In this issue:

• The Hidden Secrets of Pain
• Fibromyalgia Syndrome News
• Relieve Your Pain, Guaranteed
• Testimonials

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This Special Package Includes All Eight Items Shown Below.

DR-HO'S Fibromyalgia Double Massage System.

The new DR-HO'S Double Massage System is equipped with dual (2) ports to power four (4) comfort massage pads. Now you can treat four (4) different body areas at the same time. You can also share a soothing massage with a friend. DR-HO'S system is clinically proven to relieve pain, reduce muscle tension and improve blood and nerve circulation. We guarantee that you will feel significantly better after just 20 minutes of use. Repeat massage will give even better results.

2 DR-HO'S™ Flex Tone Pads.

These extra large (5" x 3") massage and muscle toning pads are great for toning those trouble spots like your abs, hips, buttocks and the back of your arms. They also cover a large area and deliver fast, effective pain relief for your large muscle groups, like the shoulders, lower back and legs.

4 Electrodes with Gel Pads and 4 additional Replacement Gel Pads.

These highly advanced self-adhesive gel pads are water activated and does not require any messy gel or belts to attach them to your skin. Because of their high conductivity, they feel very comfortable and you will not have to worry about any burning sensations. The gel pads are re-usable, easy to use and completely allergy free. Depending on the frequency of use, they will last between one (1) to three (3) months. Even with frequent daily use, you only need to replace them once a month. Additional replacements are available anytime from our toll free order line.

Instructional Video by Dr. M. Ho.

Make sure you watch this very detail instructional video by Dr. Michael Ho. He will teach you and your family how to get quick relief for over 20 common painful conditions. Dr. Ho will show you where to place the massage pads, and how to position your body for fast pain relief. In addition, he will demonstrate specific exercises for each body part so that you will regain your functional abilities very quickly.

Owner's Manual.

DR-HO'S™ MUSCLE THERAPY system is very easy to use. The Owner's Manual will show you how to get the best results. There is also a video index guide at the back of the manual with reference to treatments for over 20 different painful conditions. You and your family will learn how to get fast relief from Headaches to Foot Pain.

2 Clip On Carrying Cases.

These two carrying cases allow you to use DR-HO'S™ MASSAGE SYSTEM during work, travel or play.

Personal Travel Bag.

Everything that you need for the most effective soothing massage can be carrying with you inside this handy personal travel case.

DR-HO'S™ Foot Relief Massage Pads.

DR-HO'S™ Foot Relief Massage pads will give you the most incredible foot massage. Just plug in the wire from the Massage device, place both of your bare feet on the pads and enjoy a deep soothing reflexology massage. Within minutes, you will love the instant relief for your tire, sore and aching feet. Fast relief for heel spur, plantarfacialitis related foot pain and fantastic for a general foot massage.

Dear Dr. Ho: I have been suffering from chronic upper shoulder blade and neck pain for about 2 years. I began using Dr. Ho's in January. I use the unit on average of 4 - 5 times per week usually at bedtime. I just put it on the affected area for about 20 minutes and I am able to go to sleep with decreased pain. Previous to using Dr. Ho's I would need painkillers. Now I just use Dr. Ho's and don't need to take any pills. Thank you for a great product.
Marie Tomasko, Wayne, NJ

Dear Dr. Ho: As the result of a car accident, for the past 9 years I have suffered with severe neck and back pain. Doctors have prescribed me strong painkillers and muscle relaxants but they only mask the pain. A month ago my father, who is a doctor, purchased Dr Ho's Muscle Massage System for me. From the first 20-minute session I noticed a bigger difference that years of taking pills. The day after I received Dr Ho's Muscle Massage System I threw away all of my pills. My neck and back are now virtually pain free, and I feel as though I have been given a new lease on life. This product is simple to use and incredibly effective! Thank you!
David Cooper, London, England

Dear Dr. Ho: I used to get bad neck pain for years, but now that I have tried Dr Ho's Muscle Massage System they have totally gone away! I love how the massage makes me feel...it instantly takes away any neck pain I have. I would recommend this system to anybody, whether or not they have problems or injuries, it feels so relaxing! Thanks a lot, Dr. Ho!
Justin Versteeg, Burnaby, BC, Canada

Dear Dr. Ho: I have suffered from headaches and neck tension for over twenty years. I have tried physical therapy twice, and chiropractic. I have taken many, many pain pills and relaxers. I obtained relief from the first time I used Dr. Ho's massager. I actually bought a professional tens unit for over $400 and it did not have the features that this unit has. I love the relaxing waves of massage. I have let my family use it and even took it to work and let ten co-workers try it. Everyone loved it! Thanks so much for inventing a product that I can use so often and so easily. I bought it off of HSN and figured if I didn't like it I would send it back, but NO WAY! It's mine to keep!
Kathy Padulese, Sewell, NJ

Dear Dr. Ho: II suffered a severe neck injury (torticollis) in 1967. The problem was compounded by a car accident in 1975. In essence, I have had 34 years of chronic neck pain; some days agonizing, other days just sore. Over the last few years because of deterioration in the cervical spine the pain has required ice packs and frequent pain-killers including 222's. Today I tried your machine and after 20 minutes on my trapezius muscles and 10 minutes on the back of my neck (using all three programs) the relief is amazing! I can't believe how relaxed my neck is. I was especially impressed with the ease of use and the power of something small enough to fit into my pocket. Now I'll take my personal masseuse everywhere. Thanks for a pain relief machine that really works!
Mike Mandel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

SPECIAL OFFER DR-HO'S™ Fibromyalgia Therapy System 30-Day Money Back Guarantee $149.97 US

Dr. Ho's Fibromyalgia Therapy System will relieve your pain, guaranteed. It's helped hundreds of thousands of Dr. Ho's patients and subscribers. Dr. Ho suggests that subscribers to his Fibromyalgia newsletter relieve their pain by trying his revolutionary Fibromyalgia Therapy System. It has a 30 day money back guarantee, so you have nothing to loose. It will relieve your pain and allow Dr. Ho to continue offering his Fibromyalgia resources on the net for free!

By Dr. Michael Ho
Submit questions to: drho@whatcausespain.com

As anyone suffering from Fibromyalgia knows, there is nothing more agonizing and frustrating than living with chronic pain, muscle tension or stiffness. One thing my many years of experience and thousands of patients have taught me is that the first key to conquering pain is understanding what causes it. By comprehending the underlying reason for pain, we can take the first step toward banishing it from our lives.

Pain is a subjective physiological sensation that is impossible to measure and difficult for most people to understand. Pain stops you from being yourself; it can make you feel miserable, tired, weak and older than your years. Pain can affect every aspect of your life including your ability to work, relax and participate in your daily activities.

The good news is that the pain of Fibromyalgia can be managed, even defeated. By learning about and understanding the cause of pain, you can limit or eliminate it from your life for good.

Many people take an incomplete approach to managing pain. Pain medications like muscle relaxants, painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-depressants, sleeping pills and other chemical "cover-ups" can be seriously harmful to your health if taken for longer than a few weeks. Side effects like kidney damage, liver damage, stomach ulcers, depression, drug addiction and even death are all too common. To get rid of pain, you must do more than manage its symptoms—you must target the cause.

An unfortunate truth is that most doctors do not understand the cause of pain. They often lack knowledge and experience in treating painful conditions like Fibromyalgia involving muscles, joints and nerves, and instead do what they can to mask the pain, offering the patient only temporary relief. Even many doctors credited as being "pain specialists" are not equipped to treat common painful conditions like Fibromyalgia. This fact leaves many who seek their treatment disappointed, confused and discouraged. But no matter how many times you have been disappointed in the past, relief is available. All that is required of you is that you make a decision to be educated and active in your healing process. You will find that a little commitment on your part will make all the difference.

What Causes Chronic Pain?

It has become my discovery after treating thousands of patients that almost all recurring pain conditions like Fibromyalgia are caused by chronic muscle tension. Muscles that are tense and in a constant state of contraction can cause unbearable suffering.

Certainly this concept may sound simple enough to you—so simple, in fact, that you may question its accuracy. How can something so simple cause such ongoing agony? And if muscle tension is the cause, why hasn't my doctor identified and treated the problem?

As stated above, the simple truth is that most doctors don't understand pain or how to treat it. They are often every bit as confused about Fibromyalgia as you are and, in order to justify their fees or save themselves the embarrassment, they will usually prescribe something to mask your symptoms and send you on your way. Thus begins the cycle of medication to treat the pain while the condition itself remains untreated and your suffering returns once the medication wears off. This is not good medicine.

Chronic Muscle Tension — A Closer Look

Let's discuss how chronic muscle tension can cause many of Fibromyalgia's painful conditions. This requires a brief overview of anatomy and how and why the body creates painful conditions.

Basic Anatomy of Muscles, Nerves, Blood Vessels and Joints

Let's define the tissues and how muscle tension causes pain:

How Does Pain Begin?

All the muscles involved in an act of movement will contract and then, ideally, relax again. This is normal muscle function. When problems begin is when the muscle contraction is caused by undue stress, the type we often associate with unpleasant or unhealthy conditions: emotional stress, physical trauma, repetitive strain, hormonal imbalance, bad spinal posture, bad diet or anything that is uncomfortable for the body. These conditions cause the related muscles to contract and stay contracted, as if the body were in a constant state of alarm. This instinctive muscular reaction is most likely a product of the body's fight or flight reflex-something is wrong and the body is preparing for battle. If the source of stress is sustained or repeated over time, the nerves will tell the muscles to stay contracted. After a period of prolonged muscle contraction, the tensed muscles will not relax even with rest. Without proper treatment to relax the muscle, the muscle will continue to contract and will eventually cause pain. The agony of Fibromyalgia is that the muscles contract, often for no apparent reason, and remain contracted for extended periods, even during rest.

How Do Contracted Muscles Cause Pain?

Chronic muscle tension will cause pain directly or indirectly. Here's how:

Muscle tension along the spine can actually cause even more severe muscle tension with time. This is a vicious, continuous, accumulating tension and it causes most of the chronic pain I see in my practice. This neurological process, called segmental facilitation, is not well understood by most doctors, limiting their ability to treat it. Segmental Facilitation involves a violent spasm, similar to the knee jerk reflex, except that it occurs along the spine. Once the spasm occurs it can become increasingly worse even if you experience no additional stress or stimulation. Here's why:

Muscle tension along the spine places pressure on the nerves located beside or inside the contracted muscle fibers. These nerves then become irritated and hyperactive. Hyperactive sensory nerves cause a reflex reaction within the spinal cord that in turn causes hyperactivity in the motor nerves. When the motor nerves are overexcited, they cause the already tense muscles to contract even more, creating a vicious cycle. Over time, this cycle will produce more muscle tension, pain and stiffness so that the spasm reaction is triggered by even small amounts of stress, whether emotional or physical. To stop this spinal segmental facilitation process, it is imperative to restore healthy nerve activity. When the nerve activity is returned to normal, the muscles relax and all related pain quickly disappears.

Treating the Cause of Pain at its Source

In order to get immediate and long-term relief for the misery of Fibromyalgia, you need to combine active home treatment with professional care from your healthcare provider. It is vitally important that your home care include the following treatments:

Five years ago, a group of engineers and I developed an at-home care device designed specifically to stimulate the nerves and muscles and restore normal circulation, reduce muscle tension and relieve pain. My Fibromyalgia Therapy System is a portable home-care electrotherapy device that works similarly to electro-acupuncture and many other electro-therapeutic devices used in physiotherapy and chiropractic and in pain clinics. The device was originally developed for the patients at my Pain and Headache Clinic in Toronto. Thousands of my patients have experienced relief from headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, lower back pain and other painful conditions related to stiff joints, muscle tension, poor circulation and other symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia.

My Fibromyalgia Therapy System is clinically and scientifically proven to safely relieve pain, reduce muscle tension and improve oxygen levels in tissues after just 20 minutes of treatment.

This very small but powerful device relieves the symptoms related to Fibromyalgia by helping to restore normal function to muscles, nerves and joints. It is specifically designed to relieve pain, reduce muscle spasm and promote nerve and blood circulation.

For more information, visit Fibromyalgia-symptoms.org

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By Dr. Michael Ho
Submit questions to: drho@whatcausespain.com

Fibromyalgia is an often debilitating condition of chronic muscular pain and fatigue suffered by an estimated 2-4% of Americans and Canadians. While most are women between 29 to 50 years of age, Fibromyalgia can happen to anyone of any age and often runs in families (similar to chronic fatigue syndrome and migraine headache).

Fibromyalgia can cause pain, from mild to agonizing, in many areas of the body and can travel from one area to another for no apparent reason. I have treated thousands of Fibromyalgia patients with common complaints such as insomnia, headaches, fatigue, and neck, shoulder and lower back pain. Some patients report pain and numbness in their arms and legs as well. It can be a very frustrating condition, for both the sufferer and his or her loved ones. My most important piece of advice is that you don't give up, and believe that relief is possible if you make the commitment to yourself and your treatment.

If you (or someone you love) suffer from Fibromyalgia, it is important to incorporate good lifestyle habits to ensure yourself the highest level of enjoyment of life and the minimum level of pain. Successful treatment of your Fibromyalgia symptoms involves treating yourself with kindness and respect, both emotional and physical. Adopting and adhering to positive lifestyle habits will not only help ease the painful effects of Fibromyalgia, but also promote overall health. These are habits that could benefit anyone of any age and in any state of wellness. Best of all, these habits, when used as part of your everyday routine, will help prevent or reduce pain, disease and depression.

In fact, you may find yourself recommending these tips to others in your life to help them through their own illnesses, stressors and rough patches.

Take Care of Your Body

One product of Fibromyalgia is that it doesn't allow you to neglect or mistreat your body without suffering consequences-if you overdo an activity or avoid regular exercise, you often pay dearly for it. If you want to put a positive spin on it, however, you can remember that all people need to take care of their bodies—all people need adequate rest, healthy food and regular exercise in order to increase their chances for long, healthy lives. For most people the mistreatment they may deal their bodies remains hidden until something dramatic happens, like a heart attack or a stroke. Your Fibromyalgia, as distressing as it is, is not a life-threatening condition like those; rather, it can be looked at as a watchdog of sorts—one that barks loudly if you abuse your health.

Remember to make the following a part of your daily life, like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast. They are daily commitments that will greatly help not only your symptoms, but with your overall health and well-being:

• Exercise daily-push yourself enough to stimulate your heart rate and warm your muscles, but not so much that you feel overtired or sore the next day.
• Promote circulation to aching or tired muscles with electrotherapy stimulation. More information on this treatment follows this section.
• Drink plenty of water, at least 8 glasses a day. Limit consumption before bedtime, however, to avoid being awakened by a full bladder.
• Get plenty of rest. Even if you have insomnia (as most Fibromyalgia patients do), make sure you relax and adopt habits to quiet your mind, such as meditation or a soothing bath.
• Eat healthy foods. Avoid any that seem to worsen your symptoms (many people report that sugar, for example, contributes to their pain). Avoid all sources of caffeine and alcohol, which can inhibit sleep.
• Do gentle stretching every day to keep muscles loose and out of their contracted state. And remember that stretching works best when muscles are warm, such as after a bath, exercise or stimulation therapy. Never stretch beyond your limits-remember resistance, not pain.

Take Care of Your Psyche

Unfortunately for most people, physical pain brings with it a certain amount of emotional pain as well—you may find yourself angry with your body, with yourself or with those around you who don't understand your illness or who seem insensitive to it. You may also find yourself resenting their ability to wake up without terrible stiffness or go through their lives seemingly without pain. It is very important to your therapy and your well-being to remember some key things about your condition, such as:

• It is not your fault that you have Fibromyalgia. It is a sad truth that sometimes unfortunate things happen to good people, but remember that the condition is only a single quality and does not diminish your value as a person in any way.
• It is your right to ask those around you for help. Try to limit feeling guilty if you need a loved one, friend or hired hand to do housework, yard work or other tasks on those days when your pain is bad. Don't blame yourself for not being up to the task.
• Limit your exposure to stress. The world is in crisis much of the time and it is hard to turn on the news these days without feeling utterly helpless. So if you're having a bad day, forget the news and rent a movie, chat with friends or play cards with your kids. Don't accept the call from that person who often causes you stress—that's what answering machines are for.
• Try not to linger on feelings of anger or resentment. No one is entirely without pain or stress; no one skates through life without feeling at some point that circumstances are unfair. Fibromyalgia may insist that you deal with more pain that some, but remember that its symptoms are treatable and not dangerous-and they do not define who you are.
• Fit pleasure into your routine. Make a commitment to schedule regular events that you enjoy so that you never feel limited by your condition. Meet often with positive friends and family members, go to the movies, travel, throw huge parties, whatever makes you happy. Just do them often and make them a priority.
• Talk about your feelings to others. There is a difference between complaining and talking: the former can often make you feel worse, the latter will often make you feel better and be less likely to annoy those around you. Turn to those you trust when you feel overwhelmed or frustrated and allow them to take some of the burden off your shoulders. Just be respectful of each person's individual limitations and he or she will remain supportive.

Treat Your Pain Logically

The cause of the pain associated with Fibromyalgia is muscle tension, pinched nerves and poor circulation. In order to get immediate and long-term relief, I recommend stimulation of the nerves with electro-therapy to promote nerve conduction and blood circulation, along with gentle stretching and movement exercises to restore joint motion. And, equally important, you need to relax both body and mind so that you can sleep more deeply.

For more information, visit Fibromyalgia-symptoms.org

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