Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS Were Called Psychiatric — Brain Imaging Now Shows Microglia Inflamma #shorts

29 Jul 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:22

In this YouTube short, Dr. Aaron Hartman explains how fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) have historically been mischaracterized as psychiatric disorders—a classic medical blind spot. He presents epidemiological data showing that roughly 4 million U.S. adults (≈2% of the population) suffer from these conditions, with about 90% being women and women being seven times more likely than men to receive a diagnosis. Diagnostic delays average 5–7 years, during which many patients experience medical gaslighting, with 40% told their pain isn’t real and 50% labeled drug‑seekers. Dr. Hartman cites recent brain‑imaging and mitochondrial testing that reveal microglial activation and brain inflammation, establishing a physiological basis for the illnesses. He argues that functional or personalized medicine can uncover root causes—such as gut dysbiosis, chronic Lyme disease, long COVID, mold exposure, nutritional deficiencies, or past concussions—and provide targeted treatment. The video ends with a call for viewers to share their experiences to raise awareness and shift the health narrative.

Chapters

What are blind spots? Blind spots are things we think that are true that later on we find out to be false or just plain wrong. Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, also now known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, is a great example of something when I was doing my training in 1996 to 2000 that we thought was a psychiatric illness. And now we actually know is a actually medical brain inflammatory condition. But here's the catch. Many physicians today still think it's a psychiatric issue. And only treat it with exercise, bed rest, and antidepressants or antipsychotic-type medications. So let's take a little deep dive into this old and current blind spot. So about 90% of individuals who suffer with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, are actually women. There's about 4 million adults, or about 2% of the population, currently dealing with this. And women are 7 times more likely than men to have a diagnosis. And it takes anywhere from 5 to 7 years for a person to get an actual diagnosis. Typically have seen multiple doctors, multiple specialists, been told there's nothing wrong with you. It's all in your head. You can't be helped. Now we know it's actually a brain inflammatory condition. Now there's testing, mitochondrial testing, brain imaging testing that actually shows us that's an issue with the microglia. Why am I talking about this? Because it's something that's common. Lots of people have it and it's commonly overlooked. This is an example of a blind spot that resulted in medical gaslighting. And one of the reasons why I'm becoming a medical feminist, because now we recognize women suffer with this. You know, 90% of all patients are women, so much, much more in men, and they're the ones that are commonly overlooked. 40% of fibro— check this out— 40% of fibromyalgia patients report being told their pain isn't real by a doctor. Think about that for a second. And 50% being reported as being drug seekers, so their physicians, providers thought they looked for drugs. Point is, these kind of things happen all the time, and you need someone to look at you as a person, as an individual. This is where functional medicine shines, or having a personalized, individualized care plan shines, because you can actually get to the root of it. Is it a gut-related issue? Is it your chronic Lyme? Is it your long COVID? Is it a mold-related illness? Is this related to nutritional issues and those concussions you had decades ago? A personalized plan can figure this kind of stuff out. It's real. If you've had fibromyalgia, chronic pain, or fatigue illness in the past and been gaslit, told there's nothing wrong with you, it's all in your head, share below. I'd love to hear your story. This is also how other people learn about this and we can actually change the trajectory of health together.