Fibromyalgia: The Pain Is Very Real

[Guest guest]

The NY Times article last week managed to get a widespread response. If nothing else, it has brought FM to the forefront again and caused a great deal of discussion. If you haven't already listened to the Diane Rehm Show, you can access it at the bottom of this. I'm beginning to feel that the Times article was aimed much more at 'putting down' the use of Lyrica ...and the drug company who is making an obscene amount of money from this completely unproven drug ... than it was for anyone with FM.

Newspapers usually want to get a discussion going.... they succeeded.

ine

Drug Approved. Is Disease Real? <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/health/14pain.html?ref=3Dopinion> (January 14, 2008)

New York Times Publishes Letter from National Fibromyalgia AssociationFrom Lynne Matallana, President and Founder, National Fibromyalgia AssociationAnaheim, Calif., Jan. 14, 2008Fibromyalgia: The Pain Is Very RealYour article is indeed a milestone for the fibromyalgia community and the millions of Americans who suffer from this chronic pain disorder. We are glad that The Times is shedding light on this medical condition on its front page.But the article presents outdated opinions and doesn't discuss the research advances of the last decade by institutions like s Hopkins University, the University of Michigan, the National Institutes ofHealth and the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, you chose to focus on the opinions of a few medical outsiders who still question the legitimacy of fibromyalgia.We at the National Fibromyalgia Association felt hopeful that the misperceptions and days of patient ridicule were behind us, but your article proves that we still have a lot of work to do. Fortunately, we are more than up to the task.To view other New York Times letters to the editor on this subject, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/opinion/l17disease.html?pagewanted=3D2 & _r=3D1>To view responses sent to the National Fibromyalgia Association, go to:http://www.fmaware.org/site/News2?page=3DNewsArticle & id=3D6835In other NFA news: Spokesperson Frances Bremer and NFA Chief Medical Advisor Wood, M.D., were featured on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show this past Tuesday. To listen to a podcast of the interview, go to www.drshow.org <http://www.drshow.org/>