That's exactly what I was thinking. Acohol and a lot of other pain medications can be used too.

Modern journalism at it's finest. Go for the bucks, f#@K responsibility!

Any electronic PDR can tell you every drug out there that contains GHB in its manufacturing in seconds. So, it's not like the writer of the article is letting the cat of out the bag. Any nurse, doctor, pharmacist, technician, medical student could tell you this much. Oh wait, you're just laypersons that don't think before they post, and assume there's some media conspiracy to abet rapists.

Sometimes there is just too much information. Now rapists know what to use, kind of like giving the recipe for meth on the internet. DUH!

Anybody that's so twisted that they have to sit around formulating a rape plan, probably already knows how to get what they want. They don't need some mainstream media outlet to tip them off. It's like telling a meth addict that there's a recipe online for meth. They probably already knew this way before MSNBC did.

Not to mention the "placebo effect" which in many, many studies have proven that a placebo is often equal to or more effective than the actual drug being tested. The power of the mind is an amazing thing, it's too bad people can't use their amazing brains to realize that they should stop throwing billions of dollars at pharmaceutical companies when a simple sugar pill would do the trick. (in some cases, not all)

It's especially scary learning about the increased usage of pills being prescribed to teens and younger children. "Kid talks back to the teacher? There's a disease for that and a pill to cure it!" Whatever happen to, "Spare the rod, spoil the child"? These days it's more like, "Spare the pill, ail the child"

I seldom reply to any post on these boards due to the rampant stupdity however Sir or Madam your comment requires a response. I live with Fibromyalgia. It is not all in my head. It is a great presumption on your part to make judgements against any other individual's perception of what is painful or when they are tired, two predominant symptoms of this syndrome. I would invite you, if possible, to live with this diagnosis, and then reevalutate if "it's all in my head".

Bechtel-1397456

It is very hard to produce evidence that a drug is effective for a disease that does not exist...

So fibromyalgia doesn't exist?

I'm sure a lot of people that have been diagnosed with it will be glad to know they're OK after all.

How kind of you to diagnoise me with a mental condition. There is nothing wrong with my mind though the pain that I am in on a daily basis does make me a little foggy at times. Today my pain is low and my mind is clear. 10 minutes from now that may not be the case. You do not know what people with Fibro go through. You do not know the pain we suffer on a daily basis. You do not understand the looks we get when we park in the handicap spaces and use motorized carts to get around the stores. You do not have to look at the disappointment in your childrens faces when you have to break plans. Ever had the flu? Know what that feels like? That is how I feel on a daily basis. My body is in constant pain. So in my mind that makes you lucky. Very very lucky. Count your blessings. I count mine everyday. I am blessed with family and co-workers who understand that I am sick and that each good day is a blessing and that I pray the bad days are few and far between. I hope that a new drug gets approved because right now there is only one medication approved for Fibro and it does not work for me or most people I know.

Bechtel-1397456

Fibromyalgia is similar to MS is along the same lines...it's a VERY REAL disorder in which your nerves are de-mylenating. Imagine a power cord without the rubber potection around it, it's kind of like that. Don't speak of things in which you do not understand.

Leee1102 and Bechtel-1397456: You, sirs, are morons.

Fibromyalgia does very much exist and it is hard as hell to watch a dear friend of mine suffer through this disease.

Too bad they haven't come up with a drug that ails whatever is in your head.

If you want to know how you got Fibromyalgia, the first stop may be to google Dangers of GMO foods.

Welcome to our safe, FDA approved genetic health disaster.

Yep, how 'bout Lupus, too. Hard to "prove" Lupus... Newsflash- Bechtel doesn't know what they're talking about.

Just because they do not know what causes an illness is no reason to say it doesn't exist. At some point in the past, they did not even know what caused nearly every well-known disease today. There are still plenty they don't know the cause of; there are medications that are effective but they don't know what makes them effective. The fact that they can't identify or find a cause for an illness YET is not a reason to withhold effective medication that can ease pain.

I suffer from another disease that some say it's"all in my head" called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (yet another chronic pain disorder - pain 24/7) I find it amazing that all of these "highly educated people" (and I use the term "highly educated people" very loosely) know sooooo much about diseases & disorders. In my opinion thier "knowledge" is all in thier head - pun intended w/ very much sarcasm, I might add! I say let each & every one of these people to walk 1 day, or even 1 hour for that matter in any one of our shoes that suffer from these so called diseases that only exist in our heads!! I would love to hear thier opinion then. I've always said I wouldn't wish my disease on anyone, not even my worse enemy. But I'm changing my mind because I am so sick (no pun!) & tired of all the doubters that believe I'm making this up, that it's all in my head!!! Do you feel pain when you break your leg? give birth? fall & hurt yhour back? Well.....to bad, it's all in YOUR head!!!!

First, where do you think pain is? It is all in the mind, but so is vision, taste, hearing, touch, etc.

If someone is in pain, they deserve the ability to apply any technology to alieviate that pain. If someone else is abusing that technology or medicine, go after the abuser.

Tiffany and BLong should be allowed to try this new drug as long as it is not going to damage their bodies worse than the effects of the pain they suffer.

I have fibro and also narcolepsy. Xyrem takes care of my sleepiness by making my sleep better at night. I used to wake up 16 times an hour, which meant I could not go into deep rejuvenating sleep. I had fibro before I had narcolepsy, and was diagnosed with it about five years before the narcolepsy got bad.

Saw a rheumatologist that said, indeed, fibro is all in our head. However, let me explain. The reason regular pain meds do not work with fibro is because regular pain meds dull the pain going to the brain to be known as pain. fibro is in the brain, in that the touch of a finger can be felt in the brain as a pain. so regular meds can't dull it before it gets to the brain. that doctor merely touched me in certain places, I went through the roof in pain. and the next day I could barely walk. she knew where to touch it, to be sure. she also said that fibro can be caused by sleep disorders, she said if you disrupt someone's sleep in a certain way over and over again, you can cause fibro. That's why Xyrem is good for both. both are caused by sleep disorders.

you could hook someone up to an EEG, touch them in a pain spot and watch the pain on the EEG, so we now know it is not "all in your head". It has a verifiable proof on an EEG.

And Xyrem as a party drug ? Yeah, let's all take our /Xyrem and sleep through the party. Date rape drug? You risk life in prison, give Xyrem to the wrong person and they could have an apnea and die. It used to be sold in health food stores back in the 70s for pennies.

What a novel idea - educate one's self!!! Sure are alot of people out there that could benefit from this!

Bravo! This is the point that I've been trying to make for years; and the point that I think a lot of people try to make, but don't get the words out properly. It's treated with a psychiatric drug! It's a psychological problem that manifests as physical. Most of the time, anyway. Not saying that there can't be exceptions. And before anyone gets on me about blah blah blah not living with the disease, I have a friend who has fibro, and I am well aware of what she goes through.

FROM WIKIPEDIA. Thanks for the medical diagnosis, Leee. Do you get your meds from a bubblegum machine?

I apologize but anyone who uses wikipedia for any of there facts and actually believes them has gone off the deep end. Next time your on wikipedia do me a favor and look for a small blue edit button on the bottom of the page. you will also notice that you can find things in there about pterodactyls being alive and well. Ha. People think this stupid @!$%# up because of you morons who will believe it without a second opinion. My mother has fibromyalgia and I know that s**t isn't in her head. its very real. And quit using wikipedia dumbasses

Apparently Wikipedia is the only reference book neccessary to become a doctor! Excuse me while I go look it up & get ready to start my own practice. Sincerely, Digar518, MD.

You, along with many practicing doctors are not up to current medical science on chronic pain disorders. You search online and read the old standard textbook info or data, and think that is it...but then most are not informed on new studies and journals written by specialists who know what the heck they are talking about.

Do not pretend to think you know something, just cause it was written online somewhere. It does not make it true.

There is a rheumatologist in Sioux Falls, SD that is a new doctor "up" on the newest research. She has told me that if you disrupt someone's sleep in a certain way every night, you will cause fibro. It has something to do with sleep disorder and pain receptors in the brain. Just as narcolepsy has to do with the GABA receptors in the brain, fibro is similar. Example: take someone with narcolepsy and fibro (me) and give them gabapentin for pain. You can knock me out for hours. Because they are similar receptors, and my sleep receptors are deficient in orexin. I went to see this doctor to rule out lupus. Thankfully I do not have lupus. But she sure knew her stuff about narcolepsy and fibro.

If you consider that the perception of pain includes the neurons in your brain and therefore the neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, fibromyalgia DOES include an element in your head. However, ALL pain does!! Because it includes the neurotransmitters, and chronic pain includes an element of a cyclic nature of depression (both physical and mental), antidepressants are frequently used in an attempt to break this cycle and attempt to help with the pain. Also, tri-cyclic antidepressants are often used at night to assist with the REM sleep patterns, so you don't wake up feeling like you were hit by a mack truck.

I have fibromyalgia (diagnosed about 15 years ago, with 15 out of 18 trigger points) and have basically kept myself under control on the flu-like pain with 600mg 2x/day of guiafenesin (over the counter medicine), lots of calcium and vit c for muscle spasms, and plenty of water all day. I still have flares, and can't do a LOT of the stuff I used to do. I get so tired and have to stop sometimes in the middle of food shopping and just finish another time, but it's a lot better than it was.

Try these over the counter meds before you go with the Lyrica and stuff, if you haven't yet or if they don't work for you. It was a life saver for me!

Yes, fibro is "in your head", but it's everywhere else, too! So is ALL of EVERYONE's pain!

Don't let the brainless idiots get you down. They don't know any better, they just think they do, and need to open their 'mouths' about it. The thing that irritates me the most is that I was in Mensa, and the fibrofog takes my words away from me and makes me sound stupid sometimes. So annoying!

One point that WE are trying to make is that ANYONE can post to Wikipedia!!! Do you all understand this?! Try going to WebMD or a more reputable site than Wikipedia! You can NOT necessarily believe everything you read there! You would be much better served going to the Fibromyalgia websites to read the more up-to-date information, as they will have the most recent research info, also. Wikipedia will have little of true value and can be very wrong. Get it?!!

In the American Thesarus...syndrome has the same meaning/may be replaced with......disease. Any questions? TALK ABOUT GETTING YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!! And Heaven help you - period, cause Lord knows YOU need it!!!!!

The thesaurus is not a medical text. Medically speaking, when you don't know what causes something, you call it a syndrome. When it has an established cause, it graduates to disease.

Well said. There is now a school of thought this is a neurological disfunction and being treated with some success with medications geared towards ADD and MS. I recently read of a study with Ritalin that promised some interesting results.

I guess when all is said and done those people who chalk it of as "in your head" really lack compassion for others who they do not understand. What a sad life you all must lead.

I've taken ritalin for my narcolepsy, I might as well have had a sugar pill. It did absolutely nothing at all for me. Dexedrine was helping me stay awake, so I could function at work. But after 4 hours, the drop afterwards was horrible. I grew tolerant to dexedrine in a matter of weeks. The stimulants don't attack the problem, which is horrible lack of normal sleep. They mask the symptoms. I now take Xyrem and I am not sleepy anymore, and it also helps my fibro. Fibro IS a neurological problem, due to a lack of chemicals to attach to the pain receptors to make pain feel normal like everyone else feels. Our brain feels paiin when a certain place is touched or moved. So pain meds won't work because it is not pain going from a hand to the brain, it is considered pain IN the brain. Xyrem works for this, as it straightens out the chemical needs in the brain between sleep and pain.

3 car accidents did it for me.

Bad news for date rapists, if you give enough Xyrem to completely knock them out, you have them far enough "out" that they can easily die. If you give them less than enough to knock them out, they may appear drunk (and sick) but they can still move about and knoww what is going on around them. I take my Xyrem at bedtime and I can carefully walk to the door to let the dog out, I can go to the bathroom if I need to. I can wake up when the flight for life helicopter goes over my house , as I work at the hospital and wonder who's going out. There are other drugs that would be much better and safer date rape drugs. Xyrem would probably just cause coma and death if you gave them too much.

For me it has nothing to do with the stigma of a mental vs a physical disease. Perhaps you are reading things that are not there. I object to anyone who claims something does not exist or is trivialized because of their lack experience with it. We all have pain both physical and mental. I strive not to judge due to any handicap.

i feel for you and your sister, i hope that she is doing as well as possible. i don't believe it to be all in my head because all of anti-depressants & fibro meds have not worked for me. i am also effected badly by rising, falling barometer pressure, this is when i have my worst pain. that is not my head, it is outside forces at work on my body.

Thoms1575137: FYI. Insurance companies reject individuals w/Fibro., because it's considered a pre-existing condition. Imagine being discriminated against by the medical community, friends, family, and the ins. co's. for a syndrome that doesn't exist--or at least that's what some uneducated experts tell us. I guess we'll just have to wait until someone famous is diagnosed w/Fibro. before it's given the appropriate attention it deserves. In the mean time, many of us will continue to struggle to make ends meet, raise a family, remain gainfully employed--while hiding our conditions so we won't be discriminated against for having an invisible disability. Sad, very sad.

I hope your sister is doing well. I was married to a man that became schizoaffective 12 years after we were married. He was psychotic, he robbed our bank, found innocent due to disease or defect. I know the difference between a mental illness, and a syndrome that causes pain intolerance. Luckily for me, I am based in reality, whereas someone with a mental illness has trouble seeing things normally. He used to pull off his toenails because he didn't want to cut them, then would walk around in bloody socks. It was horrible. He had the opposite problem, along with his mental illness, in that he knew no pain.

Because right now, Jazz Pharmaceuticals is making a freakin fortune. They charge me 2400 dollars A MONTH, for Xyrem and I pay 35.00 copay. There is no cap on what their monopoly is receiving. They are the only place selling it, and if you don't have the money or insurance, you are out of luck. If they have 12 different places selling it, it will drop in price. Xyrem used to be sold in health food stores for a sleeping tonic. It used to cost a couple of dollars a bottle. But since Jazz has taken it over, its risen in price every month. I was close to the cap on my insurance costs due to Xyrem. 2400 a month times 48 months. whew

Hi Paul: Your comment was interesting. I have had fibromyalgia for several years now, but it became worse after I had back surgery and had bone morphogenic protein instilled in my back, which is supposed to rebuild the damaged bone. I had a number of problems that increased my nerve pain and made me break out in a horrible rash on my legs. I also became extremely tired and felt truly horrible. It has been 2 years since my surgery, and now the fibromyalgia is worse than ever. I hope your wife is doing okay.

Xyrem can NOT be prescribed by most doctors! Physicians must have participated in an educational program and be on a registry before they can prescribe it. I'm both a pharmacist and a user of Xyrem, so I've had a little experience with this issue.

Hey, I may be male, why do you call me pig?

There ARE male chauvinists and you KNOW it. If you aren't one of them, you would not be upset. You who took offense...which category do you fall into? I think you answered it already.

Sorry, it is a known fact of science that men do not process with both sides of the brain, especially the right side of the brain, as women do. That is why women bear children, nurture, provide all the support to most men who are successful. Try living without a woman...you would be surely lacking.

oldschool, glad I'm not the lucky man in her life! LOL

It is obvious there is no liteness of being here.

That goes for you too david-1313343, just what I said to the other "man". But you are not a real man. Real men don't have ego's so easily flustered, that flap whenever a woman speaks her mind. I wonder do you beat up on women? Do you degrade your GF? Do you belittle her?

Or are you a big enough man to support her no matter what she goes through. I bet you are the man described in the first paragraph. Read it, and see how much does apply. And read my response to the other man who was SO easily offended by my Pig comment.

Go do some meditation and reflect on how to try to become a decent human being, for once.

Take a deep breath, see what meds you forgot, take them. Come back in an hour, read the drivel you've written. It will be theraputic, really.

and on, and on, zzzzzzz

You aren't worth my time anymore. Go smoke whatever drug, or whatever you do that is killing your brain cells rapidly.

Have a good day you two young male children. May you eventually grow up into adult men who are worthy of something good in life, and that you give to others in a non-chauvinistic attitude of being.

Oh don't let people make you mad on newsvine! It's anonymous people taking jabs at other anonymous people to see if they will respond. That way they can lay in bed thinking about how awesome they are that they made somebody somewhere mad.

"You are a testosterone bag of skin." So, Liteness, you do realize that women produce testosterone, right?

"You must be very young, very uneducated, or some male pig to say such a thing. Go smoke whatever drug, or whatever you do that is killing your brain cells rapidly." Great ad hominem. Why bother arguing the facts, or using logic, when you can just make unsubstantiated attacks against the poster. Me, I'm a college graduate, middle-aged, and while male, I am a caring father and supportive husband who helped put his wife through nursing school so she could have a fulfilling career. I am the primary caretaker for my daughter.

So, when I say you are a female chauvinist, who seems to assume that men cannot be caring because of their hormones, and who buys heavily into the ideas of brain hemisphere structural difference resulting in functional differences (highly suspect, and not widely accepted in current science; most of the information on this subject constantly repeated on the internet is based on nearly 20-year-old studies), you'll hopefully understand that this is a logical inference from what you yourself have stated (we left-brained men are highly logical, you know), and not simply an attack on your person. Oh, and as far as brain differences, were you aware that human male brains are, on average, approximately 10-12 % larger than female? (Schlaepfer T.E., Harris G.J., Tien A.Y., Peng L., Lee S., Pearlson G.D. Structural differences in the cerebral cortex of healthy female and male subjects: a magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychiatry Res. 1995 Sep 29;61(3):129-35) Sorry to use a 15-year-old study, but the size hasn't changed nearly as much as our understanding of the functions.

As far as the psychological and medical implications of FM, my wife, the BSN (that's a Bachelors of Science in Nursing) has dealt with FM patients, and I personally know someone with the syndrome. The pain, whether generated in the nerves and transmitted to the brain, or originating there, is all too real to the people who suffer with this condition. Any treatment that helps will be appreciated, whether a pain med or a psych med.

Can't believe I forgot to include these gems: "I wonder do you beat up on women? Do you degrade your GF? Do you belittle her? Or are you a big enough man to support her no matter what she goes through. I bet you are the man described in the first paragraph." Nothing like accusing someone, with absolutley no evidence, of emotional, mental, and even physical abuse of their girlfriends. Having been on the receiving end of all three, I can say that this kind of abuse comes from both sides, and that there are women out there who like nothing better than to talk a man down, insult him, belittle him, and even physically attack him, because they know that few cops in the world will believe a man who says "she hit me," and few men in the world will admit they were abused. So, liteness, how long were you withthe person who gave you such a low opinion of men?

My Fibromyalgia symptoms started a year after an auto accident 9 yrs ago but with neck pain issues and neurological symptoms such as dizziness, nausea to the point of near incapacitation. Many people suffering post-trauma from accidents who have chronic pain that goes untreated turns into Fibromyalgia (FM).

I was diagnosed with a certain spinal cord cyst, besides disk herniations, then bony anomalies in the skull effecting the brain and pressure on the brain, whether from a push effect from valsalva maneuvers or heart rate elevations vs. a pull effect from a tethered spinal cord at the base. Then my c-spine is not supporting my skull, so I have a form of cranial settling or basilar invagination, but not that serious yet.

The FM symptoms for me cannot be treated with serotonin-reuptake meds anymore due to spasms and jerking which was not normal for me prior to all this, so I take Lyrica and different pain meds. I have become hyper-sensitive to most meds and take smaller doses, especially any antidepressant used for pain or depression that reuptakes serotonin or norepinephrine or even dopamine as in Welbutrin.

Fibromyalgia wreaks havoc on the entire nervous system and is often co-existent with many other diagnosis' so doctors are overwhelmed and incapable to deal with them. If you see one kind of specialist he/she has tunnel vision into their own area of specialty and does not look at the entire body as a whole.

Chronic pain is a medical problem for many women, and they "think hormones are the cause" a recent article stated. How many times has the medical community said this when the truth of the matter is...they just do not know so they use the old fall back of hormonal issues. There are men with FM, but that is glossed over. Meanwhile all we can do is try to get help to treat us for symptoms only, ie. medications.

I also read about the elevated substance P and low serotonin. Yet I have not read anything further where they understand enough to know the cause of Fibromyalgia, regardless of how or what kicks it in, and effects us so differently, and is treated so uniquely to each individual. Then no area of medical specialist has done a Lumbar Puncture (again) to check these proteins and other substances, other than ruling in/out Multiple Sclerosis or Lyme disease.

On a positive note, it is now an official diagnosis and more recognized by primary physicians, whereas 10-15 yrs ago they treated patients worse than now.

@ JY & liteness, and all, the sad part of all of this is that there are so many diseases/syndromes out there that are misunderstood, not properly recognized, mistreated (if even treated at all!), diagnosed improperly, the list could go on & on. Then you have people that perpetuate all of the above. My heart truly goes out to anyone who suffers from what I have heard people refer to "invisible diseases" It's bad enough that we suffer from pain, insomnia, loss of mobility, basically our "normal" life as we once knew it. On top of all of that, we also face the ignorance of people that think w/ thier "invisible brain" that these diseases/syndromes don't exist or are in our heads. Like I said earlier, let them live one day/hour in our shoes (if you're able to wear them - I can't) then let them explain this imaginary pain & misery!!! Well I feel better, I got this off of my "imaginary mind"!! Best wishes to the both of you & to all of our "imaginary friends" that suffer daily, weekly, monthly & yearly <3

Just for the record, I suffer from RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dysstrophy) This is a result of me breaking my ankle 10 years ago. I went thru the normal procedures as anyone would w/a broken limb. Everything was fine up until 7 years ago. All of a sudden my foot/leg began to swell & hurt like hell for no apparent reason. It took 2 years of many tests & several surgeries to finally get my diagnosis in 2005- RSD. Since then, I've received every kind of pain block, acupuncture, physical therapy, I even went thru a trial period of a SCS (spinal chord stimulator) all to avail. So here I am in constant pain. What used to be a very productive life has now whithered away, I am a shell of the person I used to be. I'm not looking for sympathy not in anyway whatsoever, I'm just trying to explain my "imaginary illness"!

Digar518 you wrote: "So here I am in constant pain. What used to be a very productive life has now whithered away, I am a shell of the person I used to be."

How true this is for so many of us. It is an invisible disease too. No one understands unless they experience it themselves. There are so many times I thought I would've been better off having cancer. I even told my Primary this. Cause then it would be understood, treated.

When the CNS is haywire sending continuous messages of pain to the brain, there is no relief. Meds may take the "edge" off much of the time if we are lucky, but some symptoms such as "Trigeminal Neuralgia" that I get...no med touches it. You just have to hang on and ride it out as best you can and the pain is the worst I've ever experienced.

When it comes to the brain, nerves and CNS in general or even psychological, the so-called "mental illnesses", the depression too that uses the same neural pathways to the brain, the medical profession is far, far behind in knowledge. The brain and how it works with the body remains much of a mystery.

Imaginary indeed! It is just ignorance. One of these days medicine may catch up. Hopefully.

They new research says that fibro is a sleep disorder. Over 60% of people with narcolepsy have fibro also. My rheumatologist says that if you disrupt someone's sleep in the same way, over and over, you will give them fibro. I'm just wondering who the poor person was that volunteered for that research.

I have been taking Cymbalta for a couple of years. It helps, along with the Xyrem . But the main problem with narcolepsy is the receptors for sleep are deficient in a chemical, also the same with fibro, the pain receptors are deficient in something.