Max
11-24-2005, 02:17 PM
When the pain is real but the cause not seen
Sufferers of fibromyalgia often are misunderstood or, worse, stigmatized.
Shari Roan
Los Angeles Times
November 22, 2005
For years, pain, stiffness and fatigue clung to Lauren Armistead like an invisible shroud. It was tough enough to live with fibromyalgia, but the skepticism she encountered when she discussed her condition was intolerable.
"Throw out a word like fibromyalgia and you'll get this blank stare," the 28-year-old says.
Today, however, Armistead is slowly, tentatively opening up about a disease that is simultaneously emerging from its own mysterious black box.
A groundswell of research has begun to expose the underpinnings of the baffling disorder that affects an estimated 6 million to 10 million Americans, most of them women. Not only do the findings have the potential to ease the condition's stigma, they also may provide clues to other illnesses for which there is no clear clause.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/orl-fibro2205nov22,0,3218133.story?coll=orl-shopping-headlines
Sufferers of fibromyalgia often are misunderstood or, worse, stigmatized.
Shari Roan
Los Angeles Times
November 22, 2005
For years, pain, stiffness and fatigue clung to Lauren Armistead like an invisible shroud. It was tough enough to live with fibromyalgia, but the skepticism she encountered when she discussed her condition was intolerable.
"Throw out a word like fibromyalgia and you'll get this blank stare," the 28-year-old says.
Today, however, Armistead is slowly, tentatively opening up about a disease that is simultaneously emerging from its own mysterious black box.
A groundswell of research has begun to expose the underpinnings of the baffling disorder that affects an estimated 6 million to 10 million Americans, most of them women. Not only do the findings have the potential to ease the condition's stigma, they also may provide clues to other illnesses for which there is no clear clause.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/orl-fibro2205nov22,0,3218133.story?coll=orl-shopping-headlines