whitehouse

	Sign In Sign-Up

From: Ed g. Girard
To: president@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov
first.lady@whitehouse.gov
mrs.gore@whitehouse.gov

HELP US: Researchers Find CNS Basis For Fibromyalgia

Dear: President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and First Ladies, et al:

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, the attached medical article and act on behalf of us, the portion of the american society, who are depending upon the monetary and medical benefits for which we have paid our mandatory "contributions". I believe the majority of us are having an unnecessarily difficult time and experience attempting to receive award of these necessary benefits required by us to maintain a basic standard of existence.

Please, assist us to survive these difficult processes, and, to remove these unnecessary difficulties; that, government and private systems, bureaucrats, insurance, hmo's, doctors and administrators laden and burden upon our difficult, stressful and ill existence's.

We have paid our taxes, Social Security, Medicare, public and private retirement systems contributions and credits! Therefore, we are duly entitled to receive the fruits and benefits of these systems from the labors we have performed!

Why are we give such derogatory, difficult and extended time periods waiting and wondering if we shall ever receive these same benefit entitlements and services?

We as a people, a society of persons now sick and ill are unable to provide for our general welfare, unable to perform work-life function(s) are in need and wondering why we are being held in abeyance, held up to ridicule and injustice?

We need your help and assistance as the elected representatives of our society and nation to restore, as expressly promised and implied these benefits, for without them we will perish, and, if we perish; then, so shall the nation, our society go also! Thank You in advance!

Sincerely; with, our humble best regards, one of many,

Edward G. Girard

Original Message

From: Ed g. Girard
To: postmaster@whitehouse.gov; dsu.net.post@ssa.gov
Sent: Monday, May 31, 1999 6:10 PM

Subject: Researchers Find CNS Basis For Fibromyalgia.

Please circulate this to all U.S. Government Departments including SSA, OPM, Merit Systems Protection Board Headquarters, Administrative Judges, Administrative Law Judges, Military Departments, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Congress, Whitehouse ( U.S. President, U.S. Vice-President ) etc, etc, etc.

Why? The *** Reason *** is because SSA, OPM ( CSRS, FERS ) Civil Service Retirement System, Federal Employee Retirement System, and *** some *** U.S. Government Agencies **** Do **** discriminate and disregard bona fide de facto medical evidence(s) as *** immaterial and irrelevant *** when disabled americans apply for the various disability and disability retirement benefits, and, because your agency and many other government departments, agencies, as well as, employers in the public and private sector do discriminate against american citizens illegally, unethically and immorally!

We have worked, served, paid our taxes and *** contributions *** to various retirement systems under the implied promise; that, should we become disabled, sick and unable to perform *** work-life functions *** that because we have complied with our systems CFRs and laws; that, we will be taken care of and awarded our just and due benefits, in order to provide us with a decent, ethical and moral system of support and care in our infirmity and illness conditions which prevent us from performing normal *** work-life-funtions.

A very, very small number of us actually receive these due benefits. The remainder of us are held hostages by a complicated and uncaring process that is like mating elephants: " It is done at high level and takes years to produce any results." Furthermore, we are left to our own devices and resources to *** survive *** as we wait unreasonable and indeterminate periods of time with no assurance of what outcome we will receive; although, during our healthy or sick periods when we toiled and worked paying our mandatory *** contributions *** with the express and implied promises that we will receive these benefits, for which we paid and paid and paid! The result is a slap in the face, a degrading set of circumstances for the majority of us.

It is time to stop the injustice and start the caring, nurturing, healing and deliver upon these express and implied promises of the benefits, for which we have paid.

Consider for a moment this: You have paid for something and you have been assured, promised expressly that you will receive what you have paid to receive. Then, the *** delivery *** is never made, and, you are left waiting and wondering. How would you feel? Would you feel cheated? I think you certainly would feel exactly that way! Therefore, can you now understand?

What good, reasonable, proper and lawful purposeful practice and use are our country's and system's CFRs, laws and mandatory *** contributions *** to the SSA and other various retirement and disability benefits agency systems, if bureaucrats abjectly practice repeat and purposeful patterns of denial and discrimination against the citizens and legal immigrants of this nation?

Where is the justice, proper practice, equality, ethical and moral civility in our government's systems?

Herewith below is another example of the *** proof *** that certainly applies to unknown numbers of citizens of this country and it's systems. We are ill, sick, disabled, in constant, chronic pain. We are ridiculed, insulted, disbelieved by many of our doctors, employers, co-workers and agencies and departments of our government and it's systems.

Please read the article, stop and consider this evidence and what it means. We are constantly providing our medical evidences and we are mostly disregarded as not credible, possibly of questionable psychological and physiological basis or bases and generally disregarded.

This egregious harm and discrimination *** must *** end!

Sincerely with my best regards,
Ed,
Edward G. Girard, DAV and Disabled American Citizen

QUOTE FROM: University Science

UniSci

University Science Researchers Find CNS Basis For Fibromyalgia The millions of Americans who suffer from fibromyalgia live with a two-edged sword: excruciating pain, accompanied by the doubts of many who dismiss it as a made-up illness invented by a troubled mind.

But researchers at the University of Florida and elsewhere are beginning to piece together clues that reveal the physical basis of the puzzling syndrome that causes severe fatigue and aches, and has defied easy diagnosis.

UF scientists have found an abnormal central nervous system reaction in those with fibromyalgia -- the body magnifies ordinary repetitive stimulation into an experience of crippling pain.

"This is particularly important because it has been unclear if fibromyalgia was just an imagined illness or a real syndrome," said Dr. Roland Staud, an associate professor of medicine at UF's College of Medicine who also is affiliated with the UF Brain Institute. "We now have good evidence that shows that it's not a psychological abnormality, but that there is a neurological abnormality present."

Staud, who presented his research findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology last November, recently was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant worth nearly $800,000 to continue his studies for the next four years. Donald Price, a UF professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery, and Charles Vierck, a UF professor of neuroscience, are collaborating on the research. Their goal is to develop a better understanding of the condition, with an eye toward improving diagnostic tests and treatments.

An estimated 3.7 million people in the United States -- primarily women who are diagnosed during their 30s and 40s -- have fibromyalgia, according to the NIH. A chronic illness with no known cure, its cause also is not known. Researchers have theorized that an injury to the central nervous system or an infectious agent might be responsible for triggering it in people who have inherited susceptibility. Symptoms include persistent and widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue and tenderness in the neck, spine, shoulders and hips.

Staud and colleagues found the central nervous system abnormality by conducting a series of repetitive stimulation tests on people with the syndrome and on healthy research participants. The tests involved repeatedly placing warm plates on their hands and arms. The healthy participants felt the sensation but did not report it as pain.

For those with fibromyalgia, however, the sensation would magnify with each repetition into an experience of crippling and unbearable pain.

"When a sensation signal reaches the spinal cord, the signal can be omitted, changed or augmented," Staud said. "If it is augmented, then something that is innocuous, such as pressure on the skin, can then be perceived as a painful stimulus."

Jessica LeMay, one of Staud's patients, has been battling fibromyalgia since 1993. The 30-year-old Lake City resident said the pain starts in one area and usually spreads, sometimes becoming overwhelming.

"I imagine if someone had taken a baseball bat and beaten me with it, that's got to be what it feels like," she said. "Depending on the day, I'll just move out of the way if someone tries to touch me."

The pain of fibromyalgia often interferes with a person's working life.

"These are people who are diagnosed in their productive years. Many have personal or professional problems adjusting to the pain experience," Staud said. "The illness makes some people feel dysfunctional because they can't do the activities they once did."

The condition can worsen from stress and inadequate sleep, Staud said. Because living with fibromyalgia often causes stress, and pain makes sleeping difficult, a vicious cycle develops.

LeMay said many people dismiss her condition, not understanding the "huge difference" between her severe fatigue and the healthy person's occasional tiredness.

"When this fatigue would come about, it's almost like a weight being dropped on you, and you can't function anymore," she said. LeMay said she is hopeful that Staud's research will lead to more effective treatment for fibromyalgia patients and better understanding by the general public.

"In our society, you either get better or you die, and fibromyalgia patients don't do that," she said. "We don't fit in the mold, so people don't know what to do with us."