Srinagar, May 11 -- By Dr. Afaan Qazi

International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day arrives every year on 12 May with statistics, seminars and statements. But patients in Kashmir experience something far more personal.

They wake up exhausted after a full night in bed, their muscles ache without injury, and their minds struggle through a haze that steals concentration and memory.

Their medical reports appear normal while their lives slowly shrink.

I meet these patients almost every day.

Women arrive at pain clinics carrying thick folders filled with blood tests, MRIs and prescriptions gathered over many years. Some have visited orthopaedic surgeons, neurologists, rheumatologists and psychiatrists before reaching us. Most tell the same stor...