Hello and Welcome to one and all.

As you can guess ... my name is Peter & this is my website ... such as it is.  

I started this website back in April of 1997 with the specific hope of letting other men diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome know that they are not alone.  At that time, there was little in the way of good information available on the internet about FMS.   Most of what was out there was geared towards women because until very recent years it was being labeled as a "woman's disease".   I was furious when I was first diagnosed and told that in 1996.   If it was a "woman's disease" ... then how the heck did I get it???   The medical world can be pretty dang stupid at times.

Many times in the years since I established this site ... I have been told how much this site has been of benefit to not only men ... but to women as well.  I suspect mostly because they start accepting the fact that THEY ARE NOT ALONE,   that THEY ARE NOT NUTS ... and that there is at least one other person who is feeling EXACTLY the way they are.

So ... come on in and tour around a bit.  I have tried my best to give as much information as I can about the symptoms I have been diagnosed with.   I can't comment on the medical end of things ... but I know how each symptom has affected me.   I have also surfed the net many years trying to find other sites with good, accurate & knowledgeable information.   I have been able to enter a small number of those in my Links section.   These are sites I trust.   While you do your own research in an attempt to learn more ... be cautious.   There are a LOT of sites out there that will spew anything that will encourage you to buy their product.   On the "old version" of my site I had over 500 links to sites I recommend.  Unfortunately, I have been going through a "rough patch" since establishing this new rendition of the site and have not had the energy to input all the links here.   I am still hoping to do that though.

In a nutshell ... as of this writing (rewritten Oct 2007) ... there are NO CURES for FMS.   But, there are treatments in the form of medications that are coming down the "pipeline" now that are GEARED to help people with FMS.   Lyrica is the first ... which was finally approved by the FDA as a treatment for FMS earlier this year.   And there are more expected to be approved and released over the coming months and years.   Also, there are other physical therapies and medications that may not be made specifically to treat FM ... but have been beneficial to some people.   Always remember, though, what works for one does not necessarily work for all.   It will take time and patience to discover what there is out there that will benefit you.

If you are Newly Diagnosed, a lot of people have found my web page What do YOU do First? to be of help.

The menu links Health Headlines, Health - Medications & Drugs and Health - CFS & FMS News ... all go to pages listing topics & summaries (with links) of the latest news in each category.  These news feeds automatically update every hour, 24 hours a day.

Some of you may find using the Sitemap makes it easier to navigate through this site.

People have asked why I no longer have my email address on this site ... or a way to contact me.   I am sorry, but I was getting 60+ emails a day from visitors, thanking me for the site and/or sharing their own stories with me.   It just wore me out physically and emotionally reading those emails everyday ... as everyone's story was/is heart-wrenching and I knew I could not do anything more to maybe help them than provide them this site.   I am sure you can understand why, for my own health, I had to remove any means to communicate with me.

For those wishing to talk ... or ask questions ... I can recommend 2 online Forums ....

For men ... there is www.menwithfibro.com .   The members are mostly men, but there are some women members too.   The forum also has a therapist that visits there who may be able to answer some coping questions, offer some suggestions on how to better relate to your spouse  etc.   There is also a relatively new Spouse's Forum there ... for those who are married to a man with FM.

For women ... I can recommend www.myfibrofriends.com   Its a great bunch of ladies.   Most of the posting happens in the "Kafe" which is more like a bulletin board format.   Don't let yourself get intimidated.   Once you get used to the format ... its not as bad or as difficult as it might seem at first.  And like I said ... they are a great bunch of ladies that are welcoming, supportive & caring ... without being pushy.

Also ... some people have asked about the addition of the  Google Ads on the right side.   Actually, I only installed that hoping I might make enough money to pay for or help pay for my web space here.   Its been there since Feb '06 ... and so far it hasn't helped much.   But for the record ... I do not necessarily recommend any of the sites you might see listed there.   Google just displays the Ads of customers that sort of fall into the category of this site.  I think it works like ... if you click on a link or a few of the links ... then I earn points which ... given enough clicks & points ... gets converted into $$.   If you choose to click on one of the links ... just don't get "roped in" to any of the constellation of snake oil cures that are being flogged these days.   Best rule of thumb ... if it sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.

I hope you enjoy your time here.  Thanks for visiting and touring the site.  I hope all of your tomorrows are better than your todays.

Take care
Peter