It has proven the most effective drug for fibromyalgia to date. Unlike the previous drugs, it only weakly increases excretion of uric acid and would be useless for gout. It has no listed side-effects though we have learned of nausea, heartburn, itching or rash in rare instances. If needed, we increase to 600 mg. For about 70 percent, one of these two dosages suffices.
Adjustment is made as suggested by our subsequent mapping.
Observations suggest a primary defect in phosphate, not calcium metabolism. Calcium with or without magnesium tablets taken with meals have allowed lower, dosages of medication possibly because they bind phosphates from food,, increase fecal excretion and thereby lessen absorption. Some patients have fingernail changes that suggest an abnormal calcium phosphate deposition at the root. Similar to concentric tree rings, they grow and eventually break or peel at the tip. Primarily phosphate, some calcium and oxalate, increased in the urine as we initiated treatment in the few patients we tested.