- Messages
- 33
Brian Walitt praises E. Shorter in a publication from this November, submitted in September.
http://scholar.google.de/scholar_ur...dqTws6uCZ7-CJhZDQ4hg2w&nossl=1&oi=scholaralrt
Some Quotes from the Paper
"What these data mean, practically, is that psychosocial and environmental forces, physician and patient’s beliefs strongly a effect fibromyalgia diagnosis and status. The distinguished medical historian Edward Shorter characterized fibromyalgia as a “psychic epidemic, an illness attributiven on that spreads epidemically, and then is forgotten"
"It is wise to remember George Ehrlich’s admonition: “When one has tuberculosis, one has tuberculosis, whether or not it is diagnosed. The same is true for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hookworm infestation—really, of the gamut of diseases but not for fibromyalgia (FM). No one has FM until it is diagnosed”"
citing to Erlich's paper entitled "Pain is Real; Fibromyalgia isn't"
"A Criteria Negative FM diagnosis of fibromyalgia can legitimize vague
and difficult or distressing symptoms, allowing entrée into official
diagnosis and government approved treatments, or providing a
way toward official disability status. All doctors and patients have
to do is agree on the diagnosis. There is no reliable way to dispute
such a diagnosis, and such a Criteria Negative FM diagnosis can be “helpful” to the patient and to the physician who struggles to handle a difficult problem and sometimes a difficult patient...
"For patients, there is a battle to establish and sustain the
legitimacy of fibromyalgia, as “society does not readily grant
permission to be ill in the absence of disease...”
"Somatic symptoms and syndromes have always existed, but what
drives the modern diagnosis of fibromyalgia?
Three essential stakeholders:
1) The pharmaceutical industry (Pharma);
2) Physicians with intellectual conflicts of interest (COI) and
ties to Pharma;
3) Patient support organizations...
"The role, physicians play in publishing data on fibromyalgia must
be mentioned. Index Medicus now (September 2016) lists 9,366
article addressing fibromyalgia, and the tangible and intangible
benefits physicians receive from publishing are substantial
[18,33]. Why do independent investigators do fibromyalgia
studies? Because it is easy to find patients and there are always
abnormalities. If you look hard enough almost any questions [sic]
can seem publishable and justified as an incremental increase in
scientific understanding.
"Finally, there has been an enormous and often quite successful
effort by patient support groups to legitimize fibromyalgia
and support fibromyalgia physicians. These efforts have
been documented elsewhere [19,34-36]. For patients and
their advocates, the suffering of fibromyalgia is a self-evident
demonstration of legitimacy, even if the scientific reasons used
to establish its medical legitimacy may not be."
http://scholar.google.de/scholar_ur...dqTws6uCZ7-CJhZDQ4hg2w&nossl=1&oi=scholaralrt
Some Quotes from the Paper
"What these data mean, practically, is that psychosocial and environmental forces, physician and patient’s beliefs strongly a effect fibromyalgia diagnosis and status. The distinguished medical historian Edward Shorter characterized fibromyalgia as a “psychic epidemic, an illness attributiven on that spreads epidemically, and then is forgotten"
"It is wise to remember George Ehrlich’s admonition: “When one has tuberculosis, one has tuberculosis, whether or not it is diagnosed. The same is true for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hookworm infestation—really, of the gamut of diseases but not for fibromyalgia (FM). No one has FM until it is diagnosed”"
citing to Erlich's paper entitled "Pain is Real; Fibromyalgia isn't"
"A Criteria Negative FM diagnosis of fibromyalgia can legitimize vague
and difficult or distressing symptoms, allowing entrée into official
diagnosis and government approved treatments, or providing a
way toward official disability status. All doctors and patients have
to do is agree on the diagnosis. There is no reliable way to dispute
such a diagnosis, and such a Criteria Negative FM diagnosis can be “helpful” to the patient and to the physician who struggles to handle a difficult problem and sometimes a difficult patient...
"For patients, there is a battle to establish and sustain the
legitimacy of fibromyalgia, as “society does not readily grant
permission to be ill in the absence of disease...”
"Somatic symptoms and syndromes have always existed, but what
drives the modern diagnosis of fibromyalgia?
Three essential stakeholders:
1) The pharmaceutical industry (Pharma);
2) Physicians with intellectual conflicts of interest (COI) and
ties to Pharma;
3) Patient support organizations...
"The role, physicians play in publishing data on fibromyalgia must
be mentioned. Index Medicus now (September 2016) lists 9,366
article addressing fibromyalgia, and the tangible and intangible
benefits physicians receive from publishing are substantial
[18,33]. Why do independent investigators do fibromyalgia
studies? Because it is easy to find patients and there are always
abnormalities. If you look hard enough almost any questions [sic]
can seem publishable and justified as an incremental increase in
scientific understanding.
"Finally, there has been an enormous and often quite successful
effort by patient support groups to legitimize fibromyalgia
and support fibromyalgia physicians. These efforts have
been documented elsewhere [19,34-36]. For patients and
their advocates, the suffering of fibromyalgia is a self-evident
demonstration of legitimacy, even if the scientific reasons used
to establish its medical legitimacy may not be."