Physician heeds
call to heal thyselfA California doctor is in town
to discuss the disease's treatment
A California doctor considers himself a perfect example of how well his treatment works for an often misdiagnosed and debilitating muscular disease once called "old rheumatism."
Dr. R. Paul St. Amand said he was getting many of the symptoms of fibromyalgia more than 40 years ago and began treating himself and about 25 or 30 patients with gout pills. "They didn't have gout, but this mysterious thing with a lot of symptoms gouty people get."
Free workshops
Dr. R. Paul St. Amand will conduct two free public workshops on "Fibromyalgia and the Guaifenesin Protocol" from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. tomorrow in the Kaimuki Room, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort.His talks are sponsored by the support group iFoG (Informed Fibromyalgics on Guaifenesin). Reservations are not needed. For information, call 677-8770.
He started taking guaifenesin when it became known 11 years ago, and "switched everybody to it," he said. "It's the only pill (for the disease) with no side effects." Guaifenesin is the main ingredient in expectorants such as Robitussin.
St. Amand, 76, a professor in the UCLA School of Medicine for more than 43 years, directs the Fibromyalgia Treatment Center in Santa Monica, Calif., and has done research for many years on fibromyalgia and guaifenesin (guai). He is in Hawaii this week to hold free workshops on his treatment.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic, devastating disease with myriad symptoms ranging from swollen and painful joints and muscles to depression, fatigue, anxiety, stiffness and cognitive impairment.
St. Amand said he takes three pills a day, which will reverse the disease 90 percent if he avoids all plant-based products with salicylates, which contain a chemical that blocks guaifenesin.
"That's why I'm still standing here. I run and play tennis and do whatever I want," he said in a telephone interview from California.
Two of his sisters, three daughters and one grandson also have fibromyalgia, a progressive disease, he said.
Hawaii has picked up the guaifenesin protocol "faster than any other place in the world," with support groups on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island, St. Amand said.
"Next we need Maui," he said, adding that he also plans to take his message to Kona in March.
The American Academy of Rheumatology encouraged physicians to search for tender points at 18 specific sites on the body, he said.
But he does not rely on that, he said, explaining he can feel swelling of muscles, tendons and ligaments with his hands when tests are normal and there is no inflammation.
He maps each patient, with 25 to 50 sites on the body that he monitors for swelling. Pains shift from day to day, and athletes feel nothing, he said, noting he has four female patients who do triathlons.
So he maps what he feels, not what the patient feels, he said. "That becomes my laboratory ... to follow the dosage and track clues as to which passages clean out the most." Author of "What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Fibromyalgia" and "Pediatric Fibromyalgia," the noted endocrinologist said about 85 percent of adult patients are women.
Boys and girls are equally affected before puberty, with symptoms often attributed to "growing pains," he said.
He said women commonly are diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome when it is actually fibromyalgia. Including them, he estimates at least 30 million women in the United States have the disease.
"Things are beginning to break at the center, but we have no proof," he said. "It's what I feel and what the patients feel. There is no MRI, biopsy or blood test."
But, he said: "When one of us gets well, it is quite amazing. We become missionaries. That is why I've never retired."
Dr. R. Paul St. Amand will conduct two free public workshops on "Fibromyalgia and the Guaifenesin Protocol" from 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. tomorrow in the Kaimuki Room, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort.
His talks are sponsored by the support group iFoG (Informed Fibromyalgics on Guaifenesin). Reservations are not needed. For information, call 677-8770.
