I'm the owner of the blog Fibromyalgia Confessions. I decided to make this blog as a way to get information out to all of you. When it comes to living with Fibromyalgia knowledge is power. The more you learn about Fibromyalgia as an illness and about your own personal Fibromyalgia, the easier it will be for you to find a balance in your life. Once you find that balance it's amazing how much easier some things are. Fibromyalgia is painful and will always be hard to deal with but I think we should do all we can to make it as easy as it can be.
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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Syndrome Vs. Disease Debacle.
Yes, Fibromyalgia is considered a syndrome. This means that it is characterized by a cluster of symptoms that consistently occur together. While the definition of disease is this: A disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, esp. one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.
The reason they call Fibromyalgia a syndrome is because they don’t know what causes it yet. The issue that I, and many others, have with the term syndrome is that so many Doctors and people in our lives think “syndrome” is synonymous with “not serious” so when they hear Fibromyalgia Syndrome they dismiss it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “It’s just a syndrome, it’s not a disease.”
What they do know about Fibromyalgia is that it seems to come from a part of the brain working incorrectly. Now, look back at the definition of disease. With the knowledge that in Fibromyalgia patients a part of the brain is not working correctly, I think it’s safe to say that Fibromyalgia is a disease by definition, wouldn’t you?
In addition to all this, many Fibromyalgia associations and groups such as the NFA have been working on getting the medical term for Fibromyalgia changed from Syndrome to Disease because of all of the discrimination we receive because Fibro is currently identified as a syndrome.
So what do we call it right now? I say fuck the syndrome shit. Those of us with Fibro know what it does to us, how terrible it is, and that it’s more than “Just a syndrome.” So if you wanna call it a disease, then do it. I do and will continue to. By definition it is a disease and just because the medical world isn’t quite ready to recognize the seriousness of this illness doesn’t mean we can’t.
Love,
A.
