fibromyalgia manifest themselves, fatigue makes it difficult to accomplish all the patient is able to do, which in turn creates feeling of guilt, and inadequacy when the patient cannot perform. This leads to fear of failure and rejection and difficulty handling criticism. Overachievers need to adjust, think innovatively, learn to budget their energy, and delegate responsibility. (p. 150, “All about fibromyalgia” by Daniel J. Wallace, M.D. And Janice Brock Wallace)
All illnesses have a psychological component. Although the highly stressed executive may have a bacterial infection such as Helicobacter pylori or excess acid causing his or her ulcer, it helps to remove the three telephones from his or her ear while treating the infections and excess acid.
I find that I, and most people with CFS/FMS, are mega-type-A overachievers. As a group, our sensitivity and intuitive abilities are high. We often had low self-esteem as children and tended to seek approval, sometimes from someone who simply was not going to give it... Because of our approval-seeking and low self-esteem, we often drove ourselves to being the best at what we did, or to try to be all things to all people.... As we depleted our energy reserves—sometimes while feeling great on an adrenaline "high"—we encountered the physical trigger to our disease ("blew our fuse"), whether it was an infection, an injury, childbirth, or something else. This trigger, combined with physical problems such as yeast overgrowth or hormonal deficiencies and, often, a genetic tendency to the disease, set the process in motion.
(“Am I Crazy? Understanding the Mind-Body Connection in CFS/Fibromyalgia”, by Jacob Teitelbaum M.D., http://www.ei-resource.org/expert-columns/dr.-jacob-teitelbaums-column/understanding-the-mind%11body-connection-in-cfs-and-fibromyalgia/ )
You're Damned If You Do and Damned If You Don't
CYDNEY B. I had no idea what FM was. Eight years ago, when I had been treated for rheumatoid arthritis for two years, the rheumatologist sort of offhandedly mentioned fibromyalgia when I asked why my muscles, as well as my joins felt sore. I went home and looked up the word. It sounded a lot less threatening to me at that point than the RA. The rheumatologist seemed to treat it as a side issue and did not offer any treatment at that point. I thought it was a nuisance, but not much more than that. The RA is now mostly in remission.
No one has really concluded whether FM has a prodrome (a symptom that offers a premonition of a disease) or a genetic defect, or if it lies smoldering for years until it finally becomes a big enough issue that the sufferer seeks medical care. I had the usual growing pains as a child, mostly in my legs. When I was a single mother in my thirties, I experienced what I would call “lost weekends”. About four times a year I would come home on Friday from a week of work, go to bed so exhausted that I could barely move, and sleep almost nonstop until Sunday at about 6 P.M. I'd get up to feed the kids and check on them periodically, But I was pretty well out cold all weekend. Then I'd sleep a normal night's sleep than go back to work. In my mid-thirties I went to a few doctors complaining to terrible pain in my upper back between my shoulder blades. The pain would be present for weeks, then go away for maybe a year or more, and then come back. I was told- and actually believed- that woman my age often complained of similar back pain and that it was just part of being an “overachiever”. I had a very good job, was a single mother of two accomplished young children, and thus evidently an overachiever, a label I heard repeatedly thereafter and very specifically at the time of my diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis. In 1991, at age forty-three, I had a car accident. Within months I started having hip pain, for which I sought treatment. I had not injured my hip in the accident. My condition sort of rolled downhill from there.
So I fit the usual medical history of someone with FM. The Mayo Clinic pronounced me a “classic case” of fibromyalgia, with the classic history. (pp. 46-47, “Women Living with Fibromyalgia”, by Mari Skelly, Kelley Blewster, and Devin J. Starlanyl)
So under the 'rules' of the game, Cydney is negatively typecast as an “overacheiver” because she's a responsible single parent who is working hard to provide for her children and herself. By doing the right thing- being a responsible provider for her children- she's doing the wrong thing.
On the other hand, Cydney could just quit her job and go on welfare, move her family into public housing and not be a conscientious parent who is striving so hard to provide for her children's needs. This would give her plenty of time to 'stop and smell the roses', engage in personal 'reflection, contemplation and introspection' and all that other emotion laden stuff that when ignored is deemed to be partly responsible for the existence of this entity called Fibromyalgia; but then she would be criticized for being yet another fibromyalgic woman who falls into the low income/bad neighborhood residing demographic side of the Fibromyalgia Patient Pool.No matter what a woman does she cannot win in this system. Female FMS patients are always somehow made out to be in the wrong regarding their income level, educational level, occupation and lifestyle. They simply cannot win.
Want To Cure Your Fibro? Become a Country Girl and Move to A Farm
My own experience with FMS has been both personal and professional. I am to say that now, eleven years after the triggering event, I no longer have FMS. To get here I had to question everything about myself and change my life and my lifestyle in many ways. I had to question what I had achieved and attained, what I had learned, my sense of self-worth and measurement, and what I really wanted for my life. I suppose you could call it a midlife crisis come early, or perhaps just an unlucky and tempestuous arrangement of the planets in the heavens, but whatever the cause, on the other side, I am amazed that I continue to function at all considering how lousy I felt most of the time...
In discussing this book as a work in progress with my friends, I laughingly said that I had figured out the cure for FMS and that it is simple as changing your life. Although it was said in jest, there is a lot of truth to it. I believe that the fundamental problem in FMS, nothwithstanding genetic, traumatic, all sorts of other contributing factors, is that we are somehow our of balance with our world. We live and work in concrete boxes, and drive our air conditioned cars from one to the other. We may join our other urban dwellers for a walk in the park at lunch hour, but we rarely if ever experience Nature in all her might and glory, as our ancestors once did. We have lost touch with that essential, natural part of ourselves, and our rhythmic connection to the earth has been undermined. Frumkin has identified the therapeutic value of the wilderness experience and the critical importance to overall health of individual contact with the forces of nature. Many aspects of our urban life, from exposure to toxins and pollution to lack of sleep, yield a chronic pattern that our physical bodies can't handle. Prolonged adrenaline and glucocorticoid release as a stress response cannot be sustained by the adrenal glands, and they become exhausted. Thus begins the whole cascade of neuroedocrine dysregulation that characterizes FMS.
In a way I see FMS as a disease of the soul, a sort of psychic poisoning by the modern world. My preferred prescription for FMS is “move to the country”. What is needed is a slower, more peaceful pace of life, a healthier environment, and the ability to absorb healing energies from the forest and field. Modern Western society does not honor, support, or encourage us to take the time to smell the roses. We are pressured through school, college, work, and family to do more, achieve more, produce more, be the first or best. We are not taught to look after ourselves, to allow play time and recuperation time and quiet time for reflection and introspection. High levels of electromagnetic pollution, lack of contact with nature and the elements and seasons, excessively hectic and frantic schedules, and more and more pressure on our time- these are all significant contributory factors in the development of FMS. I firmly believe that a more balanced lifestyle incorporating play, rest, and quiet time as well as appropriate and pleasurable work, can ensure significant health improvement at ever level.
If this sounds mystical and “New Agey”, I offer no apologies but rather a challenge: try it and see. After struggling for seven years with FMS, attempting to maintain a clinical practice and a retail business, as well as a teaching schedule, I finally admitted defeat and took myself to live on an 150-acre organic herb farm in Virginia. Three years later I can honestly say that I don't have FMS anymore. This is not to say I don't get stiff or achy sometimes, or that my neck doesn't go out occasionally, but a couple of headaches in the past six months is nothing compared to the almost weekly, knockdown, drag-out headaches I used to get a couple of years ago. Moreover, I now enjoy increased energy, deeper sleep, and an altogether greater joie de vivre. (pp. 7- 9, “Fibromyalgia” by Chanchal Cabrera)
Through this whole experience, I have reached the conclusion that FMS is caused by a disharmonious lifestyle. Being out of balance or equilibrium at many levels, being dissociated from nature and natural cycles of the seasons, being disconnected from community and self- all of these will contribute to and predispose one toward ill health. People with full-blown FMS have usually been unwell for quite some time before they are diagnosed and, if questioned closely, will usually describe a sense of knowing that they were “out of balance” or “not in optimum health” for months or years before seeking help. Typically, they have ignored or suppressed messages from the body for years, messages saying “I am tired”, “I am stressed, “I am nutritionally depleted”, and so on. Instead of honoring these messages and paying attention, many people take more coffee or sugar, seek pharmaceutical relief, or simply ignore them. Years of stressing the body without giving it adequate exercise or sufficient rest, eating the wrong foods, smoking, drinking-eventually pay their price. (pp. 10-11, Ibid.)
So fibromyalgia is a “disease of the soul” which only effects busy middle-class urbanites who have little to no contact with nature... Really? Since when?
Urbanites, suburbanites and rural residents are all diagnosed with this condition. The concept that fibromyalgia is a soul-illness of urbanites who can be cured of their ails by moving to small town rural America and spending more time in the wilderness or in a farm field is overly simplistic, silly and simply doesn't reflect reality.
The true challenge of fibromyalgia is to love and respect yourself enough to be willing to do whatever it takes to be well. Taking extraordinary care of your body and soul requires great sacrifices sometimes. For me it meant quitting my clinical practice, moving out of the city to live in the country, taking two years off to focus on healing and achieving balance, and, in the process, decreasing my income by more than half. (p. 12, Ibid.)
There's that money issue again...
Speaking of Money and Overachieving
An excerpt from Freedom From Fibromyalgia: by Nancy Selfridge, M.D., and Franklynn Peterson...
Fibromyalgia does strike some youngsters. Dr. Selfridge had it in her teens. But the average age of onset is in middle age. It mostly hits people who've led full lives, compulsively working at a career, having a family, and joining the PTA, often delaying the fun things for later. But once fibromyalgia hits, there is no later. The pain traps you in the moment, and as it digs deeper, the future can become too painful to contemplate....
Some think fibromyalgia is a new disorder. In truth, it's a constellation of symptoms that has been known since before the start of the twentieth century. Many in the media think fibromyalgia is what doctors call a status diagnosis, as trendy as getting your nose fixed or your tummy tucked. In truth, from 10 to 30 percent of all fibromyalgia sufferers are forced to survive on meager Social Security disability payments even though most of them are well-educated, intelligent, goal-oriented overachievers. Those virtues may in fact be their downfall, the prime mover or complicator that eventually triggers fibromyalgia. http://www.booksthatteach.com/books/fibro.htm
So Fibromyalgia in the middle class is a disease of people who aren't slackers, who commit the sin of working hard to earn a decent living for themselves and their families. They don't drop out of school, they don't spend their lives on welfare, they don't neglect their families. Instead they focus on obtaining a proper education and having marketable job skills. They work hard, pay the bills, take care of their kids, help their frail and elderly relatives, and some give back to their communities through volunteer work- and this is all viewed as a bad thing. It's viewed as a negative that causes them to become ill. This is simply warped and twisted thinking on the part of these medical researchers, therapists and physicians. It's also rather disturbing since these criticisms are most of often aimed at middle class women.
The Fibromyalgia Diagnostic Entity as a Backlash Against Feminism?
At a time when the glass ceiling is breaking, women have more educational and career opportunities open to them, and women are starting to out-pace men when it comes to obtaining advanced college degrees, suddenly this diagnostic entity called Fibromyalgia comes to the fore and all things that ail women are now being labeled as “fibromyalgia”. And the causes behind fibromyalgia are the contemporary version of the 19th century concept of female “hysteria”. Middle class women, know and stay in thy lowly 'place' and you will not be cursed with fibromyalgia for daring to have a “man's” educational and career value system.
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
So who are these medical researchers, doctors, psychotherapists, academics, and authors who criticize middle class white collar female fibromyalgia patients for being educational, career and goal oriented overachievers who are too focused on their jobs and incomes?
Let's take a look at the educational backgrounds and careers of the authors whose book and article excerpts appear in this installment of “Beware the Fibromyalgia Diagnosis”:
The “A Mind-Body Approach to the Treatment of Fibromyalgia” article is a book review for
“Autogenic Training: A Mind-Body Approach to the Treatment of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Syndrome” by Micah R. Sadigh, PhD which appears on the NaturalMatters.net website:
The quote I culled is the last sentence from this paragraph:
When the author examines the psychiatric labels often attributed to those with fibromyalgia and chronic pain, we find they are actually clues to a greater understanding of the illness. Though symptoms of depression and anxiety are prevalent in these patients, most patients do not have a psychiatric diagnosis. Studies suggest the explanation is more likely that living with a chronic condition and the inability to conquer the pain would promote the depression and anxiety. And the fibromyalgia personality, defined as perfectionistic, driven and highly ambitious, may actually indicate an exhaustion of biochemical resources that may contribute to the syndrome.
http://www.naturalmatters.net/article-view.asp?article=301
Dr. Sadigh's educational and career background reads:
Micah Sadigh, Ph.D., FICPM
Associate Professor
Dr. Micah Sadigh is an associate professor of Psychology at Cedar Crest College. He received his bachelor's degree in Clinical Psychology from Moravian College, and his Masters and Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Lehigh University. He also completed his postdoctoral work in Behavioral Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Sadigh's interests lie in clinical, biological, health and existential psychology. His publications include work on sleep disorders, personality disorders, applied psychophysiology, stress and disease, the psychological treatment of pain, post traumatic stress disorder, and an existential approach to the treatment of psychosomatic disorders. He is the author of three books, which includes Autogenic Training: A Mind-Body Approach to the Treatment of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain published by Haworth Medical Press. He is also a published poet and an accomplished composer. In addition to his publications, he frequently lectures at state and national conferences.
Dr. Sadigh is a fellow of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine and is a member of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the Society for Existential Analysis.
Currently, Micah is teaching courses in Systems of Psychotherapy, Health Psychology, Theories of Personality, Stress & Disease, Existential Psychology, History and Systems of Psychology, and Optimal Wellness: A biopsychosocial approach.
http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/psy/msadigh.shtm
Career background of Dr. David Edelberg, quoted under “A Suitable Job for a Woman”:
David Edelberg, M.D.
David Edelberg is founder and vice-chairman of American WholeHealth, an assistant professor of medicine at Rush Medical College (Chicago) and section chief of holistic and alternative medicine at Illinois Masonic Medical Center (Chicago). He continues to practice medicine at the American WholeHealth Center in Lincoln Park (Chicago). He has written numerous articles on alternative medicine and was medical editor of the AMA Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine (publication suspended) and The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs (Pleasantville, NY, Readers Digest Association, Inc.) and the chief medical consultant for www.wholehealth.com, the Web’s largest integrative medicine site.
http://www.americanwellnessnetwork.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=31
Next is Fred Friedberg, Ph D:
Dr. Friedberg is President of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice for 25 years, his office is in Warren, Connecticut. He is also an assistant professor in the Applied Behavioral Medicine Research Institute at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. Dr. Friedberg is the principal investigator of a fatigue self-management study for people with chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In addition, he has authored or coauthored six books and a number of scientific articles on chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chemical sensitivity.
Dr. Friedberg has conducted professional workshops on chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia for the American Psychological Association, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the New England Educational Institute. He also served as a clinical consultant to an NIH-funded behavioral treatment trial for chronic fatigue syndrome at DePaul University in Chicago.
His published scientific articles have appeared in the Journal of Rheumatology, American Psychologist, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of Neuropsychiatry, Archives of Neurology, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, and the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
http://www.lifebalance7.com/index.php?page_id=236
“All About Fibromyalgia” co-authors Daniel J. Wallace M.D. and Janice Brock Wallace M.P.A. :
Dan Wallace was raised in the Carthay Circle/Fairfax area of Los Angeles. After attending Fairfax High School, he received his undergraduate and medical education at the University of Southern California, graduating with an MD in 1974. His graduate medical training included an internship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, medical residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a fellowship in rheumatology at UCLA. He is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
While a fellow at UCLA, he conducted pioneering arthritis research that landed his picture in Time magazine and developed a close relationship with his mentor, Edmund Dubois. Dr Dubois had the largest lupus practice in the United States at the time and was the principal editor of the only lupus textbook. Dr. Wallace entered private practice in 1979 with his father, a cardiologist, but assumed Dr. Dubois’ practice on his passing in 1985. He is the author of 6 medical textbooks (including the last 4 editions of Dubois' Lupus Erythematosus, All About Fibromyalgia, The Lupus Book, All About Osteoarthritis, The New Sjogren's Syndrome Handbook, and Fibromyalgia & Other Central Pain Syndromes), 15 book chapters, and over 200 medical publications. The latter have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, the Lancet, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Immunology, and Journal of the American Medical Association.
Wallace’s academic efforts include having served as Chief of Rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Century City Hospital, and the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, CA. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicineat UCLA. His clinical practice is based at Cedars-Sinai, where he is involved in the care of 2,000 lupus patients, the largest practice of its kind in the United States. The Wallace Rheumatic Disease Research Center currently runs over 30 clinical trials for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia. The center has been the recipient of 3 National Institute of Health grants. 20% of his time is spent in teaching and research, providing free medical care.
Dr. Wallace’s volunteer work has entailed serving as Chairman of the Lupus Foundation of America, the Research and Education Foundation of the American College of Rheumatology, and on the Board of Directors of the United Scleroderma Foundation, the Lupus Research Institute and the American Society for Apheresis. He has served on the Medical Advisory Board of the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation and the American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association. His service has been recognized by being named as among the 200 best doctors in the nation by Town and Country Magazine, best doctors in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Magazine, Best Doctors in Americaeditions since 1994. Dr. Wallace is the recipient of the Lupus Foundation of America Humanitarian Award, Achievement award of the Lupus Research Institute, Spirit Award of the Scleroderma Foundation and the Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award of the Arthritis Foundation. His efforts have raised over $10 million for various rheumatic disease organizations.
In addition to his commitments and responsibilities, he is devoted to his wife (and sometimes co-author), Janice Wallace and their 3 children.
http://www.danieljwallace.com/
Dr. Wallace's wife and co-author Janice Brock Wallace has a Masters Degree in Public Administration.
Dr Jacob Teitelbaum:
totalhealth associate editor Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. is a board certified internist and Medical Director of the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers (www.fibroandfatigue.com) nationally. Having suffered with and overcome these illnesses in 1975, he spent the next 32 years creating, researching, and teaching about effective therapies for fatigue and pain. He is the senior author of the landmark studies “Effective Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia—a Placebo-controlled Study” and “Effective Treatment of CFS & Fibromyalgia with D-Ribose”.
He lectures internationally. He is also the author of the best-selling books From Fatigued to Fantastic!, Three Steps to Happiness! Healing through Joy, and Pain Free 1-2-3- A Proven Program to Get YOU Pain Free! (McGraw Hill 2006). His Web site can be found at: www.Vitality101.com.
“Women Living with Fibromyalgia” co-authors: Mari Skelly, Kelley Blewster, and Devin J. Starlanyl:
Mari Skelly is the author of "Alternative Treatments for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome", "Alternative Treatments for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Insights from Practitioners and Patients", and co-author of "Women Living With Fibromyalgia"
Kelley Blewster is a freelance editor and writer. http://www.spoke.com/info/p8jxtKc/KelleyBlewster She is also the co-owner of several restaurants: http://www.crescent-village.com/press08_retailProfiles.php5
Devin Starlanyl is a physician and FM/CMP (Fibromyalgia/Chronic Myofascial Pain) sufferer who no longer practices medicine, but instead focuses on FM/CMP research and education. Her website can be found here: http://www.sover.net/~devstar/index.htm
She is the author of multiple books on Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain, including: "Fibromyalgia and Chronic Myofascial Pain: A Survival Manual", now in it's second edition, with co-author Mary Ellen Copeland; she is also the author of "The Fibromyalgia Advocate: Getting the Support You Need to Cope with Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain"; and she wrote the forward for "Women Living With Fibromyalgia". She has written articles on the subjects of fibromyalgia and myofascial pain, and she also lectures on these subjects.
Fibromyalgia as a “disease of the soul” advocate Chanchal Cabrera's bio from her website:
Chanchal Cabrera
Chanchal lives with her husband Thierry Vrain in Courtenay on Vancouver Island in BC where they cultivate vegetables and herbs on 7 acres and are building a healing garden retreat center. Visit Innisfreefarm.ca to read more about this.
Chanchal has been a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists since 1987 and obtained her MSc in herbal medicine at the University of Wales in 2003. She has an extensive background in orthomolecular nutrition and allergy therapy as well as clinical aromatherapy.
Chanchal has held the faculty chair in Botanical Medicine at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine in New Westminster since 2004 and she serves on the board of advisors of Dominion Herbal College in Burnaby. She publishes widely in professional journals and lectures internationally on medical herbalism, nutrition and health.
Since completing her Masters dissertation in the study of herbal medicine for breast cancer, Chanchal has continued to specialize in the treatment and prevention of cancer with herbs and nutrition. She teaches a twice yearly, 6 day long clinical intensive on this for medical professionals and almost 70% of her practice is cancer patients.
Chanchal is the author of the book ‘Fibromyalgia - A Journey Toward Healing' published by Contemporary Books. She is a certified Master Gardener and a certified Horticulture Therapist. http://www.botanicalmedicine.org/Tapes/Bios/Cabrera.htm
It's Deja Vu All Over Again
In 1989, geneticist Anne Moir published a book called “Brain Sex”. Her beliefs regarding gender differences in the brain involves the idea that women's brains are incapable of handing certain concepts such as advanced mathematics and the hard sciences. She advocated that women be steered away from educational and career tracks in these fields. While she herself was a woman educated and employed in the sciences, she claimed she was one of the exceptions to the rule, she was one of the rarer 'special women'- a woman born with a “male brain”- which made her an exception. Therefore her educational and career choices were beyond criticism and reproach under the theories she developed and advocated because she was 'different', she was 'special'. This same concept of criticizing others for doing the same things you do is rather blatant when it comes to criticisms made by both male and female physicians, psychotherapists, medical and psychosocial researchers, academics and authors who are attacking middle class FM/CFS patients for having middle class values, incomes and lifestyles while at the same time these detractors themselves are all educated, ambitious, career oriented individuals who as a result have higher incomes which can afford them comfortable middle class lifestyles. It's a blatant case of Hypocrisy in Action.
