[dawn53]

They argued that its prevalence had been exaggerated by pharmaceutical companies and uncritical newspaper articles, and that giving people diagnoses and powerful drugs were serious downsides of defining the elusive syndrome too broadly.

So is there a test for this problem (i.e. does it show up on an EMG)...or is the diagnosis purely subjective? And what are the "powerful" drugs the article speaks of?

[Savage Beast]

There’s no test available now. Diagnosis is based on clinical evaluation, mostly symptoms. I haven’t looked into the drugs because my wife’s symptoms are not sufficient for her to seek therapy, and I don’t work in that area. The genetic study described in the article could be diagnostic, but it’s not routine or generally available.

[ga medic]

I don’t know if the diagnosis is subjective or not, but I worked with a woman who had it. Some days she came in looking terrible, and you could tell she hadn’t gotten any sleep. She said it was just annoying, but it really affected her performance at work. She had tried taking sleeping pills, but said they didn’t work at all.