One in four doctors think so. If the physician doesn’t think FM exists, he or she will think the pain is all in your head or you are faking it for ulterior motives, such as acquiring pain pills. The controversy among doctors is whether or not FM is an actual disease, curable illness or just a set of symptoms to manage. It has polarized the medical community.
Is it really “real”?
There are at least two schools of thought about FM care. Sufferers are either masquerading with an illness they know they don’t have, or sufferers are being abused by a society that doesn’t give them the support them deserve. The problem is that the medical community doesn’t really know how to classify an illness in which the patient hurts all over with a multitude of other symptoms accompanying this complaint of pain. Some doctors believe that if a test cannot determine a disease, then it may not be a disease at all -- or it may just be depression.
There are others who say that designating FM as a disease will help pharmaceutical companies’ bottom line. If a disease can be identified, it must have a cure or medication that will alleviate the condition. This is where some people see the greed of drug companies looming. If you watch closely, TV commercials for FM drugs state that it is not known how the drug works, just that it relieves some symptoms.