Selected articles from 2004

• For more current news items relating to CFS and FMS, please see: Google News, Yahoo News, Immunesupport, and Co-Cure Archives.
  
  
  
• Oscar watch: Underdog 'Seabiscuit' wins the feel-good award
  Seattle Times, WA - Feb 6, 2004
  Laura Hillenbrand, author of the brilliantly detailed biography "Seabiscuit" on which the movie was based, spent years researching and writing her book, often while confined to her bed with chronic fatigue syndrome. And Ross, who hadn't directed since the box-office disappointment of "Pleasantville" in 1998, read an early version of the book and envisioned a movie, sweet and nostalgic, steeped in the warm browns and russets of an autumn afternoon.
  
  
• A name for the pain: Fibromyalgia sufferers are no longer alone
  WTOP News, Washington, DC - Feb 17, 2004
  Plagued by such extreme pain and fatigue that she couldn't leave her bed, Lynne Matallana thought she had lost her mind. What she did lose was 2 1/2 years of her life. That's how much time passed before doctors finally diagnosed her with fibromyalgia, a chronic illness in which the body's pain response goes haywire.
  
  
• The Flash is Back: Alternative Nutrition Helps Actress Jennifer Beals Beat CFS
  Better Nutrition - March 2004
  The health challenge was a turning point in Beals' attitude toward nutrition. She still avoids sugar, wheat and caffeine, three of the culprits responsible for her ailments. She has substituted these things with healthier options such as oats, fruits and green teas. Beals no longer eats as stringently as Dr. Matsen recommended because her digestive system began working so well that her metabolism skyrocketed, and she was losing weight too quickly.
  
  
• No, You're The Jerk: Doc-Patient Summit Probes Sources of Mutual Disdain
  Washington Post, DC - Mar 8, 2004
  
  100 doctor-patient teams vented their complaints about each other during a three-day summit in Phoenix. They channeled those frustrations into a report filled with tips they hope will help heal wounded doctor-patient relationships nationwide. The 44-page report, available at www.patient-physician.com, features seven areas where doctor and patient agree there's lot of room for improvement -- communication, the office experience, the hospital experience, education, integration, decision-making and outcomes. One of the surprises of the sometimes-heated summit was that patients and doctors, for all their differences, said they want essentially the same thing: mutual respect, more listening and cooperation, and better health outcomes for the patient. In the 1970s, said [Marie Savard], studies began to show that patients with chronic conditions who are active in their own care have much better health outcomes. And yet, she said, doctors and patients are still stuck in what she called "Marcus Welby mode" -- with the omniscient, paternalistic doctor ministering to the passive, nodding patient. The summit's sponsors and participants hope their report will change that, offering both doctors and patients hints on how to interact in a more mutually satisfying way.
  ... John J. Seddon Jr. can vouch for the tips in the report. He said that participating in the summit as a patient has transformed the way he views his health care and the way he comports himself at the doctor's office. The 70-year-old retired Air Force intelligence officer said he now takes more responsibility for his own health... And when he encounters rudeness or apathy at the doctor's office, he no longer shrinks away quietly, assuming doctor knows best.
  
  
• Sick and shunned: When everyday smells are an enemy, society should be an ally
  Albuquerque Tribune, NM - Mar 9, 2004
  Environmental illnesses have come to the forefront of disability issues during the last 10 years. What was once thought to be a disease of the mind is now recognized as the body rejecting the enormous amounts of chemicals that invade our lives on a daily basis.
  
  
• Stress, Breast Cancer and Cytokines
  NPR Weekend Edition, DC - Mar 20, 2004
  New research indicates that women with breast cancer survive longer if they are able to eliminate certain stress factors in their lives. The study suggests that in about 30 percent of breast-cancer survivors, the body's own immune system chemicals -- notably cytokines -- prolong fatigue. Frank Browning reports.
  
  
• Understanding Omega-3s
  Washington Post, DC - March 24, 2004
  I first became interested in the power of omega-3 fatty acids when psychiatrists I work with began prescribing them for their depressed patients. Then I started hearing about their benefits for arthritis and a host of other diseases. And I couldn't help but wonder, could it be possible that one simple change in the diet could provide so many benefits?
  
  
• Fibromyaliga Boosts Pain To Acute Levels
  NBC5i.com, TX - Mar 25, 2004
  Shari Ferbert outwardly appears healthy. One the inside, however, she is wracked with pain. Febert . . . suffers from a disease that is difficult to diagnose and has no known cause. Fibromyaliga causes profound pain, even from the slightest touch, in people afflicted by the condition. Doctors often fail to identify the disease because it resembles other problems. The misdiagnoses, Febert said, is almost as painful as the disorder.
  
  
• Vitamin D found to boost health, if people get enough
  American Medical News - Apr 5, 2004
  Research is pointing to vitamin D as a possible cancer preventive, a boon to heart health and a potential player in preventing a host of autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Deficiencies also were recently pegged as a possible culprit among people with persistent and nonspecific bone and muscle pain and the reason that more elderly women experience falls.
      > American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March, 2004;79(3):362-371
  
  
• Fibromyalgia: The Answer Is Blowin' in the Wind
  J Rheumatol. 2004 Apr;31(4):636-9
  Why do those who belittle the concept of FM offer virtually nothing more of an argument than their own feeble versions of "common sense," while repeatedly ignoring a huge and ever-growing body of evidence supporting its legitimacy?
  
  
• A Battle Against Unknowns: Struggling to Combat CFS and Fibromyalgia
  Rapid City Journal, SD - May 5, 2004
  Just getting out of bed each morning is sometimes more than two Rapid City women can handle. Both suffer from diseases many doctors won't admit exist and, instead, tell the women, "It's all in your head." Pat Usera and Connie Pich suffer from fibromyalgia syndrome and Pich has chronic fatigue syndrome as well.
  
  
• Spin Control
  Washington Post, DC - May 10, 2004
  Dizziness Afflicts Nearly Everyone Now and Then. That Doesn't Make It Easy to Live With. By Mimi Harrison.
  On the morning of Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003, I woke up dizzy. Even before I opened my eyes, I sensed that something was wrong. I was lying in bed on my back, but I felt like Dorothy, airborne, whirling toward Oz. I opened my eyes and the feeling went on. Gingerly, I raised myself out of bed.
  
  
• Vitamin D Deficiency Called Major Health Risk
  Washington Post, DC - May 21, 2004
  Many Americans, particularly African Americans, may be suffering from unrecognized deficiencies of a key nutrient -- vitamin D -- that increase the risk of bone problems and perhaps a host of other diseases, a growing number of scientists say. . . . But beyond bone and muscle problems, some evidence suggests a dearth of vitamin D may be associated with an array of more serious illnesses, including many forms of cancer, high blood pressure, depression, and immune-system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
  
  
• The High Price of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  UPI, DC - June 22, 2004
  CFS costs the United States more than $9 billion each year in lost productivity, or about $20,000 per person annually, not even including healthcare costs, according to a study published Monday in the online journal Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. About a quarter of those with chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, aren't able to work at all, and those who do continue to work lose about one-third of their income, the report said. (Our group members Elly and Cheri are quoted in this article!)
      >  Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation 2004, 2:4
  
  
• Living With A Disability 
  NZ Girl - June 28, 2004
  It's hard enough being a teenager without having to deal with a debilitating disability like Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
  
  
• Fighting through the fatigue, pain
  Arizona Republic, AZ - Jul 12, 2004
  Frandsen began searching for answers when she experienced bodywide aching and had to take two, sometimes three, naps a day. "I was so weak I couldn't even bring the groceries in from the car or lift a roast from the oven without my husband's help," she says. A low-carb diet was her first step to recovery. Then she discovered the guaifenesin/salicylate-free treatment protocol developed by St. Amand. It restored her energy and reduced her aches "90 percent," she says.
  
  
• Photographer's putting faces on the suffering
  San Diego Union Tribune, CA - Aug 2, 2004
  Like many of her partners in pain, Carol Sveilich goes through much of life disguised as a paragon of health. Only when you look behind the mask, behind the functional facade, can you appreciate the suffering.
  
  
• Illness inspires woman to reach out
  Marion Chronicle Tribune, IN - Aug 2, 2004
  Now Jacque Ormsby is trying to start a support group for local people with fibromyalgia and its close cousin, chronic fatigue syndrome.
  
  
• Supporting Caregiving Spouses
  Washington Post, DC - Aug 10, 2004
  Two and a half years ago, when they were both about 60, George and Jane Patrick of Bethesda started drawing up plans for retirement, even though it was still five years off. What their vision didn't include: her diagnosis soon after with multiple sclerosis, which requires her to use a cane and keeps her home some days because of pain and fatigue. It also didn't include the depression and irritability that he began to experience as her caretaker, said Patrick ....
  
  
• Lyme disease spurs woman to educate others Petoskey News, Michigan - Aug 16, 2004
• Gulf War Syndrome May Be in the Genes Reuters, UK - Aug 17, 2004
• Chronic fatigue syndrome researchers offer physical evidence Medical News Today, UK - Aug 23, 2004
• Study links nutritional supplement, creatine, to increased ... Medical News Today, UK - Aug 23, 2004
• U Of M Starting Massive Chronic Pain Research Effort WDIV, MI - Aug 24, 2004
• Research Effort Seeks Answers to Painful Questions Newswise (press release) - Aug 25, 2004
• New clues to chronic fatigue Toronto Star, Canada - Aug 26, 2004
• Skin Offers Clues to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome WebMD - Aug 26, 2004
• Health Tips ... from UPI Washington Times, DC - Aug 27, 2004
• Fibromyalgia Story Inspires Hope KRON4, CA - Aug 27, 2004
• Chronic Fatigue Differs from Depression Reuters, NY - Aug 31, 2004
• A dead horse rescued me Telegraph.co.uk, UK - Sep 3, 2004
• Believers cling to sting therapy Tribune Review, Pittsburgh - Sep 13, 2004
• Pictures tell of photographer's battle with the 'silent' illness Western Mail, UK- Sep 16, 2004
• Living with illness and stigma Hendon Times, UK - Sept 16, 2004
• Chemicals Sickened '91 Gulf War Veterans, Latest Study Finds NY Times - Oct 15, 2004
• Conquering immune disorders News 8 Austin, TX - Nov 2, 2004
• Treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome News 14 Carolina, NC - Nov 9, 2004
• VA shifting research away from stress as cause of illness San Jose Mercury News, CA - Nov 12, 2004
• Gulf War illness studies to shift away from stress Detroit Free Press, MI - Nov 13, 2004
• Chemical quagmire - Dover woman says controversial disease has taken hold of her life Portsmouth Herald News, NH - Nov 14, 2004
• Chemical sensitivity has altered her life Portsmouth Herald News, NH - Nov 14, 2004
• MCS Resources Portsmouth Herald News, NH - Nov 14, 2004
• Fibromyalgia Syndrome Journal of American Medical Association, IL - Nov 16, 2004
• Gulf War Syndrome Acknowledgment Urged [of British Gov't] Ross, AP - Nov 17, 2004
  
• Dr. Tom: Mysterious Ailment Drains Energy Iowa Channel.com, IA - Nov 18, 2004
• Report: Gulf War syndrome is real Newsweek, NY - Nov 18, 2004
• Rare Seabiscuit Photos For Sale on eBay BloodHorse - Nov 18, 2004
• Some Childhood Ills Refuse to Go Away HealthDay News - Nov 21, 2004
• Dr. Mona: Fibromyalgia and Fatigue CBS 11, TX - Nov 24, 2004
• New Study Links Stress and Aging Washington Post, DC - Nov 29, 2004
• Jade's insight lives on through poetry ic Coventry, UK - Nov 30, 2004
• Beautifying the outsiders New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Nov 30, 2004
• Stress 'may speed up cell ageing' BBC News, UK - Nov 30, 2004
• A life filled by loves helps Geraldine Shader handle illness Albany Times Union, NY - Dec 10, 2004
• Worker sues Boeing, Aetna over disability benefits OregonLive.com, OR - Dec 14, 2004
• Chronic fatigue syndrome affects more than a million people Yuma Sun, AZ - Dec 16, 2004
• Fibromyalgia sufferer ready to help others Carlisle Sentinel, PA - Dec 16, 2004
• Therapy Targets Cause of Chronic Fatigue LA Times, Los Angeles - Dec 20, 2004
• Holiday cheer is a challenge for chronically ill New York Newsday, NY - Dec 21, 2004

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