Japanese Fibromyalgia Patient Seeks Greater Awareness, Understanding

Tokyo, Sept. 2 (Jiji Press)--A Tokyo woman with fibromyalgia is sharing on social media her experience of remaining undiagnosed for over a decade despite her persisting symptoms, highlighting challenges faced by the estimated two million patients in Japan.

She is calling for greater awareness and understanding of the disease characterized by severe pain throughout the body and public support for those suffering from this often-misunderstood illness.

Many fibromyalgia patients are struggling because their symptoms are not easily recognized, leading to a lack of understanding from people around them.

Reina Serikyaku, a 30-year-old certified care worker, first noticed something wrong with her condition when she was a first-year student at a junior high school on Ishigaki Island, part of the city of Ishigaki in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa.

She had sudden chest pain during class and was taken to hospital by ambulance. No abnormalities were found in a blood test or an electrocardiogram, however.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]