News from Dr. John C. Lowe, PLLC  February 15, 2007www.drlowe.com

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"What Makes You So Sure
Fibromyalgia Patients
Have Low Metabolic Rates?"

In the last several months, many readers have written and asked me what makes me so sure that fibromyalgia patients have low metabolic rates. If you read drlowe.com very often, you know that I have repeatedly made this "claim."

Explanation of Graph

Most every time I've made the statement, I've cited my recent studies that showed this abnormality. Despite me citing the published sources of the statement, I keep getting this same question in emails from readers. They say they've read my "claim,"  but somehow, they apparently have missed my citing the publications where the "claim" is documented. If you want to download and read the studies, they are available from the journals that published them. Medical Science Monitor published the first study (scroll down to "Clinical Research"), and Thyroid Science the second.

To answer these readers' collective question (what makes me so sure fibromyalgia patients have low metabolic rates?) I'll reiterate: I'm so sure for one reason—I measured the metabolic rates of patients and compared them to those of matched healthy women. I matched the fibromyalgia patients and healthy women by several factors: sex, of course, but also age, height, weight, and their amount of physical activity.

The outcome of both studies was the same—compared to the healthy women, fibromyalgia patients had abnormally low resting metabolic rates. They also had low basal body temperatures.

Keep an important point in mind: My conclusion that the women with fibromyalgia had significantly lower metabolic rates and temperatures than healthy women isn't just my clinical impression or armchair conclusion. Instead, the conclusion is compelled by two separate rigorously controlled and conducted clinical studies. That women with fibromyalgia had lower metabolism and temperatures is a scientific finding.

The lower metabolism of women with fibromyalgia is clear from merely eyeballing the data on a line graph (see the graph above). I included fifteen fibromyalgia  patients and fifteen healthy women in each of the two studies. The graph shows the resting metabolic rates of the fifteen patients in my second study (Thyroid Science).

The red dots connected by lines show the metabolic rates that I actually measured. The blue dotes (one above each red dot) shows the "normal" metabolic rates for each of the patients. (I used three different equations to calculate what a normal metabolic rate was for each of the patients.)

Below the lines of the graph are a series of numbers with a negative sign before each. These numbers tell us what percentage below the normal metabolic rate is the patient's measured metabolic rate.

For example, look at the left of the graph at the first red dot and its corresponding blue dot above it. The normal metabolic rate for that patient was 1406 kilocalories per day. The red dot below, however, shows that when I measured her metabolic rate, it was only 670 kilocalories per day. A simple calculation shows that her measured metabolic rate was 52% lower than her normal rate. This is represented by the "-52" at the bottom of the graph under her red and blue dots.

On average, the fifteen patients' resting metabolic rate was 33% lower than the average normal metabolic rate. In the other study (Medical Science Monitor), the fifteen patients' average metabolic rate was 29% below normal. There's only 4% difference between the average metabolic rates of the patients in the two studies.

Both studies force one to the same conclusion: unlike matched healthy subjects, women with fibromyalgia had abnormally low resting metabolic rates. Similarly, the metabolic rates of virtually all the fibromyalgia patients I test at my clinic are abnormally low.

The evidence for my "claim," then, is substantial. It's so substantial that I am, indeed, quite sure that the conclusion is right. As I propounded in The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, fibromyalgia is a disorder of abnormally low metabolism, and the two studies, backed by extensive objective clinical findings, finally confirm this belief.

My Saturday Interview on Bill Swail's AM Radio Talk Show:
Internet Streamed So You Can Listen

On Saturday, February 17, 2007, 4:30 PM until 6:00 PM CST, I will be the guest on Bill Swail’s radio talk show, “Let’s Get Healthy.” Bill’s show is at Talk Radio 1370 AM. Bill owns a chain of pharmacies named "Peoples’ Pharmacy," and he hosts this cutting-edge health program and another on FM radio, “The Good News Health Show.

According to Jeneen Schloz, P.R. Director for Peoples’ Pharmacy: "Our two radio shows' primary focus is to educate listeners about natural alternatives to prescription drugs and to empower people to take a more active role in their health choices.” The show is Internet streamed so that anyone can listen to the shows through his or her computer.

In addition to his radio shows, Bill also provides health information through two other sources. He writes a newsletter, which you can subscribe to at www.peoplesrx.com, and he answers email questions from listeners. To submit a question, write to him at  askbill@peoplesrx.com.

Several weeks ago, I was on Bill’s other show, "The Good News Health Show." He and I didn’t have enough time to cover all we wanted to on that FM show, so he invited me on his AM radio talk show.

To listen to the show, go to http://talkradio1370am.com/pages/24902.php?. On the upper right corner of the page, click on "Listen Live." Bill is a cornucopia of information on natural health care, and he is dedicated to getting that information to everyone he can. I hope you'll listen to my conversation with him on Saturday afternoon.

If you want to call into the show and ask a question, the studio line is 512-390-1370.