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Oprah's Show: Diseases Doctors Miss Most

© Cynthia Webber (Jausten)

On July 29, Oprah Winfrey did a show called "Diseases Doctors Miss Most," and, although I had received an e-mail from the producer of the show informing me that fibromyalgia would be mentioned with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome, it wasn't mentioned once during the entire hour-long show. Needless to say, I was greatly disappointed.

I will admit that the show did educate the public about often missed diseases, such as thyroid, lyme, leukemia, and multiple sclerosis, but even the information about CFIDS wasn't as clear as I had expected. The woman who had CFIDS was an intelligent woman who wasn't taken seriously by doctors until she was treated for depression. Then her aches and pains eased up, and that was the clue that the antidepressants that she was taking for her depresssion were actually helping her CFIDS. In other words, she really didn't have a clinical depression, but may have been depressed due to her cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, and constant physical pain.

Having the media attention from Oprah would have helped those of us who deal with fibromyalgia on a daily basis. The fact that fibromyalgia wasn't even mentioned shows me that we are still a long way from being treated as though we have a real condition. CFIDS and FMS are two separate conditions, yet they are closely related due to their symptoms. People who have CFIDS can develop FMS, and people with FMS may also develop CFIDS, but it is more common to develop FMS after having CFIDS than developing CFIDS after being diagnosed with FMS.

The show also didn't show the extent of the cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, and pain of the mother and daughter who both had CFIDS. I'd hate to think of how they felt after the taping of the show.

The symptoms for all the conditions that were discussed on this show were on the television screen, and they are also posted on Oprah's web site. I found myself actually finding that I had some of the same symptoms for all the conditions discussed, and I'm sure that even people without fibromyalgia could answer yes to some of the symptoms listed.

As I sat and watched the show, I wondered just how many doctors were actually watching it. I doubt if many were, and I also doubt if many will be happy to have patients visit their offices and inform them that they think they have a certain condition because they have the symptoms listed on Oprah's show.