Marketing For Fibromyalgia Syndrome

The most aggravating part about Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is that there is no objective test for it. It doesn't show up in your blood work or an MRI, really. FMS is the invisible disease.

Now this invisible disease is getting some air time on TV. A woman writes in her journal about the pain being unbearable. Another complains that if she looked how she felt, people would understand her. It's all part of a marketing campaign for Pfizer and their drug Lyrica, recently approved by the FDA to treat Fibromyalgia. Before the approval, it was on the market to help diabetics with nerve pain.

The impact is difficult to assess at this early stage. Socially, will this drug and others make people more aware of FMS like Prozac made people more aware of manic depression? Will they be aware of other symptoms and precipitating events like weather, stress, and other factors?

The medical community's reaction is also going to be hard to judge. Will doctors be more aware of FMS and be able to diagnose it correctly? Some doctors diagnose it for people who have a long-lasting injury. I had one person tell me, "Oh, I had Fibromyalgia in my back for about 6 months and then it cleared up." Quite obviously, that wasn't FMS. Other doctors refuse to believe FMS even exists. They believe it's a psychological condition, that it's all in a person's head and if they simply pushed through the symptoms, they'd get better. That doesn't wash, but doctors like that will not change their opinion simply because a patient reports they tried that already. Will this marketing cause them to look into it further? It's difficult to tell.

Most importantly, will this drug work? Only time will tell.

My hope is that more people who do suffer will be willing to talk to their doctor about their symptoms. If their doctor is unreceptive, I hope they will get a second or even a third opinion. I also hope that more research will lead to an objective test that will indicate not only whether it's a true case of FMS, but also the severity of the disease. Perhaps the research will lead to a cure or a better treatment. Again, only time will tell.