36.Fibromyalgia

This morning on BBC 4 Woman's hour they broadcast an item on 'fibromyalgia'. I was puzzled and irritated, so before commenting I read the item carefully on Wikipedia.

In Britain apparently 2 percent of the population 'suffer' from it, and they are entitled to social security benefits. There are moves to make it legitimate in the European Parliament. But I suspect that if the Nazis had selected fibromyalgia sufferers to the gas chambers, every one of them would have done full work as a slave labourer instead: a perverse twist to their slogan: 'Arbeit macht frei ... von Fibromyalgia'. 'Work frees you from fibromyalgia'.

So there are more than a million sufferers in Britain, yet there are no clues as to the cause, or criteria for a diagnosis. Every medical test known to doctors will give normal results. Like other psychiatric conditions, proof of the illness relies on the verdict of the doctor - and this must be an enormous source of employment and income to many of my former colleagues. Cleverly, rheumatologists have not off-loaded fibromyalgia onto their psychiatric colleagues. Knowing that there is no physical abnormality whatever, makes it safe to 'treat'; and knowing that there is no cure, will justify prolonged 'treatment' despite its failure.

There is no effective treatment - except for psychiatric drugs and cannabis - but not apparently tested in double blind trials. Just boost your out-patient statistics, and collect your salaries or private fees...

The only reliable statistics claim that 9 women are afflicted for every man. There are no data on mortality - I bet that it does not shorten life. It would be interesting to learn what the incidence of this 'disease' is in primitive societies, and among refugees. Is there any fibromyalgia in Iraq? My biased view is that it is a psychiatric condition - invented less than 30 years ago - and it has become a true gold mine for doctors and patients. It's totally safe!