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Introduction to Dr Vasquez’s Fibromyalgia presentation at the 2019 Epic Functional Medicine Conference

 

Hello everyone: Doctor Alex Vasquez here with a quick introduction to my presentation from the 2019 Biotics Epic Functional Medicine Conference that was held in Houston, Texas.

My presentation video is available at 

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fibromyalgia2019

with Spanish subtitles available here: 

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fibromialgia2019

 

From personal history to professional expertise: As those of you who attended know, I grew up in Houston, so getting the opportunity to present in Houston, of course, for me, was a bit of a pleasure. And I got to speak on my favorite topic, which is fibromyalgia, a topic I've been studying for at least 25 years, since I first got sick back in about 1995. So, I do talk about my own history just a little bit, because my personal experience is, of course, one of the reasons why I had to study this topic in such detail, ultimately published in 2008, in a clinical monograph for the Institute for Functional Medicine, and then also in various books, such as the 2012 edition of my Integrative Orthopedics book, followed by the 2016 versions of Inflammation Mastery 4th Edition, and an excerpt from that titled Brain Inflammation in Chronic Pain, Migraine and Fibromyalgia. Those two most recent versions of the clinical protocol for chronic pain, migraine and fibromyalgia, certainly provided the foundation for this conference presentation, which was then embellished with some new information.

 

Fibromyalgia—a wonderful topic: So, as I mentioned in the presentation, fibromyalgia blends four of my favorite topics, as I discussed in the following sections. Of course, I started with some context and some new information and research trends, including the questionable importance of skin biopsy to examine for cutaneous neuropathology (small fiber neuropathy). After that, I discussed dysbiosis, which, of course, is one of my favorite topics. We discussed the role of dysbiosis in chronic pain, specific to fibromyalgia. Then I discussed mitochondrial dysfunction, followed by the third main component, which is neuroinflammation. I also talked about some aspects of social injustice and how this topic has been almost completely hijacked by the drug industry. And then I concluded the presentation reviewing some clinical protocols, with a discussion of specific products.

 

High-quality and useful information: This presentation was certainly at a CME or continuing medical education level, but this particular presentation did not have those CME restraints, and for that reason I was able to talk about specific products, and that helped us avoid the problem of the delivery of concepts, but without clinical application. So, because I was able to talk about certain products, I think that helped everyone in the audience, patients as well as clinicians, to understand exactly how to implement this protocol.

 

How to access the presentation video: I have reviewed and edited the video at least three times, and we also have a professional-level improvement of the audio recording. This includes more than two hours of my lecture, and it includes all of the presentation slides. So, how to access this video presentation? You can look at my websites—ICHNFM.org/fm19 (https://www.ichnfm.org/fm19)—that stands for “functional medicine 2019”, or “fibromyalgia, my 2019” presentation. Also InflammationMastery.com/fibromyalgia (https://www.inflammationmastery.com/fibromyalgia) is one of my other websites. You can also look for future conference information at the Epic Functional Medicine Conference website, epicFMconference.com. Healthcare professionals can view the video at BioticsResearch.com (https://bioticsresearch.com).

 

Successful conference with a video memory: This conference took a lot of work from a lot of people, but ultimately, we did it. We had a lot of fun. And we certainly have the privilege and pleasure of the success and the good memories that we have. And this video is part of that memory as well. So, I hope that you enjoy this presentation. Again, this is on the topic of fibromyalgia. This was the Biotics Epic Functional Medicine Conference 2019, in Houston, and I appreciate your interest in this topic and I hope you enjoy the video.

English available here: 

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fibromyalgia2019

 

Spanish subtitles available here: 

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fibromialgia2019

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