( This is ongoing....  check it out often. )

The population of the United States is approximately 303 million people, give or take a few hundred thousand people here and there.  Do you realize that is over 12 million people with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia?

Think for a moment, that is twelve million people!  Over twelve million people suffer with this disease.

And we have to listen to doctors tell us it is all in our heads. 

Do you realize this is the second most common diagnosed rheumatologic disorder (less common than osteoarthritis but more common than rheumatoid arthritis).

How loud could twelve million people yell?

Considering this is election year, do you think over twelve million people could sway the popularity of a candidate?
 
And these twelve million people don’t look sick. Or so we have been told. So... my friends, this is over twelve million good looking people. Well, at the very least, this is twelve million people who don’t look sick, who are in fact, sick.

What does it cost society? Researchers for fibromyalgia estimate the US costs alone, run from 13-15 BILLION dollars each and every year. Fibromyalgia is said to account for 1-2% of the nation’s overall productivity. The Journal of Rheumatology released information in 2003 stating the total annual cost of fibromyalgia claimants were far more than twice as high as the costs for the typical insurance beneficiary.

They also said the prevalence of disability among employees with fibromyalgia was twice as high as among all employees.

For every dollar spent of fibromyalgia specific claims, employers spent about $50.00 to $100.00 on additional direct and indirect costs for patient care.

   One study indicates the average cost, to obtain a diagnosis of fibromyalgia will cost $15,000.00.   With today's rapidly increasing medical costs, $15,000.00 is a low figure. $181,294,924,200 is an estimated cost for approximately twelve million people to obtain a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Be it the individual or the insurance company, someone somewhere is paying these costs. 

   Even at a estimated cost of $300.00 a month for medications, this is a monthly cost of $3,625,898,484 just for medication.  And when one considers the amount of medication a fibromyalgia patient takes, $300.00 is a very conservative monthly approximation. Yearly, this figure becomes $43,510,781,808.  Sadly, there is no fibromyalgia key on the cash register at pharmacies to ring up prescriptions under a category of “fibromyalgia”  There are no end of day totals for a category of fibromyalgia.

  
More stats coming, and a new Fibromyalgia Time Line is underway!

It’s all in your head!     (FOR REAL!)