Drug Approved. Is Disease Real?

NY Times ^ | January 14, 2008 | ALEX BERENSON

[don-o]

Fibromyalgia is a real disease. Or so says Pfizer in a new television advertising campaign for Lyrica, the first medicine approved to treat the pain condition, whose very existence is questioned by some doctors.

For patient advocacy groups and doctors who specialize in fibromyalgia, the Lyrica approval is a milestone. They say they hope Lyrica and two other drugs that may be approved this year will legitimize fibromyalgia, just as Prozac brought depression into the mainstream.

But other doctors — including the one who wrote the 1990 paper that defined fibromyalgia but who has since changed his mind — say that the disease does not exist and that Lyrica and the other drugs will be taken by millions of people who do not need them.

[bikerman]

Seems everything is a Disease today. looking for a easy way to chuck responsibility make up a disease.

[mcshot]

I have been diagnosed with fibro and CFS as symptoms of Lyme disease which I contracted in the early 90s. They are very real but these conditions as Lyme itself are basically clinical diagnoses observed by practicing clinicians and not academicians who seem clueless to conditions in the outside world. I worked with some who are a major part of the problem.
Good topic.

[BallyBill]

If someone thinks it isn’t a real disease, good for them. For the 2 people I know that have it, I hope this will help them.

[browardchad]

"A survey of 2,500 fibromyalgia patients published in 2007 by the National Fibromyalgia Association indicated that 63 percent reported suffering from back pain, 40 percent from chronic fatigue syndrome, and 30 percent from ringing in the ears, among other conditions. Many also reported that fibromyalgia interfered with their daily lives, with activities like walking or climbing stairs.

>>snip<<

"the average fibromyalgia patient in the 2007 survey reported weighing 180 pounds and standing 5 feet 4 inches."

Chicken or egg?

[GovernmentIsTheProblem]

My dad took Lyrica for chronic neuropathic pain and had to stop because it caused bizarre and scary visual hallucinations.

[netmilsmom]

The problem is that people are dying for a diagnosis to cure the simple pains of growing old so they are given whatever fits their symptoms.

Fibromyalgia is a real disease but over diagnosed IMO. You get people who are cured by losing weight or exercising, they never had it in the first place.

When I worked Psych, this was the big diagnosis. Then it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In many cases, they were cured with diet and exercise. Some weren’t, those were real. You seem to have hit the nail on the head with your observations.

[Spiff]

I did not believe that Fibromyalgia was a real disease, but thought it was a catch-all disease for anything remotely similar that lazy or unskilled doctors could not diagnose. However, my mother-in-law turned ill over a couple of months time to the point that she could barely function due to the pain she was experiencing. Local doctors in our rural area could not diagnose it. Doctors in Tucson could not diagnose it and the insurance decided to stop paying to find a diagnosis and just let her suffer. My brother-in-law scraped up enough cash to send her to Mayo Clinic. After a week of tests, and a team of doctors, the diagnosis was Fibromyalgia. I’ve seen its effects close-up and it isn’t pretty.

[palmer]

Real or not, the drug will have the usual placebo effect. The other good news is even if doctors misdiagnose some other condition as this one, the drug will probably work just as well.

[Drawsing]

Most of the women I have seen with this disease are very large.

[stlnative]

I have had Fibro and CMP since I was 13 years old, it appeared after I had accident that almost killed me. I was about 90 pounds at that time. It took a specialist to diagnose it when I was 21 years old when I was about 110 pounds. I am now 41+ years old and yes I am much heavier now but the weight has not caused my Fibro/CMP to get worse. So the body weight of someone who truly has Fibro/CMP has nothing to do with it.

Fibro/CMP is a very real illiness but I do agree that doctors are misdiagnosing it these days.

[stlnative]

You may also want to check into if she has CMP (Chronic Myofascial Pain) if her pain locations move around. (Settle in one area and then move to another location in her body). CMP pain can last for weeks in one spot and then suddenly go away or move to another area of the body.

Here is an article for you to check out. She can have both CMP and Fibro. This article can explain how tell which symptoms are Fibro related and which are CMP related.

http://www.sover.net/~devstar/define.htm

Most people who have Fibro have CMP.

[gusopol3]

just as Prozac brought depression into the mainstream

what a stupid line.

[E38]

Fibromyalgia, ADHD, enlarging ozone holes, CO2 induced
global warming, Duke Lacrosse rapists, Tawana Brawley
abusers, and truly conservative republican presidential
candidates do not exist.

[neverdem]

bttt

[Born Conservative]

Fibromyalgia is a real disease but over diagnosed IMO.

I agree. ADHD is real but overdiagnosed as well....