‘Everyone feels pain,’ ‘It’s all in your head.’ How many times has Joelle Palmieri heard these phrases? How many times has she had to endure the cruel, paternalistic, individualising language of doctors? Like her, Peggy Pinchart and Corinne Lepage condemn the violence they experience during medical consultations. With Esther Salmona, they discuss the differing diagnoses that were made before fibromyalgia was diagnosed. They list the specialists they consulted and the treatments proposed, and express their anger at the lack of attention they received. Stéphanie Ranque-Garnier, Nadine Chard’homme and Pierre Amatore lament the difficulties they encounter in helping patients due to the limited technical resources allocated, the hierarchy of pathologies and disciplines. The shiatsu practitioner details the benefits of shiatsu for reconnecting body and mind. The two hospital practitioners formulate solutions: whether or not to stop medication, to practise adapted physical activities (APA), to change jobs, to adapt to the illness. None of these prescriptions are covered by the health system, as the close and historical link between healthcare companies and economic objectives biases treatment options.

Copyright © Joelle Palmieri and Virginie Jortay

Credits:
Song ‘La balade des tamalous’ by Adrien Couplet
Excerpt from the documentary ‘What are the solutions for fibromyalgia?’, Dr Raphael Perez
‘The Birth of Biopolitics,’ lectures at the Collège de France between January and April 1979, Michel Foucault
Excerpt from a play: ‘Le Malade imaginaire I Extrait - La scène du poumon’ (The Imaginary Invalid I Excerpt - The Lung Scene), Pathé Live

Links: The Unthought Pain – Feminist autopsy of fibromyalgia, a ‘women’s disease’: https://joellepalmieri.org/2021/08/23/fibromyalgie-derriere-la-porte/

With: Esther Salmona (author, artist, landscape designer), Peggy Pinchart (communications and marketing strategy consultant), Corinne Lepage (actress, community educator), Stéphanie Ranque-Garnier, algologist at the Marseille Public Hospital System, Nadine Chard’homme, nurse at the Namur Pain Centre, and Pierre Amatore, shiatsu practitioner in Marseille.

Production team:
Writing, interviews and production: Joelle Palmieri
Editing and mixing: Virginie Jortay
Voice-over: Peggy Pierrot