Many of you remember our series of articles detailing my journey with the newly approved drug for Fibromyalgia, Lyrica. I have been taking the drug Lyrica(c) for nine months. I am still experiencing lower pain levels and less fatigue.

I went off of the drug for ten days, not feeling it was doing all that much for me. Well, let me tell you, by day eight I was begging my doctor to call in refills. My old friends ache, burning muscles, cement muscles and foot pain all came to visit at the same time.

What's the Difference?

Some doctors treat fibromyalgia (FMS) or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS) separately, while others think they are actually the same thing – or at least, variations of the same condition. According to the Arthritis Foundation, research shows that 50 to 70 percent of people with one diagnosis also fit the criteria for the other.

What allows us to live and our bodies to function are billions of chemical [enzyme] reactions in the body which occur every second.

"We think we have additional evidence to consider adding vitamin D deficiency as a distinct and separate risk factor for death from cardiovascular disease, putting it alongside much better known and understood risk factors, such as age, gender, family history, smoking, high blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity and diabetes," says Michos.

I sit before you in a wheelchair today because of CFS. I'm not here to tell you about all this illness has stolen from me or about the quality of the medical care that I've received. In fact if CFS was simply a medical problem, I wouldn't waste your time. But CFS is costing our country billions of dollars and is a significant health crisis.

I am here to urge this committee to advise Secretary Michael Leavitt of the true scope of CFS and the burden of this illness. I am here to urge Secretary Leavitt to immediately direct his department to mount a meaningful response to CFS. The current level of investment in CFS research is not just inadequate, it is an embarrassment.

Sedentary mice that took the drug for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice. And when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice.

Just how well those results might translate to people is an open question. But someday, researchers say, such a drug might help treat obesity, diabetes and people with medical conditions that keep them from exercising.