3rd Annual FM/CFS/ME Symposium 5/31/08

Monday, May 12, 2008, is National Fibromyalgia and CFIDS Awareness Day! BUT?
we here in western Washington will celebrate with
our third annual Symposium on
Saturday, May 31st
(the weekend AFTER Memorial Day!)


This year our Symposium will be held in the Glaser Auditorium, located at Swedish Medical Center's First Hill Campus in Seattle. The address is 747 Broadway. Parking in the Broadway Garage will be validated at the event, so bring your parking ticket inside for validation.
Doors will open at 9 a.m. for registration, our keynote speaker is at 10:00 a.m. and our last speaker of the day will finish at 4 p.m., which means that the whole program will wrap up at 5 p.m.

Free Lunch provided (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, Vegan options available, all MSG-free). When you send in your registration, please identify whether you want the salad, turkey wrap or roast beef salad, and any dietary restrictions you might have!

We have a great line-up of people invited. We're really excited about them and hope you will be, too. We will have professionals from a wide variety of disciplines, as always.

We are delighted this year to be able to present Gregg & Sherrie Piburn. Gregg wrote the book Beyond Chaos: One Man's Journey Alongside His Chronically Ill Wife, which I have been recommending for years. He and Sherrie will be our lunch-time speakers, and afterward they will be available to lead break-out sessions for people with FM/CFS (led by Sherrie) & the people who love them (led by Gregg). In the book Gregg chronicles what is was like for Sherrie to develop fibro and how they as a couple coped with her diagnosis, decline, walk through the medical maze and eventual improvement. He pulls no punches about his anger, frustration and difficulties as a man trying to come to terms with all of it, but gives constructive ways for the couple to work through each stage. He and Sherrie will be our lunch-time speakers, and afterward they will be available to lead break-out sessions for people with chronic illness (led by Sherrie) & the people who love them (led by Gregg).

Dr. Paul B. Brown is finally able to join us this year, and will be leading things off at 10 a.m. We are also pleased that this year we have Dr. Philip Ranheim, an environmental medicine specialist, who incorporates optimal nutrition, fine-tuned allergy desensitization, and environmental controls into his practice, joining us. Find out more on his website at: www.drpdranheim.com. We also have Kathleen Mahan, RD, a nutritionist who will speak about several conditions that often occur alongside FM such as gastrointestinal disorders, microflora and food intolerances. Check out her website at: www.nutritiondesign.com. Janaki Rose, OT/L, is an occupational therapist who has developed a physical therapy/energy healing/therapeutic regimen over the years that many FM patients find to be a key part of their total healing program. Sandie Widlan, JD, from Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender will be speaking to us about Social Security Disability issues for those people who have disability questions or are still struggling with that decision. See the SGB website http://www.sgb-law.co... and look under Attorneys to read more about Sandie. We still have speaker RSVPs coming in, so stay tuned to our website for the most up-to-date information: http://groups.msn.com....


We have room for 200 participants this year, so get your reservations in early (we already have over 50 responses, before our mailing even went out!). There is no fee to attend. Because Lyrica? has been approved by the FDA as the only drug to treat fibromyalgia Pfizer, along with the National Fibromyalgia Association, are underwriting our Symposium this year with grants, so we expect this to be the best Symposium ever and we want you in attendance. Email FibroSeattle@gmail.com or call 206-523-4958 to receive a registration form (other than the one attached to this email ? if you can?t read a .pdf file [free readers are available on the internet] let me know and I?ll send the info in text form]).

Please take this opportunity to join us for this FREE EVENT to learn about FM, meet others and to find the help you need to learn to manage your condition effectively.

Also, please feel free to take this flyer to your doctor?s office and to other places around town where you think people might see it and want to attend.

Check back here often to see what new and exciting things are happening, what speakers have RSVP'd, etc.

If you are an out of town participant, we can provide you with a list of nearby hotels. Transportation is the participant?s responsibility.

For more information please contact: Valerie Kiesel in Seattle at FibroSeattle@gmail.com or 206-523-4958.


Valerie Wojak Kiesel, M.C.
Facilitator, Fibro Folks of Seattle
Partner, National Fibromyalgia Association Leaders Against Pain Coalition
http://www.fmaware.or... Community Leaders Against Pain

National & Seattle Fibromyalgia Awareness Day Symposium Information is available at:
http://groups.msn.com...

Learn about Fibromyalgia at: http://groups.msn.com...
"I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something." Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris
"The spirit we have, not the work we do, is what makes us important to the people around us."