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Question

Dear Ms. Williamson,

A woman in Massachusetts who had fibromyalgia recently committed suicide. I have fibromyalgia, too. Is that what is in store for me?

Answer

Not at all. Judith Curren's suicide is an indictment of that part of the health care system to which she had access--and I'm not talking about Dr. Kevorkian, who assisted her. This woman sought the help of many physicians, one of whom seems to have recognized fibromyalgia but apparently didn't suggest the proper course of treatment. The others took the "it's all in your head" approach so familiar to most people with fibromyalgia, particularly if they are women.

Curren's doctors gave her drugs--apparently large quantities of antidepressants, painkillers, narcotics--but apparently none talked to her about the importance of nutrition, or about how essential it is to keep moving when you have fibromyalgia. Some gave her sleeping pills, but none considered that almost all sleeping pills interfere with the deep, restorative sleep that is essential to managing fibromyalgia. No one seems to have taken her irritable bowel syndrome seriously enough to have helped her to overcome it. This woman, surrounded by and married to a member of the medical profession, died of neglect as much as she died of a lethal injection.

Anyone with fibromyalgia has special needs: the need for education in proper nutrition; someone to help develop a suitable physical conditioning program; pain management help, possibly including medication, so that the person can think straight and develop the will to prevail over this condition; and then a gradual tapering off of medicines as the person phases in the new lifestyle.

Fibromyalgia is manageable. It is neither life threatening nor progressive. Education and persistence are required to get it under control, but with the proper help and guidance, one can live a rich and productive life in spite of it.

03/13/98

Miryam Williamson, a contributing editor to SelfhelpMagazine, is a technical journalist and author of "Fibromyalgia: A Comprehensive Approach What You Can Do About Chronic Pain and Fatigue," published by Walker and Company, New York, 1996, ISBN 0-8027-7484-9. At bookstores in early June, or from the publisher at 800-289-2553.