Keeping with the theory of inadequate thyroid hormone regulation for a little.  I found another couple articles by Dr. John Lowe, who seems to be one of the main proponents for this theory.  He’s pretty unequivocal: “…the main underlying cause of fibromyalgia. That cause is too little thyroid hormone regulation of patients’ bodies. The deficient thyroid hormone regulation results from two conditions. First is an undiagnosed or undertreated deficiency of thyroid hormone. Second is the resistance of patients’ tissues to thyroid hormone. ‘Resistance’ means that patients’ tissues need higher than ‘normal’ amounts of thyroid hormone to maintain normal metabolism” (see library).

He cites research that indicates thyroid treatment not only helps but essentially cures fibro patients, so that they are no longer classified as having fibromyalgia.  While many of the articles associated with this theory are from around 2006, there are newer articles making this assertion, so far up to 2013.  I haven’t been able to confirm that Dr. Lowe is still the Director of Research for the Fibromyalgia Research Foundation, but when he announced these findings, he was.  He has not kept his research a secret.  It’s out there, and I have not found research refuting his ideas, but the search is young yet.

So here’s my problem:  This is a reasonable hypothesis that has been tested with clinical studies, fibro patients have been treated with replacement thyroid, and even with a 5-year followup on at least one study, there have been significantly positive results, and the results have been reported in the literature, not just news sources.  Why isn’t it one of the first roads for possible treatment?  Why doesn’t it top the guidelines for possible treatments?  Why does research seem to veer away instead of trying to confirm or refute?  Is this too simplistic a solution?