The Honorable [insert name here]
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
[date]
Dear Representative [insert name here],
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) has seriously impacted my life. There are no truly effective therapies available for controlling my long list of symptoms which include body-wide musculoskeletal pain, persistent fatigue, frequent headaches, upset stomach, sleep disorder and concentration problems. There are five million Americans with FMS or its overlapping disorder called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Yet, the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) spends less than 1% of their annual budget on researching this poorly understood, diffictult-to-treat, and potential disabling disorder.
Last July, NIAMS hosted a scientific workshop on FMS. Many interesting studies were presented on the topic of chronic pain syndromes and if they were further explored with additional research money by NIH, they could likely lead to effective treatments for FMS/CFS pain. The cost of boosting research efforts in this area would have significant long-term payout, given that musculoskeletal pain is one of the leading causes of work loss time and work disability.
Please give careful consideration to increasing the NIH appropriation's budget for chronic pain syndrome research, and more specifically for the condition of FMS, which is under the direction of NIAMS and NIAD, respectively. Only recently has the NIAMS started to take an active interst in FMS, but they have overlooked promoting more research programs that might address my most prominent and disabling symptom: chronic body-wide pain and exhaustion. At the end of last year, NIAMS co-sponsored along with NIAID a research program although it was not specific for FMS. While I find the actions of NIAMS and NIAID encouraging, the subject of pain research seems to have been left out of their agenda, and most specifically Fibromyalgia!
I would be very grateful if you would send a letter of inquiry on my behalf to Stepehn Katz, M.D., Ph.D., Director of NIAMS, and to Anthony Fauci, M.D., Director of NIAID, to find out what plans they have to solicit applications for pain-related research on FMS, CFS, MPS and similar muskuloskeletal pain syndromes. In fact, I am hoping that you will urge them to collaborate on an aggressive research program on this subject. At a minium, I'm crossing my fingers that your letter will prompt these two Directors at NIH to give chronic pain syndrome research more serious consideration. Congressional testimony pertaining to this subject is enclosed along with a consicse fact sheet on FMS.
Thank you for reading my letter. I look forwared to hearing your comments as well as any responses you receive from Drs. Katz and Fauci.
Sincerely,
[your name, address and phone number]
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