Stressing Fibromyalgia

Stress is stored in the muscles of the neck, back, and shoulders. That's what we learned in psychology class. That's what masseuses get paid for.

Going through a pamphlet the other day about fibromyalgia, it said that the cause of the condition is unknown. Later in the pamphlet it said that fibromyalgia has no psychological cause.

So which is it? How do they know there's no psychological cause if they don't know what causes it?

Until we notice that the pamphlet is put out by a pharmaceutical company. Even without knowing what causes it they have a pill that treats it. Backward science. Or clever marketing.

Has anybody noticed that the treatment advertised for a range of maladies from headaches to heart disease to acid reflux is always pharmaceutical? I've seen a commercial for an antacid that says pretty blatantly, "You can't change the amount of stress in your life," so you may as well buy their product. People are swallowing more than the antacids by believing such dreck.

Because you can change the stress in your life. You can make decisions about what you involve yourself in and how much, you have the ability (and the right) to say no to things that would be negative for you, you can take charge and not let the kids and their activities run your life... There is a multitude of things you can do to change the stress level in your life.

The pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to know this. If everybody started handling stress better then their profits would plummit.

I have a series of lectures that I've done for years on handling stress better through physical (diet, exercise, rest), mental (decision-making, logic), emotional (regulation, positive uses of), and spiritual (beliefs, practices) means. While nowhere near perfect, I use these things myself and almost never get sick, almost never see a doctor, don't feel that my life is commanded by every force around me, don't get stressed out, and can handle most any situation I'm in. My daughter commented a couple of weeks ago, "Dad, you're in good shape. A lot of people your age are getting old."

Big Pharma would shudder to hear it.