Wow. This is quite some post you've written. I'm sure it will take me some time to digest it all. There were parts of it I agreed with and, of course, parts that I didn't. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, but for me it is a "secondary condition". I suffer from a chronic-pain condition in my left side that so far can't be diagnosed, even after five years, and even though there are definite clinical markers associated with my illness.

I didn't begin to suffer from the many vague symptoms of fms until a year after my primary condition began, and was mostly convinced of it's realism by the "tender point test" given by a rheumatologist. I am not as seriously perturbed by fms as some people are, because compared to my other illness it's fairly more containable. But I must admit that it was a vast relief for me to finally get a "name" that I could give to people. And even though I have always been convinced that it's not at the center of my condition, it is this name only which finally allowed me to qualify for disability.

Unlike many, I consider disability to be a major disappointment. Before all this I owned my own business, which was 20 years old. For a year I tried to keep it going, but with my decreased work output it finally failed financially, and to support my three children it became important for me to find compensation.

I have found that the number of tender-points I have at any given time, and the seriousness of their discomfort, is directly linked to the amount of decent sleep I can get. I've heard others say so as well. I'm not totally sure even of what point I'm trying to make, but I do believe that fms is "real", no matter what lies as the root cause of it. And with so many undiagnosed patients out there feeling desperate for a diagnosis, maybe they do rely too heavily onto the first one they are given, especially in a case like mine where the diagnosis is so desperately needed.

Perhaps it's a combination of factors which lead to the epidemic you have described, and perhaps a lot of people, patients and doctors alike, are being too liberal in lumping undiagnosed illnesses into one vague category. But I have studied this illness for four years now, and have spoken with hundreds of people who say they suffer from it. I've even written e-mails to authors, doctors, and clinicians. Some have returned them and some have not. I have also seen twenty-seven specialists myself.

I do want to thank you though for writing such an even-handed article about this subject, and avoiding all the trip-wires which tend to set people off. I really enjoyed reading it very much.

Idealist