title: Alfred nobel.
abstract: Alfred Nobel never spoke publicly about his problems of ill health, but a detailed, subjective record has recently been published in the form of 216 letters written to his mistress during an 18-year period. His descriptions of constant pain, debilitating migraine, and "paralyzing" fatigue permit a hypothesis that he might have had a long struggle with fibromyalgia. This does not preclude his having suffered other illnesses as well. He thought he had heart disease, which his physicians denied until his final years, when he was diagnosed with angina pectoris. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1896 at the age of 63. His letters describe a 30-year search for diagnosis from the best physicians in Europe. He was ridiculed by many people as a hypochondriac, and he never received a diagnosis for "the pain that will not go away." This may well have contributed to the bitterness and depression of his final years. Increasing worldwide interest and research in this elusive syndrome will hopefully prevent a repetition of the Nobel story of a century ago.
authors.affiliation: The author is a United States journalist who has worked in Sweden for many years as a writer-producer for Radio Sweden International and as a translator for Acta Radiologica and the Stockholm Institute of Education.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Holmin