Monday, May 08, 2006

MedicalPost.com: Support fibromyalgia sufferers by listening to their concerns

Let's not let May 12 go unnoticed this year. Please put up a sign in your waiting room supporting World Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. If party hats and balloons won't work, then make sure your fibromyalgia patients know that May 12 will be their special day, where you will spend time with them—to laugh, to cry, to listen—and to not say, "It's all in your head." Give them the respect they deserve on their designated day. It's no more and no less than your other patients receive from you.

The above was quoted from an article in medicalpost.com. Fibromyalgia is getting the recognition it needs as "not something in your head" in US, and making inroads in Canada and parts of Europe.

On May 12, remember that fibromyalgia, just like any other chronic diseases, exist everywhere in this world. Everday, potentially thousands of patients around the world, especially where fibromyalgia is not yet recognised, suffer in silence or risk being labelled as a malingerer, psyhotic, depressive all many other terms. Everyday, many medical professionals out there would add salt to the our wounds.

I am glad to see some in the profession, actively urging their peers to take a fresh look at this situation.

May 12, is Fibromyalgia Day. Let this be a step towards better understanding of the disease.

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