How was guaifenesin discovered as a treatment for fibromyalgia?
Over 30 years ago, one of Dr. St. Amand’s patients taking Gout medication was readily able to strip pieces of tartar from his teeth. Though this was not, and is not, a usual occurrence in others, he was easily able to chip off pieces with his fingernails. Since tartar is a calcium phosphate deposit in a form chemically recognized as “apatite,” Dr. St. Amand wondered if the same medication could remove the hard areas of swelling felt in the muscles of some of the patients who complained of rheumatism. It was from this attempt that patients gradually taught him about the entity we now recognize as fibromyalgia.
