Dr. Theodore Friedman, an endocrinologist whose practice is a medical suite located in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, is currently recruiting participants to be in a study looking for the cause behind Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and/or Fibromyalgia and exploring a potential solution.

Dr. Friedman has a small NIH( National Institutes of Health) research grant to study what he believes may be one of the contributing factors to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He's recruiting individuals who have been diagnosed with CFS to participate in his study. Patients who participate will receive compensation for their participation as well as lab work and diagnostic procedures, such as a SPEC scan of the brain (to determine if there is reduced capacity and activity in CFS patients) as well as a tilt table test and some other pertinent blood work. They will then be given either a placebo or Viagra (which Dr. Friedman thinks may help CFS patients increase blood flow to the brain, and thus improve cognition skills which will ultimately improve the quality of CFS patients' lives).

Dr. Friedman also feels that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome may be related to a hormonal deficit in the rennin-aldosterone axis because many of his CFS patients seem to have issues with those hormones. This study will illuminate whether aldosterone and plasma rennin activity are an issue with CFS patients and whether Viagra (or similar substances that increase blood flow to certain areas of the body) can be beneficial to CFS patients.

Dr. Friedman's Web site

Information about Dr. Friedman's office location

Information from February 2005

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