I think the reason this is considered to be a woman's disease is because men are too macho to want to go to the doctor to admit something is wrong. Also it has alot to do with women's hormones that men do not have. I have several men on my team if you are curious to talk to them. To get their perspective.

@A MyFibroTeam Member I would love to see Morgan Freeman become a spokesperson for Fibromyalgia Awareness. I think it would a great deal for people to recognize our syndrome. Look what Michael J. Fox as done for Parkinson's awareness.

My ex husband has FM. He has had it since his late thirties. But ANimmo is right, there is plenty of men on this site that you can talk to about it, but it is generally more in women than men until medical field finds otherwise. Hope this helped

RE: Fibro in Young Males and genetic links: Alert to all with teen and twenties sons: My son is now 32 and has fibro. He was put on Cymbalta about 3 years ago, BUT he and I went through hell when he was in his twenties. He was aching, in pain, irritable bowel, etc and no one really looked for a physical condition - he got 7 different diagnoses in 7 years with 7 different doctors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, etc. as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. No medication or counseling helped. Somehow I saw the behaviors and didn't register his complaints about pain - even when I had it myself.

Finally one psychiatrist hit on the link to my fibro and tried him on Cymbalta. It changed his life. For the prior 8 years he barely functioned, often using cough medicine to self medicate with the DMX in it. Many young people of died from overuse of an over the counter medicine. And now ... research is connecting the same substance - DMX - for relief for fibro. (CAUTION: But don't try it with cough syrup. The large amount of antihistimine dries out the body so much, it can be fatal). Poor kid was self medicating using a legal substance but nearly ruined his life. Now he is fine, finished his university degree and owns his own business. Thank heavens!!

I met few. My husband has muscle and disc damage which cause chronic pain for him. Most of the few I did meet didn't seek out treatment right away.