A Fibromyalgia Cancer Connection? | Bringing the Heat: An ME/CFS Blog

Oh shit! As we don't have enough to live already. . .

A Fibromyalgia Cancer Connection? | Bringing the Heat: An ME/CFS Blog: "Individuals who reported widespread pain had a greater incidence of subsequent cancer and, after being diagnosed with a malignancy, were also about 80% more likely to die than those diagnosed with cancer who didn’t have a history of chronic pain, Dr. Macfarlane said.
The increase in cancer risk was confined to a few types of malignancies. Breast cancer was roughly fourfold more common in women who previously reported widespread pain than in those without such a history. The rate of prostate cancer was similarly elevated among men with widespread pain. Colon cancer was increased in both sexes.
Deaths due to accidents or suicide were also considerably more common in individuals with widespread pain.
“Is this a chance finding? Well, I think it could be. This is the only such report, but then I don’t think other people have looked,” the epidemiologist said. His report was viewed with dismay by audience members who regularly see patients with fibromyalgia in their offices.
In another study among the 1,163 women with confirmed fibromyalgia, for example, the rate of suicide was nine-fold greater than in the general population, as reflected in Danish mortality register statistics. The suicide rate among the 106 women with possible fibromyalgia was increased 20-fold."