Ep. 125 Behind JFK's Legacy: A Deep Dive into His Chronic Health Challenges Part 2

Living with fibromyalgia and related invisible illnesses is very challenging and too often stigmatized by the medical community. John F. Kennedy lived with many invisible illnesses that he and his close political supporters knew they needed to hide to protect is political prospects. John had severe irritable bowel and functional dyspepsia, both disorders of the gut-brain-interaction. He also had severe back pain, pelvic pain, chronic prostatitis, and migraines. He also struggled with severe fatigue and insomnia. These all fall under the umbrella of fibromyalgia and related illnesses. He also highly likely had comorbid ADHD that interfered with pain perception and contributed to fatigue.
Learn more about John's journey to help grow in compassion and understanding for yourself, your loved ones living with one of these invisible illnesses, and your patients. You will also gain an enlightened historical perspective.

The fibromyalgia starter pack  categorizes the episodes in a way that is more accessible for those new to fibromyalgia.

Self Reflection Podcast

Self-Reflection Podcast is based on real emotions and feelings. If you are like me,...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:49

This is the second episode in the series looking at John F Kennedy, with the goal to help uncover the medical mysteries that he was going through with a modern day perspective. If you haven't gotten a chance to listen to last week's episode, please do. We had learned last week about John F Kennedy's grandfather and his father and also John's early life. We are picking up where we left off last week, as John is struggling with health conditions and trying to get answers with the best medical experts of his day. Remember that while I am a doctor, I am not your doctor. All of your signs and symptoms should be discussed with your own individual physician. And now on to this week's episode. Later, at Boston's Leahy Clinic, he was diagnosed with diffuse duodenitis and severe spastic colon. Back then, medical technology did not have the modern imaging studies that we now have available. They only had x-rays. They had no endoscopy outside of the rigid sigmoidoscopy, which John F Kennedy described as a pipe that went up his rectum with a flashlight trying to look at things. So the diagnosis of duodenitis would not have been anywhere near the same diagnostic rigor that we have now. His symptoms would likely now be more classified under disorders of the gut-brain interaction. I did a three-part series with Dr Biat de Beinvogel from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital earlier in the year. You can go check that out if you're interested. The treatment attempted was a better diet but, even more importantly, relieving stress, which was recognized then as a major contributor to intestinal disorders. He was also given extremely expensive horse serum and adrenal hormone extracts in desperate attempts to find relief. There are intriguing questions about John's Addison's diagnosis and treatment. In 1937, the doka, which was a early steroid replacement, was developed. Ten years later, john F Kennedy was diagnosed with Addison's disease, a disorder of the adrenal glands with lots of a vital steroid production. He had implants of the steroid pellets under his skin. We now use a test called the cosentropin stimulation test to diagnose which was not likely what he had performed. Precision dosing was in its infancy when John was being treated, which may have had damaging side effects. This is interesting for various reasons, because the diagnosis of adrenal fatigue is often thrown around in the alternative medicine world. That's because when you look at the symptoms of Addison's or adrenal insufficiency, they strongly overlap with fibromyalgia and related illnesses like chronic fatigue syndrome, pots and others. There will be fatigued and also pain. That often goes along with it. We have much more effective ways of diagnosing it when somebody comes in and has normal tests using conventional methods. Alternative medicine providers often use saliva levels that aren't reliable and can lead to false diagnosis and then treatments that are not therapeutic, unnecessarily costly and wasted time. It's unclear if John F Kennedy would meet the modern-day diagnosis of Addison's, but it is clear that he was treated with the same types of medicine that are available today. Some have suggested that he may have had celiac disease. This often accompanies other out-immune diseases like adrenal insufficiency, although others are less convinced. If he did have it, it was likely comorbid, with his functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel, both disorders of the gut brain axis. The medical community's inability to find clear answers and solutions was very frustrating and the workup humiliating. He had suspected that he would die in early life. John used the time to reflect and decided to apply to Harvard and was amazingly accepted in three days for his fall term, likely through connections his father had At Harvard. He continued to have academic struggles like he had in high school. He had graduated around 53rd in his high school class of around 100. He had received a C and C minus in history, government and French and a B in English During his finals. He told a friend exam today, so I have to open my book and see what the course is all about. When he needed to catch up on his work, he would rely on a tutoring service known as cram school, which charged a fee for bringing unprepared freshmen up to speed for an exam. His freshman advisor hoped that tutoring and a European trip experience would teach him the academic skills to do well his sophomore year. In the summer after his first year, he went to Europe where he developed severe idiopathic edema endermatitis. Idiopathic is a term that means an unknown disease or cause. Chronic urticaria and other allergy conditions are much more common in those who have ADHD, anxiety and depression. The rash went away eventually on its own. John also received liver extract injections as a hopeful treatment due to the discovery of pernicious anemia and the life-saving role it played. With B12 deficiency, the belief continues in the present, with many seeking B12 shots being suggested as a treatment for conditions without abnormal B12 levels by some care providers for treating fatigue. While B12 deficiency can definitely be connected with major health problems, if you have a normal B12 level, getting extra B12 is not going to make you feel better, except for the placebo effect. His physicians tried using B12 for a year, but because it didn't help his fatigue, they stopped it. He continued to have severe irritable bowel symptoms and serious back problems, beginning at age 21 with intermittent pain in the sacroiliac joint area, which is around the buttocks. The symptoms went from severe to entirely absent. He noticed pain in his lower back while playing tennis and concluded that something must have slipped. That's often what we think of when we have back pain that something went out. Sometimes it's a disc that's been torn and the internal contents of them are pushing out and pressing on a nerve, or it could be a muscle that's been stretched and it's called the back strain. It's hard to know. Many times there are noce, plastic or centralized pain components playing a big role. When this happened, he was hospitalized for 10 days and given a back brace, none of which is recommended today. Bed rest is known to worsen back pain. Now we are recommended to get out of bed and walk as much as possible, because prolonged bed rest can worsen pain, and that's for various reasons, including turning on descending pain pathways, which dampens pain perception. His second year at Harvard did not live up to his talent or promise. One tutor wrote that his mind is still very undisciplined. Does this ring true for your experience or for a loved one or one of your patients? James, people will say they have so much noise going on in their heads, there are so many interfering thoughts and it can be highly distressing and overwhelming From a strength based perspective. John's classmates remembered his charm and irreverent attitude, as well as his sense of humor and passion for sports. He was more interested in his social standing than the academic performance needed to advance his career after graduation, or at least that's how it appeared. Based on how much time he spent on academics, his performance was much lower than his intellectual abilities. Although Harvard's president emphasized meritocracy, one's social origin dominated campus life. John was very interested and involved in sports, including junior varsity football, swimming and yachting, where he was a fierce competitor and played for keeps doing nothing. Halfway Training practice was often four hours a day, sandwiched between classes. Exercise and sports are meant to be fun, energizing and have so many other positive aspects to them. Many professional athletes have ADHD and their ADHD style brain played a big role in their success. The high intensity activity, competitiveness and rejection sensitive dysphoria can fuel one to athletic excellence. Adversity and sensitive dysphoria is the more sensitive emotional framework many with ADHD have to either reel or perceive rejection or criticism. The dopamine rush from hours of daily exercise and athletic success becomes the driver and sustainer of activity. John, like most, had physical limitations preventing him from pursuing a professional career in sports. Many use exercise, unbeknownst to them, as therapy. This insight must often be pointed out because struggles often occur when they're not at a high level of physical activity, which acts as a buffer until the exercise is significantly reduced and symptoms of fibromyalgia and other central pain processing illnesses surface. John F Kennedy would never come close to this high level of regular exercise again in his life. For most adults it's extremely challenging to maintain a very high level of exercise unless you have a job that is very physical, such as working in the trades. John later had sedentary positions. His story demonstrates the importance of maintaining a higher level of regular exercise for those with a neurodivergent style nervous system. What were John F Kennedy's greatest successes in his first two years of college? Being friends and proving to be a ladies' man. He was described as handsome, gregarious and given to various amusement. He was also very devoted to social life and affectionate and diverse women Any time you were with John you would laugh. He was more fun than anyone I've ever known. He was very interested in girls and being successful at something. John also was aware of his father's infidelities during Joe's many travels. The enthusiastic defiance of public standards of sexual behavior would be another link between his father and son. John would tell locker room stories of his father's conquests as he referred to them. John had sexual relations with so many women he could not remember their names. His father received the position of ambassador to England, allowing John to live there. This also allowed him to go from a C to a B student. In his government classes at Harvard. He actively participated in classroom discussions and was more interested in international politics than local affairs. This is not uncommon, as many people who have ADHD have an area of enthusiasm or special interest where they can hyper focus, and for John F Kennedy, international politics was one of those. John went on to law school where he seemed to blossom, felt more secure and confident, and his grades improved. His financial means allowed him to use typists and stenographers to meet deadlines. The papers demonstrated an impressive capacity for academic study and analysis. When you look at his ability to use typists and stenographers. They are a nice workaround to avoid the failure to complete projects that many with untreated ADHD struggle with. Those, however, don't have the financial ability to pay someone to do that work For everyone. John F Kennedy, there are many who ended up dropping out of college classes, despite having the intelligence to excel otherwise. Many with ADHD can be successful entrepreneurs or CEOs, but their success is often backed by talented administrative staff that act as needed support. The stress felt when those with ADHD meet these same demands without administrative supports can lead to burnout, which can manifest in many ways. Alarms can go off in the body indicating distress. This can lead to impulsive responses like consumption of addictive substances such as calorie dense foods, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, opioids and cocaine. This also, for many, can be impulsive sexual behavior, which happened with both John and his father. For young women who have untreated ADHD, they are ten times more likely to get pregnant before they are married than those without ADHD. Most of you listening do not have the financial means to hire a secretary or housekeeper to manage your daily work or domestic responsibilities such as laundry, cooking, cleaning and doing the dishes. You may have married somebody who can take that over. I've had a recent patient confide that if something ever happened to her husband she wouldn't know what to do with the household affairs, which prompted her to get evaluated and reflect on the impact of untreated ADHD in her life. John F Kennedy had struggled with grammar and English, but the use of support allowed him to have his intelligence come through. Many with ADHD have areas of special interest that drive them. For John this was international relations. He was drawn intellectually to a better understanding of the position Great Britain had been in. His thesis paper was written in two months. His professors described it as needing help with organization and focus. One said it was poorly written but an interesting discussion on a difficult question. Another professor described it as much too wordy, repetitious, showy and had a spotty bibliography. The thesis showed genuine interest that would have benefited from condensation. Another professor said At age 23, he used the thesis paper to write the book entitled why England Slept, which was well received. He, however, went on and developed more health problems, dissuading him temporarily from attending Yale Law School. John went to Stanford to nurse his health back under the California sun. In the fall of 1940, john enrolled at Stanford. At this time also, world War II was going on. Because he was enrolled at Stanford, he was not called until the end of the academic year. His colon, stomach and back problems, however, were likely going to give him an easy out from having to serve. That was the only potential positive benefit from having all of the suffering. Jack, however, wanted to serve. This draft, he said, has made me a bit of a concern. He wrote his friend Billings they will never take me into the army and yet if I don't serve it will look quite bad. He wanted to keep his medical problems as quiet as possible, and failing to qualify for service would subject his difficulties to public discussion. It was an impressive act of courage for him. Wanting to serve His intestinal and back problems would make a military regimen a constant struggle and seemed likely to further undermine his health. John had failed physical exams for admission to the Army and Navy officer candidate schools. However, with his father being able to have connections on his behalf, he followed an exercise routine all summer to prepare himself for another physical. No program of calisthenics was going to bring him up to the standards required for induction into either service. However, because of his father's connections with Captain Alan Kirk, his father's former naval attaché at the American Embassy in London and the current head of the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington DC arranged for John to enter the Navy as an officer in the spring of 1941. One month later the Board of Medical Examiners miraculously gave John a clean bill of health. One of the doctors had listed that he had the usual childhood diseases, but they also claimed that he had no ulcers and declared him physically qualified for appointment as an officer in the naval reserve. It was a complete whitewash. That would never have been possible without his father's help. John entered the Navy in October 1941 and immediately went to work at the Foreign Intelligence Branch in Washington DC. He was a paper pusher, collating and summarizing reports from overseas stations for distribution in bulletins. It was uninteresting work and definitely would have been very tedious and boring and challenging for somebody with untreated ADHD. During his time there His back spasms became more severe. He had even thrown out his back doing simple calisthenics. His stomach was also acting up again. By April of 1942, his back had become so severe that he sought medical attention from the local Navy doctor, who declared him unfit for duty and noted that the Mayo Clinic had advised that a fusion operation was indicated. The Navy physician diagnosed the problem as a chronic recurrent dislocation of the right sacroiliac joint and set it down to a quote weak back. He consulted doctors at the Leahy Clinic in Boston about possible back surgery. Something such an operation would have ended his career and was reluctant to undergo it. Also, the Navy physicians concluded that it was unnecessary. They saw no rupture disc and now advised that tight muscles in its legs and abnormal posture were the causing John's back pain. The diagnosis was changed by the doctors from a dislocation to a strain or muscular lower back pain, which was described as probably secondary to arthritic changes due to unusual strain from the tenseness of his leg muscles. The recommended course of action was no more than massage and exercise. It's interesting back then and today that we use the word degenerative disc disease, but this is in a very young person which unfortunately, would not likely be causing his pain. It was more of a centralized pain syndrome, or noceoplastic pain as we call it. It all falls under the umbrella of fibromyalgia-related pain. John had an impulse to challenge authority, which also extended to the medical experts who seemed unable to solve his health problems. In the midst of the war, however, jack deferred his inclination to defy conventional wisdom and instead applied for sea duty, which would have allowed him to get out of the United States and away from his parents. But, as he would quickly find out, life on the front lines provided no escape from the tensions with authority. Instead of unpalatable parental and religious constraints, he found himself frustrated by military directives and actions that seemed to serve little purpose. Jack's ambition was to become commander of a patrol torpedo boat, known as a PT. There were stories that were going around about the heroic work of these small craft. Only, most of these heroic efforts were exaggerated. There were only 50 spots to be commanders of these boats and over a thousand people applied. Jack was able to secure one of those 50 positions through the benefit of his father's connections. Riding these boats was compared to like riding a Bronco, as the jarring on the body was tremendous and not something you'd want to normally handle if you were someone who had bad back problems. One of his bunkmates in the Navy wrote that John was in a lot of pain and he slept on the plywood board all the time, and I don't remember when he wasn't in pain. But he loved the training in gunnery and torpedoes and particularly handling the boats, which his years of sailing off Cape Cod made familiar and even enjoyable work. He said this job on these boats is really the great spot of the Navy you are your own boss and it's like sailing around as in the days of old. Again, that adventure meshes well with his ADHD style brain. While waiting to serve overseas, he had a flare up of what the doctors called gastroenteritis, which may have been irritable bowel syndrome from stress. While in service, jack's boat was sliced in half by one of the Japanese destroyers, killing two of the crew members and casting the other 11, including John, adrift. Through heroic efforts, he helped his crew and himself survive in what later was praised for John's courage and determination On just the weariness of war. He had continued health problems which really built a strong desire for him to go home. He had almost constant back pain and stomach aches, which added to his normal fatigue from riding the boat at night and struggling to sleep in the heat of the day. Even if at the time he would have brought in his health struggles to the officers, it's unlikely that they would have let him go home due to the wartime mentality. On November 23rd he did have such severe stomach pain that he had to go to the Navy Hospital in the Solomon Islands for an examination. An X-ray showed a definite ulcer crater which indicated an early duodenal ulcer. It was enough to compel Jack's return to the United States. The doctors considered surgery to relieve the constant pain in his lower back as well. He was evaluated at the Mayo Clinic and then later at the Wenglin Baptist Hospital. The doctors also recommended back surgery in Boston. John was in no hurry to have the operation done and was hoping that it would let up until the war ended and he got out of the Navy. However, he agreed in May to have surgery. Occasional fevers coupled with a yellow-brown complexion which was later diagnosed as malaria, underscored his need for medical attention. The Navy now gave him permission for back surgery at the New England Baptist by a Leahy Clinic doctor. He entered the hospital and was diagnosed as having a rupture disc. The surgery disc glows, however, not a herniated or ruptured disc, but abnormally soft cartilage which was later removed. The microscopic report showed fibrocartilage with degeneration. Now we would never remove cartilage if there's no disc herniation and it is unlikely he would have surgery now if he doesn't have a disc herniation seen on an MRI. After surgery he began walking and had severe muscle spasms in his lower back that necessitated large doses of opioids to keep him comfortable. The surgeon noted that only nine other patients out of more than 500 had exhibited similar symptoms. He continued to have considerable pain when standing and the physicians predicted that it would be at least six months before he could return to active duty. He was transferred to Washington DC at the Chelsea Naval Hospital, where a neurosurgeon thought that his first surgery may have had a complication where they failed to get to the bottom of the situation. The pathology seen at the operation was not evidently a clear-cut disc, wrote the neurosurgeon. John was obviously incapacitated and the naval physician had no answer to his problem, as he believed there is some other cause for his neuritis. Neuritis is a term back then that would likely have fit under the umbrella of these chronic noceoplastic or central pain syndromes like fibromyalgia and related illnesses, including chronic back pain. Stominal or noceoplastic pain are conditions where there is their perception of tissue injury without tissue injury, or that there is a small level of tissue injury but the perception of injury is at a much higher level. He also was found to have symptoms of irritable colon, which we now would call irritable bowel. Dr Sarah Jordan, the leading gastroenterologist at the Leahy Clinic, said that he had severe spastic colitis. It was thought that his current distress from back pain and suffering and all of the stress of the war, including the time on the PT boats and trying to get healthy, likely contributed to the pain. The back pain continued and he had almost constant abdominal pain that only coding would relieve. John made the comment to a friend. I think the doc should have read just one more book before picking up the saw. He called him the stupidest son of a bitch that ever drew breath. He's a mad man with a knife. He was discharged from the Navy but it was an honorable discharge. They took at face value Jack's statement that his present abdominal discomfort is different than that noted previous to his enlistment. He was placed on the Navy's retirement list in March of 1945. Perhaps they may have been a little bit different in the quality of pain. It's not uncommon for the quality and intensity of central pain illnesses, including irritable bowel, chronic migraines, headaches, to have some variability in both intensity and frequency and quality. To say that John had a whole new syndrome is unlikely. It's much more likely that he had these chronic abdominal irritable bowel syndrome of varying intensity and quality and that his saving grace was that he could say it was a different quality and they took it at face value, giving him the benefit of doubt Because the concept of central pain or noceoplastic pain was not something they understood at the time and using more of the medical or surgical model of understanding things the doctor is now called his back problem and unstable back. In order to recover, he went to Castle Hot Springs in Arizona. His back remained a source of almost constant pain and he had continued trouble digesting his food. He was seen at Mayo Clinic but declined additional medical work-ups. Despite the steroids he was taking for addisons, he continued to have abdominal pain and problems gaining weight. Back aches were a constant problem. Because hot baths gave him temporary relief. He spent every day soaking in the tub. It was no cure-all and he continued to have the price later on for a physically demanding political campaign. He also had occasional burning when urinating, which was the result of non-specific urethritis dating back from 1940, and a possible sexual encounter in college which left him untreated. He was later diagnosed as having a chronic non-specific prostatitis that self-drugs temporarily suppressed. However, a strenuous daily routine intensified the symptoms. There were fatigue, nausea and vomiting of the addisons that also seemed to play a role. Chronic prostatitis also falls under the chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia. When looking at John's view of politics, it was for him another form of competitive sports like football or boat racing that excited his lifelong drive to be the best Indeed. For him, the fight was the fun. The fascination about politics he told the reporter in 1960, is that it's so competitive. There's always that exciting challenge of competition. In September 1947, he continued to struggle with medical concerns. Over the next six years. Headaches, upper respiratory infections, stomach aches, urinary tract discomfort and almost constant back pain plagued him. He consulted an ear, nose and throat specialist about his headaches, took medication and applied heat 15 minutes a day to ease his stomach problems, consulted urologist about his back and prostate discomfort, had the steroid pellets implanted and took daily oral doses of cortisone to control his addisons disease and struggled unsuccessfully to find relief from his back miseries. Senator Kennedy had been a patient of the Leahy Clinic at Intervall since 1936 and has had a variety of conditions. A Leahy Clinic urologist summed up his problems in March of 1953. The physician described him as doing well in regard to his addisons disease. In 1951, however, while in Japan during his Far East trip, he had suffered a severe adisonian crisis and ran a temperature of 106, and the doctors feared for his life. The episode convinced him to be more fastidious about taking his medicine and over the next two years his back problems became his principal complaint. In 1953, kennedy entered George Washington University for back treatment. By the following January. With no relief in sight, he consulted a specialist at a New York hospital and then in April he entered the Leahy Clinic for further consultations. The pain had become almost unbearable. Extrase showed the fifth lumbar vertebrae had collapsed, most likely a consequence of the corticosteroids he was taking for the addisons disease. Then the precise calibration and understanding of dosing was not at the levels of our current management for addisons disease. When treated at the proper doses, it's just replacing the natural amount of steroid our body needs and there shouldn't be any osteoporosis. However, if somebody has excess levels of steroids, that can cause osteoporosis which may have contributed to a collapsed vertebrae. The surgeons described a complicated surgery to achieve spinal and sacroiliac fusions. They explained that without the operation he might lose his ability to walk. But they warned that so difficult the surgery on someone with addisons disease poses a severe risk of fatal infection. Jack was determined to have the operation, he told his father that even if the risk were 50-50, he would rather be dead than spend the rest of his life hobbling on crutches and paralyzed by pain. The more than three-and-a-half-hour operation was a limited success. A metal plate was inserted to stabilize the lumbar spine. Afterward, a urinary tract infection put John's life in jeopardy. He went into a coma and a priest was called to administer the last rites. John, however, had gotten through the infection enough and recovered sufficiently to be moved to the family's Palm Beach home. It was clear, however, that he remained far from well. His doctors could not promise that he would ever walk again. Moreover, there was reason to believe that the plate itself was infected. Consequently, in February, another operation was performed at the New York Hospital to remove the plate. When we look at what John F Kennedy went through in regards to treatments for his back, he had a total of four back surgeries. All of them were unsuccessful, and this would meet the criteria for failed back surgery syndrome, where one has attempts to help make chronic pain better but it doesn't. And this is all too common, and that's why surgeons are very cautious about doing surgery, and there are different tools they can use to help predict success, and one of these tools are looking at the widespread pain index and symptoms of ertyscore and also if there is pain in one location that's more ridiculous, which means pain down a nerve root distribution, without pain in other areas of the body. Modern neurosurgeons would look at John's case with much caution due to the severe abdominal pain and severe headaches, the chronic prostatitis and fatigue, and would not likely be doing the surgery that he had done back then. When we look at the history of headaches and upper respiratory infections, it's likely that he was having migraine headaches on top of his chronic back pain and irritable bowel. Although those put him in the criteria for fibromyalgia, about 90% of recurrent sinus headaches are actually sinus migraines or migraines that are located in the front of the head. The same types of struggles that make someone more likely to have fibromyalgia and irritable bowel flare-ups are the same. That puts someone at risk for having migraine Most likely. As you have been listening to John F Kennedy's story, you might be very surprised. You may have heard of some addisons and that he had gotten through it or was functioning pretty well, but that was a lot of just messaging. They did not want to let out about how much suffering he really was going through and hopefully, by hearing his story, that is validating for yourself if you've had similar struggles, whether it's more or less, and also for your loved ones to recognize that even very accomplished people, someone who was able to become the president of the United States and guide the country through very difficult and challenging times also suffered, and it's also the awareness for patients of yours, if you're a doctor or healthcare professional, that everyone deserves compassion, whether or not you're an elite CEO or president of a company or president of the United States or prime minister of a country. Wherever you are in the world, we all deserve the care and we all are human creatures, and hopefully this information helps you on your journey. I'd love to have your feedback. As always, you can email me at drMichaelLenz at gmailcom. John F Kennedy was trying to do anything to find relief and had all of the best doctors of the time. Records have shown that, in addition to the treatment that we've discussed, he also was treated with chronic opioids and methylphenidate known as Ritalin. He also had seen a Dr Max Jacobson throughout his presidential career who gave him Adderall that had a positive impact on him. His wife also had severe postpartum depression and had received treatments. It's not surprising that there was some benefit from both of those, as treatment for ADHD has been shown to help in not only ADHD symptoms but also for chronic pain and fatigue type problems. For those of you who are interested in getting a much more in depth behind the scenes, look at John F Kennedy's life. You can read an unfinished life John F Kennedy by Robert Dalek. We will continue the look at John F Kennedy next week as we dive deep into the paper by the University of Tokyo Pain Clinic that came out a year ago, looking at John F Kennedy's life and then look at what other studies have found in people who have chronic back pain and other related issues and the impact on potential treatments that they found, as well as sharing research from other groups that have been trying to help unravel the black box mystery of fibromyalgia and related chronic pain illnesses. Until next week, go team Fibro ط zinc.