Fibromyalgia is not seen, it suffers. Fibromyalgia is invisible, but the millions who suffer from it are not.
Because fibromyalgia has become a health problem
Although institutions continue to look elsewhere, fibromyalgia is a reality that continues to grow, which does not include social class, cultural level, age or cardinal point. It can begin in childhood and get worse over the years, with the appearance of new symptoms.
Far from being psychological, as many have insisted, the latest research in the world suggests that it is a neuroimmune disease and therefore compromises all body systems, and can appear up to more than thirty different symptoms. The most disabling are pain and chronic fatigue.
“Fibromyalgia is a chronic and debilitating disease of unknown cause and without effective treatment.”
For many years, he has avoided this definition and has preferred to accuse the patient liar, whiner, neurotic, depressive, trickster, victimista … so much so that most of the society has believed that fibromyalgia is synonymous with cuentista and all the forums are spoken in a scornful and suspicious way of these patients.
The people concerned are exposed to a “popular trial” with a verdict: “imprisonment for life”, sentenced to lock themselves at home, not to prepare, not to smile … because if they do they are redesigned. “It will not be so bad when everything is settled”, “Look how she laughs, it will not hurt too much …”
In addition to being sick, society questions their right to live and to be happy. People with physical difficulties who are successful on the sporting or personal level are examples to follow and inspire admiration, and no one doubts their handicap. This admiration and empathy is evident in all diseases except fibromyalgia.
The fibromyalgia patient who manages to be happy, despite the disease, and manages to succeed, despite the great difficulties, is not appreciated for his strength and desire to excel, nor is he an example of life, it is simply a reason to question his diagnosis and, with him, the professionalism of the doctor who gave it to him.
The fact that the harsh reality of this harsh disease has been denied for so long has caused irreparable physical and mental harm to many affected people.
Treatment
In terms of health, polypharmacy has been abused and drug addicts have been created and the fact that their environment and society are “nothing” has led to family breakdowns, harassment and dismissals. and unfavorable sentences. incapacity for work.
When, for all these collateral damage, the patient is submerged in a depression, the one who remains obsessed with denying the evidence is confirmed by the fact that “his problem is psychological”.
Years ago we could justify this “inappropriate treatment” due to ignorance of the origin of the pathology, but after thirty years, it does not work anymore. Although we still do not know what the origin is, although there is still no measurable marker, it’s time to take responsibility and start looking for it.
Because fibromyalgia has gone from a health problem to a social problem. It affects 5.4% of the population, 92.7% are women at risk of social exclusion.
“Fibromyalgia is a chronic and disabling condition of unknown cause and without effective treatment.” This is a straightforward and easy-to-understand sentence, it’s time to accept it, take responsibility and act accordingly for example by investing in research and resources for the appropriate treatment of the disease.
Fibromyalgia is not just a pain, as some say, as if it was not a lot. It affects the entire body, so that the patient walks from specialty to medical specialty, for years, until finally getting a diagnosis that does not help much because the prescribed medication does not make the pain go away.
The result is an extraordinary expense to the health system and wasted patient time, adding to its symptoms the side effects of polypharmacy and frustration. Frustration is also shared by physicians who want to help the patient but feel helpless for lack of time in consultations and resources to serve them in a multidisciplinary way as they deserve.
The solution is to have the political will to invest in the research and training of expert doctors who run these units. This form of care would be less expensive for the system and would improve the quality of life of the patient and thus the family and professional environment. Perhaps one of the reasons it is not studied is because “Fibromyalgia does not die …”
With fibromyalgia, you do not live, you survive
