Below is an email exchange between myself and Dr. Forrest Tennant, who has been researching the use of HCG for chronic pain, in which he answers several questions I had about the therapy. He is continuing to find it very helpful and feels it should be offered to all patients with "central pain" - the central sensitization that is a part of fibromyalgia.

Gulf War Syndrome is a CFS-like illness suffered by one in four of the nearly 700,000 veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War - and a new study shows that the powerful antioxidant CoQ10 can help ease symptoms. The study involved 46 veterans with Gulf War Syndrome - a subset of chronic fatigue syndrome, with symptoms such as chronic fatigue, widespread muscle pain, and sleep problems.

When was the last time your bare feet touched the earth? With the soles of shoes being made of insulating materials, cities being covered in asphalt, and most of our homes offering little or no contact with the ground, you may find that it's been a while. This is especially so for people who live in big cities. For most of human existence, we lived in intimate contact with the earth and soil. People walked barefoot or with leather soled shoes. They also slept in contact with the ground. This is no longer the case. In this interesting new book by Dr. Stephen Sinatra and Martin Zucker, two colleagues that I have great respect for, they team up with Clinton Ober who developed the concept called "Earthing." It is a remarkably simple and common-sense idea, and has been supported by a number of studies done by Mr. Ober.

Although the research findings are mixed, I have found a history of abuse to be common in my CFS/FMS patients. In one study, exposure to childhood trauma was associated with a 6-fold increased risk of CFS and this was associated with the stress hormone changes seen in CFS (see abstract below). And as many as 70% have suffered physical or emotional abuse-as opposed to 15% of healthy people and 45% of those with other rheumatologic problems.