Chronic Muscle Pain Syndrome [Paperback]

I have read newer books on chronic muscle pain and Fibromaylagia, and they get very contorted in their interpretations. Rightfully so, these are extremely frustrating conditions with no simple solutions, so it is easy to see why people want to grab on to any tangible explanation they can find for pain and fatigue.
Davidson lays these group of problems out in a very clear, uncluttered manner. You won't read this book and think "it's all in my head," nor will you read hypothesis after hypothesis about causes of these problems. You'll find clear explanations about how brain and body interact to cause a lot of pain.
Not an overwhelming amount of complicated information, but basic ways to help yourself starting now, and to see results right away if you are determined.

This is a useful book because it is so clean and concise. He presents a simple program, uses good examples from his practice. What you need to apply his program is a certain level of insight on your own responses to stress and pain, and the determination to make time and concentrate on making some alterations in your life. (relaxing and fun, stretching, exercise, various forms of stress relief).

You won't be put off by this book unless you wanted a complicated, medical explanation of some as yet unknown pathology causing your discomfort. That's not available and may never be, so you might as well start helping yourself.

I don't recall exactly when I began to struggle to read your 1989 book, "Chronic Muscle Pain Syndrome". I had bought it at the library bookstore after the library discarded it. Eventually, I was so ill, I became bed ridden and brain fog was so bad I couldn't remember much of anything I read. Your book was on the shelf beside my bed along with a highlighting marker and a pen. As I began to read, I remember what Oprah describes today as "AhHa moments". Your book gave me hope. I could only digest a page at a time; I would highlight things which applied to me so I could later show them to my primary care physician. Then I would roll over and sleep; I'd awaken and read another page; then, I'd roll over and sleep some more; and, so it went as I read a page then slept; read another page and slept some more . . . . I was so fortunate to have a physician at the time who would "listen" to me. By now, I was using an electric scooter for mobility each time I visited the VA Hospital in Washington, DC. I was in too much pain and too weak to walk the halls; I looked like a living dead person because I was so pale--colorless. I recall my blood pressure being very low each time it was taken.

I took your book to Dr. RW (my former Primary Care physician-now retired), along with all the page number reference notes I had written inside the front cover; I remember him looking at it briefly and saying, "There are some tests we can run. . . " and he did have many tests done. When we were done, he referred me to a fibromyalgia research clinic being conducted by Daniel J. Clauw, MD, at Georgetown University. They found I had "all eighteen and then some" of the major points. My physician from the Air Force, Dr. Frank R. Lecocq, where I had spent three months hospitalized at Wilford Hall Hospital, San Antonio, Texas, (either 1964 or 1965) had remained in touch with me after we were both discharged from the military; ultimately, he went on to teach at Duke University Medical School until his untimely death from a heart attack on the tennis courts one Saturday. He had spoken to me on the phone that morning and I told him he sounded "tired"; I had no idea he would die later that day and I would never get to speak to him again. * Dr. Lecocq had taught me the importance of finding a physician who would "listen to" me. I've learned what rare gems these skills are in the field of medicine today.

Now, I had a firm diagnosis of something which made sense instead of the long documented, "adrenal hyperplasia, androgenic type, with psychoneurotic reaction". Ultimately, I had that misdiagnosis corrected and revised to the current diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. All of thanks to your very informative book.

This book is a "must read" if you haven't read any books about fibrositis/fibromyalgia. It is a great place to start with information still valid today. The word fibromyalgia wasn't used then.

Thank you, Dr. Davidson, for your book and for giving me the information I needed to help me keep moving forward with living and setting goals for a future.

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