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Patient-to-Patient Fibromyalgia Research Foundation
The Metabolic Treatment Your Guide to Metabolic Health
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We had three objectives in visiting France. One was to personally meet
Prof. J.B. Eisinger, who had invited us. Over the last several years, we’ve
had prolific and enriching communications with Prof. Eisinger. We were
delighted to spend time with him and his wife, André. They were very gracious
and hospitable. Prof. Eisinger is the leading fibromyalgia researcher in France. We can’t
overstate his importance to the advanced understanding of fibromyalgia as
a metabolic disorder. Some of his studies helped reveal the bankruptcy of
the "serotonin deficiency hypothesis" of fibromyalgia. By so
doing, his studies have been strong leavening for the incipient rise of
the "metabolic" paradigm of fibromyalgia. The second objective of our trip was to announce our finding that some
90% of fibromyalgia patients have thyroid disease. We’ve posted our text of the
announcement on another page of drlowe.com. Our third objective was to meet French clinicians, researchers, and
fibromyalgia patients, and to establish a dialog with them about our work.
We succeeded at these objectives. At the same time, we began some
friendships and had a wonderful time. The Grenoble, France Conference On May 6, 2000, in Grenoble, we gave our presentations to the audience
at the Congrès de l’ Association des Fibromyalgiques de la Région
Rhône-Alpes. I (JCL) presented our findings on the relation of
fibromyalgia to thyroid disease. I (GH-L) presented information on the
special use of ultrasound in the treatment of fibromyalgia patients as a
part of metabolic rehabilitation. We gave our presentations in English.
Only about Following our presentations, we talked individually with French fibromyalgia patients, clinicians, and researchers. We were privileged to spend time with Michel Nicollet, M.D., of Toulouse, France, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist. I (GH-L) spent time with G. De Bisshop, M.D., author of several books on electrotherapy. He is working with ultrasound and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation as fibromyalgia treatments. We discussed the use of ultrasound to treat fibromyalgia patients. We discussed our finding that some 90% of fibromyalgia patients have underlying thyroid disease with others at the conference. When Dr. Lowe presented the finding before the whole audience, reactions were mixed. The surprise and disbelief of some rheumatology fibromyalgia researchers were expected. Many patients, however, were encouraged to learn that an effective treatment is available. Delegation from Switzerland. After we spoke to the audience in Grenoble, a delegation from Switzerland asked to speak with us. The delegation represented the Federation Suisse, Fibromyalgie: Groupe Genevois d'Entraide centre la Fibromyalgie. (Their website URL is < Madame Thérèse Jaquiery-Seguin, Président of the Federation, was present. Among other subjects, we talked with them about Professor Garth Nicolson’s work in the USA. We were saddened to hear that in Switzerland, the medical community generally considers fibromyalgia a psychiatric illness. As I (JCL) showed in The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, labeling fibromyalgia as a psychiatric illness is a mixed bag of metaphysics, pseudo-science, and medical quackery. I’m slowly reaching the repugnant conclusion that this reprehensible practice knows no national limits. Visit to Annecy After the conference in Grenoble, we visited a warmly hospitable family, the Claveaus, in Annecy. Their daughter has fibromyalgia, and we are working on arrangements with her to translate some of drlowe.com into French. This is important to us; we want to make the information on our website available to patients in France who don’t speak English. The Claveaus generously helped us with our schedule and plans and made the visit as special and memorable as could be. As Céline Claveau and we walked about Annecy, I (GH-L) took photographs. We've posted some to a page so you can see how beautiful this old city is. Toulon, France Teleconference When we left Annecy, we traveled by train to Toulon. There, we were hosted by Mme. Michèle Iltis, Editor of the French fibromyalgia publication Myalgies. We spent time with Mme. Iltis, Prof. Eisinger, and his wife André. The following day, May 11, we took part in a teleconference at the Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal. The main subject of discussion during the conference was physical treatment for fibromyalgia, such as ultrasound. Afterward, still at the hospital, we participated in the examination of a fibromyalgia patient, and discussed differences in approaches to making diagnostic and treatment decisions. This meeting occurred in the examining room of Kamel Mechtouf, M.D., staff rheumatologist. Also present were Dr. Isabelle Berreder, physician and nutritionist, J. Mollines, M.D., anesthesiologist, and Francois Bonneville and Fanny Zaluski, microkinesiotherapists. Afterward, we had further discussions with Prof. Eisinger, Dr. Mechtouf, Dr. Berreder, and Mme. Iltis. This was the conclusion of our activities in France. We left for home the next day, hopeful that over time, further dialogue with French clinicians, researchers, and patients will benefit fibromyalgia patients both in that country and ours. Final Note: We learned on our trip that French physicians are prohibited from prescribing T3 except in "picogram" dosages. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram---too little to regulate the metabolism of fleas. The prohibition is based on a decision of a consensus panel of conventional thyroidologists. This French panel thus contributes to conventional thyroidology's 30-year legacy of illogical, scientifically-unjustifiable, and patient-harming conclusions. In the USA, pharmacists provide patients with a leaflet when they fill their Cytomel (T3) prescriptions. It reads: "No known adverse effects when used properly." Yet French physicians can’t prescribe therapeutic amounts of this harmless and extraordinarily useful hormone. This consensus opinion consigns incalculable numbers of French citizens to a poor quality of life, continuing illness, and premature death. Learning of this tragically unwise and harmful consensus opinion strengthens my (JCL) belief that conventional thyroidology is a worldwide public health menace. On humanitarian grounds, something simply must be done to free the public from its adverse influence. Text of Drs. Lowe & Honeyman-Lowe's announcement in Grenoble, France on May 6, 2000.
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