Epitaph: I told you I was ill

Thanks to the late Spike Milligan for the title of this post.

I am helping Mrs Gripe with her revision for her acupuncture degree as she has an exam tomorrow. We are looking at syndromes.

I was reminded of how spurious the application of the word syndrome can be. In particular I am thinking of a western medical syndrome that is rather permanent in its effect. It's called Sudden Death Syndrome. Not really a syndrome in that it's characterized by, well, suddenly dying. Now I recognise the tragedy of that, but is it really a syndrome? I wonder when there will be a No Syndrome Syndrome.