Fibromyalgia: Is It A Real Diagnosis?

7/11/2015

Almost anyone can leave a doctor’s office with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

The criteria is flimsy at best
with most doctors agreeing that 3 months of chronic pain without an identifiable source
is reason enough to offer fibromyalgia as the diagnosis.

Almost anyone can leave a doctor’s office with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
The criteria is flimsy at best with most doctors agreeing that 3 months of chronic pain without an identifiable source is reason enough to offer fibromyalgia as the diagnosis.

The problem with this diagnosis is that fibromyalgia is labeled as “incurable.” Being given this diagnosis is a life sentence.

The Mayo Clinic offers this definition of fibromyalgia:

“Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.

Symptoms sometimes begin after a physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event. Women are much more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have tension headaches, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression.

While there is no cure for fibromyalgia, a variety of medications can help control symptoms. Exercise, relaxation and stress-reduction measures also may help.”

This diagnosis is disturbing on many levels. Fibromyalgia is not the “cause” of anything. It is only a name given to a broad collection of symptoms. It is also an insurance code and it simplifies life for health professionals, but not for the sufferer.

Once diagnosed, a patient is offered drugs. These drugs are not meant to cure. They are only meant to mitigate symptoms. Because Western medicine has established that this condition is incurable, these drugs are available for life. The secondary risks from these drugs and dependency on them are put aside in favor of the immediate rewards of reduced symptoms. Meanwhile the long-term effects of these drugs on the body remain unchallenged. No one gets well in this scenario and the risk of doing harm to the body with drug therapy is very high.

“Searching for the Cure” ends with a diagnosis and pharmaceuticals. Knowing the “Cause” is the difference between being managed or cured.

1 Comment

Paul Francois Petit

7/12/2015 03:04:36 am

I had a very compelling case of fibromyalgia. A young woman in her late teens. Very athletic, smart, beautiful, everything a young woman could ask for. She traveled the world in search of a cure. She ended up in my practice one day. I treated her for about a year or so. No results. Just like all the other doctors. The only difference was that I didn't take advantage of her condition, I didn't charge her for her visits. I would take her at the end of my day, and she would stay sometimes 2 to 3 hours, talking to me. She had pain, mostly in her upper jaw. Very real pain, no doubt about that. She couldn't eat nor could speak. However, I was able to get her to shout at me if I challenged her at times. Only then would she overcome the pain.
Her diagnosis of fibromyalgia was not a diagnosis, it was a mean to categorize her into a group of patients.
The reality is that as a child she had been abused by her father, and she never got over it. Her pain was an expression of Ill living and a way to implore help from others.
It wasn't a make believe pain, or a pretending pain, it was real. However fibromyalgia which really means pain in the muscle fibers, is not a diagnosis, it's a symptom. This is where your "search for the cause" motto is highly significant. The cause was not in her muscles. The cause was in her entire being.
She went on to see more doctors after me. She raised more than $800 000 from people to help her. She used all her funds and ended up in the US.
I saw her several years later, no improvement, on the contrary. She finally died when she was 25 or so.
She didn't die from fibromyalgia, she died from malnourishment and what can be considered as a form of suicide.
So yes, fibromyalgia is serious, but that doesn't make it a diagnosis. The cause is underlying. Hard to find.
One of the major cause of problems in medicine is precisely wrong diagnosis. Some doctors like to value themselves at the speed at which they give their diagnosis. It's one of those ego things that sometimes have drastic consequences.
There are a lot of modern days diagnosis that are not diagnosis. One of them is ADD. But I could write a whole book just about that one.
There is also a lot to say about pain management, but that's another chapter too.
Bottom line, you really need to search for the cause in fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia: Is It A Real Diagnosis?

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