A: Thanks for question, Debra.

There's just one 'c' in spelling of acupuncture. I'm not sure where this double-c misspelling came from.

Acupressure & Tui Na The massage that acupressurists do may or may not be Chinese medicine. If you ever go that route, check into how many years they were formally trained in acupuncture/meridian theory. The standard "real" massage of Chinese medicine is called Tui Na, which means "push and grasp." More about massage below.

Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Acupuncture is just one therapy you can get from Chinese medicine practitioners, who are generally called acupuncturists. “Acupuncturist” isn't a great name, since most of us also are trained in Chinese herbal medicine, cupping, moxibustion, food selection, lifestyle advice, etc. All of these therapies are based on Chinese medical system.

Accurate Fibromyalgia (FM) Diagnosis I want to make sure you've had a doctor spend enough time with you to get you a proper FM diagnosis according to standardized criteria. Too many doctors just toss this term around without using criteria (which is unethical - imagine negative emotional impact - worry, fear, etc. – that it has on patients!) Who knows how many people think they have it, when they really have something else entirely? And so long as they try to treat wrong thing, they'll use wrong remedies, and whatever condition or problem you do have will remain untreated. This is one reason why I advocate seeing health professionals instead of self-care; misdiagnosis leads to wrong treatment and perhaps even further harm. Read about criteria for FM diagnosis here, and make sure they've been applied to your case. If they haven't, get a second opinion!

The Chinese Medicine Treatment of Fibromyalgia I will defer to experience of my wife, Dr. Lynda Harvey-Carter, since she has helped hundreds of FM/CFS sufferers get better. That information is covered in this Q &A.

The upshot is that 80% of patients experienced marked improvement (decreased chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia symptoms), and 50% said they had been completely cured. This is not an instantaneous process, but most of patients had experience significant improvement within 3-4 months.

Affordable Fibromyalgia Care I know all of this care costs money. Most patients want to do whatever's going to be most effective at least cost. I can't see any other reason to worry about how many times you'd have to visit an acupuncturist, so I'm going to say more about FM treatment in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Chiropractic for Fibromyalgia? To be quite candid, for FM sufferer, I'm not convinced that chiropractic is best way to spend your money. Many FM/CFS sufferers experience greater pain and symptoms after an adjustment. This may be a neccesary part of healing, but if there's not an x-ray confirmed spinal issue to be addressed, I wouldn't do it. Though many of them are good and honest, and though I am open-minded about their role in treatment of non-spinal issues, chiropractors are well-known for their aggressive marketing techniques, so be careful. To be clear: chiropractic may help you. This isn't my area of expertise.

Massage for Fibromyalgia? Massage can be nice, but I'm not sure it's best for FM either. Deep techniques can make FM patients feel worse. The light, soothing, circulatory/Swedish style can relieve stress, and lightening load on your sympathetic nervous system and adrenals, but there are less expensive relaxation methods. I think best test is: how long does your relief last? If it's just a few hours, how much would it cost to maintain that benefit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

I used to hear people discuss trying to achieve "balance" and I had no idea what they meant. I wasn't very busy, wasn't married, didn't have numerous commitments to numerous people, didn't have a mortgage, and wasn't even getting paid much to do what I did.

That's all changed now. I have many responsibilities - a wife, a mortgage, several jobs, many career goals, half a dozen informal "life" students, patients to take care of, people I don't have time to catch up with, friends I haven't seen in a month, readers who want their questions answered, kittens who meow and need lots of love, and one day there will be children as well!

Now I know how they felt when they pined for that elusive balance.

The question of era is: How do we get all our work done, satisfy our loved ones, make our dreams a reality, exercise our bodies, engage our minds, have fun, relax, spend time, stay healthy, serve others, refresh ourselves with solitary time, stay connected with God, read new books, expand our horizons, feel good - how do we fit all that into week without feeling overwhelmed and exhausted?

We know answer to that question is balance - somehow we must put right time and energy into each one - but how can we find, achieve, or improve on that elusive balance?

Obviously everyone is different. Some of us are great at spending time with loved ones but not so efficient at work. Some of us meet all our career goals but neglect our loved ones and never exercise. Some of us do family and career well but are quite unhealthy. So, we all start where we are. But where do we go from there?