Fibromyalgia: Sign Me Up!
A good friend of mine used to laugh about fibromyalgia, explaining that it’s a fake disease. Now that I’ve read about it, I am not only convinced that it’s fake, but that I have a severe case of it myself!
While the pharmaceutical companies have finally started advertising a drug to treat it, one of the doctors who first identified the ‘disease,’ Dr. Frederick Wolfe, now doubts its existence. He and other doctors point out that the condition actually worsens once a patient has been given the diagnosis, which causes them to “obsess over aches that other people simply tolerate.”
The FDA has approved the use of Pfizer’s “Lyrica” for fibromyalgia, and its side effects are severe weight gain and dizziness. This seems like a good plan. The fibromyalgia patient can then seek treatment for the new ailments, ad infinitum.
The fact that fibromyalgia sufferers tend to also be afflicted with other nebulous diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue, makes it very inviting. Basically, its victims feel achy all over, with pains that don’t respond to advil or even vicodin. There’s no way to prove you have fibromyalgia, or that you don’t. But if it’s recognized as a disease, you can go around complaining all the time! I love it!
Many years ago, the term neurasthenia would have covered not only fibromyalgia but Epstein Barr syndrome, chronic depression, and a host of other ailments as well. The first time I saw the word in the dictionary, I thought Bingo! I’ve got it! And to a greater or lesser degree, so do many of the people I know.
We’re tired, achy, bloated, depressed, congested, irritable, listless, itchy, anxious and short of breath. We hate to work or walk up stairs. When it’s not our stomach, it’s our head. “Lyrica!” It’s like a song to our brains from the loving musicians at Pfizer. And they’ll love us even more when we’re fat and dizzy!
January 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
My sister-in-law had whatever it is pretty bad. She’s not a slacker. It killed her to be at home and I know she was in a lot of pain every day. It did get a lot better when she left her Job in Hell, so maybe it is psychosomatic, which doesn’t make the symptoms any less painful.
Don’t you think there is a tendency to minimize “women’s diseases”?
January 18th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I remember when I was growing up. The doctors all took the position that cramps during menstruation were all just a figment of women’s imagination. I don’t know about you, but my imagination makes me want to curl up and die every month. Amazing that ibuprofen makes it all better. I suppose that’s just a psychological crutch though, right? It couldn’t possibly be something real because men don’t have the problem and women can’t even agree on the symptoms or their severity.
The recent talk about fibromyalgia just reminds me of my “imaginary” monthly pain. I had the good sense to know even back then that those doctors were spouting horseshit. And that makes me more sympathetic to the folks suffering almost debilitating pain and less than sympathetic to the folks calling foul/hijinks.
(I rewrote this several times trying to make it a little less agressive, but apparently I have strong feelings on the matter. Heh, who knew?)
January 18th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I hear you. I do believe that women’s ailments have been attributed to ‘hysteria’ or whatever. Maybe that’s why doctors used to be so quick to remove a uterus.
I also believe more and more that the mind/body link is at work in most illness. Not cancer or anything like that, but most of our organs are so reactive to constant stress, it’s no wonder we feel awful.
I wonder whether one’s attitudes about cramps have anything to do with how one perceives them? Not that they are imaginary, just that dread and/or depression makes them worse?
I also belive that some nervous systems are simply more sensitive to everything….cold, heat, pain, etc. Thus, we do literally feel things that others may by oblivious to. Think of the autistic kids who can’t stand socks with seams…..
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
One of the interesting things about this “disease” is that one the most effective treatments is group therapy. During this group therapy, participants are not allowed to mention their fibromyalgia, they are only allowed to talk about their day-to-day problems. The man who coined the word “fibromyalgia,” has since redefined it as “extreme selfishness.”
January 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Interesting – so the non-judgmental (extreme selfishness, wow) version of that would be more like what Sister Wolfe was saying (And Suebob too with her SIL). A link to mind/body stress that gets expressed in pain.
I’ve had a friend for close to 20 years. When I first met her, she was stressed in a bad work situation and had constant health issues. Depressed immune system, constant colds/flu, and depression on top of it. It all seemed to go away when she found a better work situation. I didn’t really put it together until the work situation (along with life this time) went bad again and her health started to nose-dive.
It’s amazing what our minds can do to us, isn’t it?
January 27th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Well, my Mom says she has it a little
February 11th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are probably the most common complaints that I see from people who are mostly unhappy in their lives or their jobs. It is usually the same demographic, and same economical class of patients. Most are usually women that have some underlying depression issues, and the few men that I have encountered have been nothing more then drug seekers. In response to Graham, everyone has “fibromyalgia” at some point or another, it translates to “muscle pain”. The sad part of our pathetic society is that that we have become such a “fix it with a pill” society that we we only mask the symptoms and never address the problem. If you are having a heart attack, I could give you enough morphine that you would forget about the pain of the MI, however, the problem still exists, I haven’t done you any favors. If you believe that you “suffer” from fibromyalgia, look a little deeper.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Pretty sure it’s not fake. It’s not “cramps” so much as a neurological dysfunction where people experience pain in their skin, muscles and fascia. I’ve treated people with it through massage (where I can barely touch them, and certainly can’t give what you’d consider a typical massage) and seen the pain register in their faces.
I also have a friend with several neurological disorders that are toxin-induced,a dn he began experiencing fibromyalgia symptoms over time. He had plenty of access to meds before the diagnosis, and didn’t find them to be helpful. So not sure what to do with the last comment.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
As a journalist and medical writer specializing in CFS/ME and fibromyalgia, I am disturbed that there are still people who don’t believe these illness exist, despite loads of scientific evidence. These illnesses ruin the lives of millions of people. They can cause constant 10/10 level pain, which has nothing to do with “not tolerating normal aches.” There are actually clinical markers for fibromyalgia – but you wouldn’t know about it, because you’re more focused on making fun of disabled people than doing your research.
“The fact that fibromyalgia sufferers tend to also be afflicted with other nebulous diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue, makes it very inviting. ” Chronic fatigue is not a disease. It is a symptom which can accompany fibromyalgia. People with fibromyalgia also often suffer from CFS/ME, a serious neurological illness, which can be progressive and sometimes even fatal.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I only make fun of disabled people to the extent that I make fun of myself.
Good luck with your book.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:09 am
I find it truly amazing that people without this affliction say that it is ‘in my head’. If that’s your opinion…’please cut off my head’. I have to live with this everyday…..it’s debilitating, excrutiating, unbearable pain that makes it so difficult to get up in the morning, to want to do anything at all….I go to work everyday, I drag myself thru the day, go home and attempt to make dinner for myself and my husband, keep the house semi-clean(no energy at all) and am ready to give up on life as I once knew it. I’m taking Lyrica….does some good, I’m not crazy about it, doesn’t do that much good most days, making me fat and forgetful……You know I would give anything not to have this…..all I ask each day, ‘why me?’ What did I do to deserve this…..fibromyalgia, I don’t care what it’s called, I’m not me anymore….something has invaded my body, my mind, and taken away my spirit……..unless you live with it you cannot possibly understand it….your opinions don’t mean anything to me…an opinion isnt going to solve this puzzle……I have another friend with this stupid thing, she can’t even work anymore…..we are both intelligent women. Can someone out there help us?
May 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am
It’s a joke, at least at my workplace.
I work in a factory and I have several of these people as my coworkers. As long as they have a lazy job, they are fine, as soon as they have to work on a machine, by the time they get moving along they say ‘I’m going to have to take an FMLA day tomorrow, my fibromyalgia is acting up’. It’s called ‘I haven’t used these muscles because I have been sitting on my butt for so long that I forgot what it feels like to work’. That is like a person who has never run a mile in his life then just deciding they are going to get up and do a marathon with out any thought to it, then waking up the next day and wondering why they are sore, that is not fibromyalgia, that is called sore from physical exertion.
Not trying to gender-ize it, and it is going to make me sound like a woman basher regardless of me saying that, but all the people at my work who are using that medical excuse to get out of actual work are woman.
I believe that there is some truth in the disease and that some people do honestly have it, but I also believe it is a disease that is easy to fake in order to gain some sympathy from others or just to plain old steal money from the employer so that you can get receive a paycheck without putting any work in to earning it.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:41 am
FIBROMYALGIA IS OH SOOO REAL!!! I was diagnosed “FINALLY” back in 1998. This was, of course, after seeing Doctor after Doctor, for over a year while my body degraded into complete “BED RIDDEN” form. It was a combination of the Fibromyalgia not being correctly diagnosed & the many different drugs each Doctor I saw prescribed to me!
Most of that 1st year is remembered in bits and pieces as most of it I was in such a deep drug fog, many STILL wonder how I made it through! But not only did I somehow live through it, I finally found REAL HELP in a couple different places… I also lived through many nightmares over the next decade. You know the ones I speak of if you have FM… Being told everything from…”Fibro does not exist, so you need a head Dr.” to one of my all time favorites “We don’t cater to drug addicts here, so you may as well return to the state you came from!” Oh Yeah!! That was an Asian ER Doc at South Lake Tahoe, CA in 2001
I have met 100’s of fellow suffers since my Diagnosis, including 2 of my life long best friends who have since been diagnosed, and one thing seems to be universal amongst us all…. “LACK OF INFORMATION AND SUPPORT”. THAT is one reason of many that brought me to the decision to write a book on the subject in the winter of 2006/2007 called…
“Fibro-My-What?!” It is different from other books on the subject for one reason… I did not hold back on my personal, albeit semi-sarcastic, views and opinions on all I found during my research.
If you are at all interested in checking out “Fibro-My-What?!”, I invite you to check out my official web site:
http://www.fibromywhat.com
Through my website, you can send me email if you have any questions that you think I may be able to answere for you. There is a lot of information there on the site also… just flip through the pages…
July 5th, 2008 at 8:53 am
So, is Fibro contageous? Because two of the “sufferers” have friends that also have it, and Mary Ann has not 1, but 2 life long friends that also have it. Is it more likely that birds of a slacker feather sit and loaf together?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
My god those people who want to make fun of this I will give you my address and i’m sure i’ll have enough energy to give you what for. How dare you. You talk about these people being selfish and lazy. I have worked all my life and by the way still intend to. You don’t have a heart and you want everyone to do the work for you so that you can sit down on your bum and do nothing. Just stop depressing all sufferers with your sick attitute. You might find that one day you suffer from something and I hope only then people turn their back on you.
I am married with children. I work full time and my employer is very happy with my performance. I very rearly have a day off. I come home and cook, clean, iron, do washing and still try and have a social life. What do you do???? I know people like you and i’m more sad for you than I would be for anyone with Fibro at least one day they may find a cure. How do you cure someone like you.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:37 am
It’s weird that all these middle aged women and their best friends have the same “disease”. It’s seems most of then are overworked and underappreciated. Well “Fybro” seems like a good outlet for them since they are so unhappy in their personal lives. I wish doctors and pharmaceutical companies would be straight with the public and not cater to these unhappy women. But on the other hand, these are not the type of women who can be told they are faking so maybe this is the first step in shutting them up.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Will you must have a small penis that’s all i can say.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
And what exactly are we faking Will. You can’t fake having a small penis can you I suppose it’s the same thing.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I agree with one of the above posters, these women are not making their pain up, however, there is a root cause for their physical problems, and in my experience with friends it seems to be mental and stress related. Worried sick to the extreme if you will.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Just when you thought people, men in general, couldn’t get more insensitive, ignorant, and downright lame…you read comments from baffoons such as yourselves. Part of me wants to feel sorry for you, because you just can’t fix stupid. The other part of me wishes I could reach through the monitor and pull your gonads out through the orafaces you call mouths. I’d love to poke fun at you while watching you sqeak in Soprano.
It appears that the MEN complaining about WOMEN who say they have Fibromyalgia are jealous because they have to work and wish they could stay home and be lazy. You’re bitter at women because of the Women’s Lib movement. They certainly didn’t do us any justice by wanting to declare to the whole world, “I am WONDER DYKE, hear me roarrrrr!” While I loathe the women’s liberation mentality, and homosexuality, I can now at least get a glimpse of what made them WANT to assert their liberation and turn into lesbians.
Not only do you men lack in the intelligence department, me thinks there is some “little man syndrome” sufferers as well. Good luck with that, and God forbid, your wives, sisters, mothers, or anyone else you love is diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, some moron such as yourself, doesn’t come along and tell her she’s just faking because she’s lazy. KARMA baby, KARMA.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Above poster says: “There are actually clinical markers for fibromyalgia”
Huh? What markers? There ARE no markers. All you have to do is say you hurt in 16 or 17 places the doc pushes. That’s easy, just say it. Then you are golden. Yes, people have been declared disabled because of this, think about that next time you pay your taxes.
Let’s be honest, lets call FM what it is: “depression with somatization”. Nothing more than that.
BTW, I am a practicing physician, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons for 18 years.
When a new patient lists FM on their interview sheet, you know you have an emotional whiner that’s unlikely to respond to any treatment. That’s a little doctor secret; they tip their hand.
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Please don’t be offended, this may be a unique experience.
I may know someone who is lieing.
I will refer to this person as him/her, s/he or his/her appropriately, as to protect his/her identity.
I am close to someone who claims to have FM. S/he developed symptoms only days after his/her last child moved out on its own (empty nest syndrom?).
S/he was wheelchair bound emediately (not by a Dr.) and later switched to a walker because s/he couldn’t aford to continue renting the wheelchair.
This person also claimed a few times to have had his/her knees buckle and/or lose the ability to move one leg when walking with a friend as well as having bad reactions to scented products while walking in the grocery store.
S/he even went so far as to “lose the ability to talk correctly” (jiberish or just sounds). I don’t remember what brought it on but I was the one to call the paramedics and follow him/her to the ER and translate. The doctor pulled me aside after the exam and asked me if s/he had a history of mental illness. – This person told me years before this that s/he was in therapy for multiple personality disorder and severe depression from traumatic events. This person is also a recovered alcoholic and has not held a serious/steady job since his/her seperation from his/her spouse and has been supported by family and child support ever since.
The FM only came up when the child support stopped and the family (her last child was paying half the rent) could no longer support him/her.
I strongly disbeleive this person to have FM. It developed over night and out of nowhere.
I believe that s/he is using it to be on Disability and for empathy from family (they aren’t close).
I also belive that s/he is so mentally disabled/ill (I believe s/he really suffers from Munchausen Syndrome because of the ER trip and everything else.) that it wouldn’t matter if I addressed the situation with the Authorities because s/he would be on Mental Disibility anyway. I just needed to get this off my chest.
What would you think/feel in my situation?
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Zulu’s only defence is that the disbelievers have a little penis.
What does that say about her and her evidence (or lack there of).
October 8th, 2008 at 9:27 am
you are a complete a-hole! Fibromyalgia is not fake. My aunt,grandmother, and mother have this disease and doctors have recently diagnosed me with it. I’m 14. It is a genetic disease the causes millions of people world wide to suffer, and someone as idiotic as you should be diagnosed with it….then let’s see how “fake” it is.
November 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Wormwood claims he’s a “physician” God protect any unsuspecting patients of his. He sounds like the biggest quack if you ask me. Many INTELLIGENT Drs take FM seriously and treat it. He sounds like he has zero compassion and without that you might as well retire. Maybe he’s an old fart that should retire. What an idiot. I’d LOVE to be able to check to see how many complaints there are at the state regulatory agency against him where he practices. LOL
November 10th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Fibromyalgia is a fake disease. It is used by people who want attention, are lazy, and want to get high on pain pills. I’ve heard the excuse, and I don’t believe it. The only doctors who “treat” it are the ones who want to sell pharmecuticals. Read the articles. It’s an excuse. Like non-descript lower back pain. Oh and my penis is quite large. Please learn how to spell it makes you appear uneducated, ignorant or simply misinformed. Cheers
November 17th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Brad, you appear to be the one who is uneducated and misinformed about FM. I have FM, I do NOT want attention, I am NOT lazy, and I don’t even take pain pills. I’ve never even asked for them. My doctor attends seminars on FMS all the time. He works with me, my Rheumatologist, and through diet and Physical Therapy.
There are hundreds of doctors around the country that take FMS seriously and do all they can to make life easier for those like me, who would give their right arm to not be in constant pain – 24/7.
I manage the best I can. I do what I can, when I can…many times my husband gets upset with me because I push myself too hard. I have FM, it doesn’t have me. Until you’ve lived even 1 hr in the body of a person who suffers from this debilitating, chronic pain, you cannot speak authoritatively on the subject. Trying to do so only makes you sound ignorant and bitter.
Maybe your wife or mother has it and you’re resentful??? I’m sorry if that’s the case. It’s not fun, and it can be frustrating for family members. However, saying it’s “fake” doesn’t make them feel any better. It’s as real as Diabetes, Cancer, or any other disease documented by the AMA.
There may be people that have it or claim to have that have mental problems, but that’s not the case for everyone. I am well educated, motivated, ambitious, and when I’m able…very energetic.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I’ve been dx’ed with “fibro” and it is complete and total BS. Yes, I have all the triggerpoints, yes, my body hurts and I can hardly move and I’m stiff all the time, but I do not need antidepressants and anticonvulsants and other potent drugs.
I get up and go to work because i can make a hell of a lot more money working than sitting on my rump waiting for a disability check. Oh and it’s really funny how the poor suffering afflicted never miss a party or a shopping trip. Just knock it off. Get an education and a little self-respect, will ya?
It’s a mental disease more than anything else. In that sense it is “real”. Get well soon.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
My sister-in-law has been diagnosed with this “disease.” She has always been a malingerer since the first time I met her. This “disease” conveniently shows up whenever she is faced with work or a favor. We now call her illness “Fibromyalibi.” I believe her aches and pains are real. The doctors have just given her a way out with a name for her pain. We’re in our late forties and who doesn’t have aches and pains at this age. It is frustrating because everyone trys to help but she wants to hang on to her “disease.”
November 24th, 2008 at 10:17 am
A friend of mine was incapacitated with fibromyalgia for over 12 years. She ate a terrible diet and did not excercise and got worse and worse. Numerous claims to social security were denied and she was in a spiral. I asked her earlier this year to eat a diet of fruits, vegetables and chicken and fish. She lost 62 pounds and no longer argues with me that fibromyalgia is real, she now says it isn’t and that she had just grown weak. She now has her life back.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I’m really sorry you’re getting responses from all these over-defensive people. You’re allowed to write whatever you want, and I do believe also that FM is generally faked. BUT, it’s one of those things where the people who have it are all losers on the internet that have nothing better to do than scream and whine and cry at bloggers.
To everyone hating on this blogger, go outside and try to exercise. No more crying. Your body will thank you (BUT I HAVE FM AND I HURT AND WALKING MAKES ME TIRED I NEED MORE PILLS WAAAAAAAH)
November 25th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
*Sigh* There just isn’t any cure for stupid.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
FM is a pigeon-hole for pain with no cause or explanation. However, when you see a disease that effects only ONE gender, and primarily one age bracket you have to seriously take a step back and look at it rationally. Is such a discriminate condition real, or is it something else entirely? My opinion is that FM is simply depression. I have to look no further into the matter than my own mother who suffered from a severe case of depression. She tried to kill herself twice, suceeded once- but was brought back. Now, she hurt – everywhere, 10/10 pain scale. Nothing worked. She was miserable in her marriage, her home life, and with all of it. That’s when it started. Doc said depression, FM, and CFS. Treated the depression, which cleared up with time and a divorce, and she feels better than ever. Cancer can disappear for no reason, and miracles happen, but for the most part diseases just don’t go away.
Long Story short. I’m sorry, but you have depression. See a doc, get some pills, change your circumstances. It works. I have appy pains when I stress out (appendix), I go drink and shoot some stuff, listen to incubus, and I’m all better. It’s all in your head, literally.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
And FMRI imaging simply shows a hypersensitivity to stimuli interpreted by the brain. So, it is all in your head, no offense. Muscle biopsy results are laughable, because certain muscles – and certain points are going to be more dense than others. Not to mention my muscles may be more or less dense than yours as well. FM responds well to antidepressants because they address chemical imbalances in CSF, which is more likely than some kind of structural abnormality, which has not been documented. My heart goes out to you – really I do feel for those who really may have this. Maybe a cure is already out there, if not one will be soon. But, you must conceed that there are many who are riding the coat tails in hopes of Demerol.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am
LOL I’ve already said I DO NOT TAKE narcotic pain killers of ANY kind. I’m NOT a drug seeker. Neither do I have any desire to become a drunk. I’m not very tolerant of people who turn to drugs and alcohol to mask their problems…they’re only adding to them, in my opinion.
I suffered a fall, not my fault. As a result I have permanent damage, pain signals and neuro transmitters short circuited, resulting in what I now have…FMS. I was also hospitalized with a severe abdominal, bacterial infection. I had to take numerous IV Antibiotics which basically destroyed my Immune System, like Chemo does to a cancer patient. Guess what? FMS is also in the Auto Immune disease family.
Drs who say that FMS is nothing more than depression are QUACKS! They haven’t bothered to get continuing education on the subject. The depression doesn’t come first…if you become depressed it’s because you’re in pain 24/7. Anyone is subject to depression who has to live like that. There’s nothing in my life that makes me miserable except the pain. I have a wonderful life, and am very happy, so that destroys your uneducated “theory.”
FMS doesn’t have to consume a person’s life, it’s manageable with a positive attitude, over the counter anti-inflammatory meds and if you suffer from depression, antidepressants. People who are malingerers, or only seeking narcotics, are going to come up with any psycho induced ailment to get a Dr to pacify them. Shame on any QUACK who does that!
My Rheumatologist told me that many of her patients that come to her saying they think they have FMS do have mental problems. However, this is NOT the case for EVERYONE. I think it’s pretty lame to just label all those who say they have FMS as “fakers.” Where did you get your MD?
Oh, and FYI, I’m allergic to Demerol. They tried to give that to me when I gave birth and I had an allergic reaction. I didn’t ask for it. Some hospitals and doctors are drug PUSHERS.
Many doctors who aren’t smart enough to get to the bottom of a person’s ailment and find a proper diagnosis resort to handing out bandaids. Good, caring doctors do their research and relate to their patients.
It’s obvious that many of the negative comments are from people who have had someone in their life affected by FMS, and instead of trying to be compassionate and understanding, they’ve selfishly just labeled the one who is suffering as a faker, a drug addict, and cut them down. THAT is what I feel bad about. EDUCATE yourself people. You don’t realize how ignorant it makes you sound when you make such uninformed comments.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I am a 34 year old male. I was an all state athlete. I was given educational scholarships. I was accepted into a private law school. I passed the bar and have a law license. I started my own practice in 2005. I have a 3 story building I work out of and a weight room in the basement. I employ 2 other attorneys and a staff of 14 people. I have a wonderful wife and awesome 4 year old son. While I was ON VACATION in February of 2007, I started having tingling sensations in my arms. That soon moved to my back. Soon after it moved to my legs. My skin felt like I had a severe sun burn. I had spots of pain all over my body. My clothes hurt my skin when I wore them all day.
I loved my job. I loved my life. I was benching 300lbs. I am 6 foot 3 inches 220 pounds and I was in great shape. I did hurt my back in 2004 but recovered. Yes, my job is stressful at times. But I could not explain what was going on with me. Why did my skin hurt like I was in the pits of Hell? Then the pain spread to my face. My face still feels numb. I still have massive pain in my face. The pain in my joints and muscles comes and goes.
About 3 months after my skin begining to burn I decided that I would just have to live with it. However, I noticed that I was not able to workout like I used to. I was not able to lift much weight at all. I was getting short of breath. Then I started becoming exhausted, to the point, I literally could not get out of bed. I was a proud man, but my wife would have to help me from the shower to bed.
I went to several doctors, pleading with them to help me because I have a very large and successful business and I did not want whatever was wrong with me to stop me from making a living. Doctors looked at this 32 year old athletic looking man and said, there just isnt anything wrong with you. They could not explain my symptoms.
I was finally sent to someone who tested me for autoimmune disorders, MS, Lyme disease, Lupus…. All negative. MRIs, all normal.
Then I was tested for several types of cancer. All negative.
Then I was tested for heart diseases… My heart was very healthy, no plaque or blockages and my heart is working fine.
I was sent to the best docotors at the Cleveland Clinic. They had no answers other than probable fibromyalgia.
My first response and continuing response has been denial, denial, denial!!! I do not want anything to be wrong with me. I want to be that normal guy who went on vacation and when I got back I was a different person, I no longer had my health. No, I did not go to some exotic place and pick up some unknown disease.
What is wrong with me? Is it called fibromyalgia? Chronic fatigue?
The doctors tell me that when they rule out everything else, then they simply explain that it is fibromyagia.
Is this real? Is this all in my head? Well, let me explain it to you like this, let me push your face into a boiling pot of water and you tell me if the pain you feel is real. Maybe it is, maybe it is not? Why do I doubt your pain? Maybe it is because I have never had my face plunged into boiling hot water? Maybe I have no idea what it feels like to have my face burned by hot water. But when you bring your face out of that boiling hot water, I doubt you are going to try to argue that your pain is not real.
I will admit, I have never really believed in people who complained about pain and other such things. I always thought, tough it out, get through it. It was not until I started having real problems with my skin burning, pains in my joints and muscles without reason, not being able to sleep, and to top it off, becoming depressed because my life has changed.
Yes, I have to deal with people who are like I used to be, healthy and ignorant. Those healthy ignorant people should be thankful for everything that they have.
I still struggle with “whatever” is wrong with me. I don’t care what you call it. Would it make you feel better if I wore a sling? What about if I hopped around on crutches? Would you believe me then? No, you probably would not. You would be to involved in your “self” rather than to have some compassion for others.
Fibromyalgia is not selfishness. It is the exact opposite. I spend everyday trying not to be a burden on anyone. I go to work and put on a smile for my staff and my clients. Does that sound selfish? I do all I can to continue to have some sort of life. I try to still be a companion to my wife and son. People who think that I am a faker, what exactly am I faking and what is the reward for faking this illness???? Please tell me, because apparently, I am doing something wrong. Because I have had nothing but heartache and pain ever since this all started happening to me.
Why would I want to be in pain? Why would I lie and say I am exhausted? I own my own business!!!! I can come and go as I please!!!! I wish I had my health back so I could spend my time and money doing things I enjoy like playing basketball, going to the gym, running, going hiking, playing with my little boy non stop. Instead, I have to suffer in a bed. Alone. I have to live with guilt for not being able to do all the things that I want to be able to do with my little boy.
I would give anything to be my old self again. I still hold out hope that I will be my healthy self again.
There is nothing more I can do as far as being happy. I have a great job, a great wife, a great son, I have cars, trucks, a huge house, atvs, you name it. But I don’t get to enjoy all those things anymore. Why in the world would I trade all of that for a bed, are you serious????
But, I will not judge you as you have me. God will judge us all whether you believe in Him or not. All I try to do is stay positive, do what I can when I have good days, try not to overdo it on bad days and pace myself. At 34 years old, I am as successful as it can get and I can not fully enjoy the success. It is not my fault that I somehow became unhealthy. I do not smoke. I do not drink. I have never done drugs. If anything, it kind of makes you think, why didn’t I live it up and be some dope head like a bunch of people who still have their health. I know people who have smoked for 40 years and can get around better than I do, oh, but I am faking it, I forgot.
But in the end, my reward is not in this life. My reward will be when I am gone. I will have so much more to gain.
For those who suffer from whatever causes you pain, I have compassion for you. For those of you who mock those in pain, I have simpathy for you.
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
ATTENTION! Please go here: http://www.godammit.com/2008/11/17/come-out-come-out/
Since I wrote this post, I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia! Last night I read two new books about it.
I understand it much better now although there is much that still baffles me.
Anyone who feels hurt by this post, please accept my apology for adding to your struggle to be taken seriously.
Let me know how you are doing.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
ITS FAKE. Its bitchy woman syndrome.
Every time I have met one of these chronic hypochondriacs, they all complain non stop about this fake disease.
Give it a rest already people and stop blaming your FAILURES on imaginary diseases
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Anyone who cites that the scientific community has established FM as a “disease” is only aware of half the argument.
Another good half of the medical and scientific world holds that FM represents a chronic pain disease on the spectrum of depression and anxiety disorders. Yes, the concept of “hysteria” has disappeared today, but we still don’t have any valid explanation for FM.
Moreover, any good medical textbook including authoritative rheumatology texts continue to identify the controversy of calling FM a “disease.” FM is merely a set of symptoms that have been arbitrarily grouped and given a name.
Sure, there is a community (read: cult) of dedicated researchers, writers, and media folk who follow FM, but that following does not automatically qualify FM as a disease.
I don’t doubt that some people suffer from chronic and unexplained pain. Yet if FM were truly a disease, we would have SOME possible scientific explanation, hypothesis, reproducible finding… something!
FM is nothing more than the somatic manifestation of depression, anxiety, or some other psychiatric or psychosocial disturbance — often unbeknown to the patient.
I’m not saying FM is fake, but labeling it as a valid medical disease makes FM a self-fulfilling prophecy and self-propagating condition.
January 4th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I have always been healthy up until 9 years ago. I had somthing very traumatic happen in my life. My daughter was murdered, she had left her husband who was abussive and she and her little girl had came to live with my husband and me. I don’t want to call him her husband, so I’ll just say him. He came to my home one day (saying he wanted to visit his daughter) After my daughter’s murder we found out he had been planning this for a week. My 17 month old grandaughter and I were both there during the murder. I was trying to save my daughter from being shot. He meant that wasn’t going to happen he shot her 4 times. Believe me when I say this it wasn’t just a shooting it was a mutilation of my beautiful little girl she was only 17 years old. At first I was diagnosed with severe depression, pannic attacks, and Post Traumatic Stess Disorder. She has one sister she’s a year and 11 months older. They were very close so she had some really hard times and had some problems. Even thinking about suicide she was hospitolized twiced. very scarry already lost one thinking you may lose your only other child. About 2 1/2 yrs. ago I kept hurting at times like I had the flu but then it would go away. I noticed when I would wash dishes my arms would hurt, my back, my legs, my neck, my entire body would ache with pain. I went my Nerologist where I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. NOW DO NOT TELL ME THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FM . YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE WHO HAVE FM DON’T GO AROUND STICKING OUR NOSE INTO YOUR BUSINESS AND ABOUT WHAT YOUR PROBLEMS ARE. IM HERE TO TELL YOU FM IS VERY REAL I HAD 100 TIMES RATHER BEING ABLE TO DO THINGS WITH MY 10 YEAR OLD GRANDAUGHTER JUST LIKE HER BEAUTIFUL MOTHER WOULD HAVE IF HER LIFE HADN’T BEEN SO SELFISHLY AS YOU SAY WE ARE TAKEN FROM HER. Oh yeah just remember this talk about people and make fun about what they have be careful you may have it one day.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Jim -Try reading some of the comments here.
Doc -Thanks for the intelligent input.
Kim -What a terrible thing to endure. Blessings and prayers for you and your loved ones.
January 5th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Thank you so much Sister Wolf we all need prayer more than anything! It’s not right you don’t bury your child their suppose to bury you! People talk about us the ones that have FM. Honestly you don’t know how that person feels. My eyes have been opened to things a lot more since my daughter’s murder I try to see things differently. I tell my family and friends to treat each other as if it would be the last time they would see them! Because the morning of my daughter’s murder I never in a million years thought about 3 hours after I got up that day I would go through the most horrible day of my life! Everyone needs to think about walking a mile in another persons shoes before makeing fun or saying FM or anything else for that matter is fake. Because I will tell you now what I feel is real 100% I dont want to be this way. Why would anyone want constant pain and be miserable it makes no since. I try to understand everyone’s feeling’s cause for one thing I don’t have one clue what they have gone through in their liftime. Who am I to judge I am nothing. That is the job of the most high GOD He is the one who will judge and the only one! Again thank you Sister Wolf for you prayers!!!!!
January 9th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
It’s fake!
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 am
For years my mother claimed she had fibromyalgia. My sister and I would laugh and make jokes about her being so lazy. I truely believed she was just nuts and had found the perfect “disease” to hide behind. Fast forward fifteen years. I find myself going to the doctor constantly, trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I have all these weird symptoms that don’t seem to be tied together in any way. Strange burning sensations, muscle aches, tingling toes and fingers, insomnia, hip pain and these really weird sore spots on my shoulders and hips. Doctor tells me it’s Fibromyalgia. I am shocked. Sickened. Embarrassed. I wish I still believed it was fake.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Michigan Mom – Same story here. I didn’t even know my mom had it until a few weeks ago, when my sister told me.
February 8th, 2009 at 5:20 am
There is plenty of evidence for abnormalities in fibromyalgia patients. Perhaps if you researched, you would see that they have made numerous discoveries in fibromyalgia patients, documenting noted abnormalities in the way pain is perceived in addition to abnormal distribution of CoQ10. There are other things as well that hint to a possible hormonal connection, hence more females.
You have no idea what you are talking about and have no place stating such tripe things.
In addition, do you know how many diseases exist that doctors do not know what causes? Fibromyalgia isn’t the only one. In fact, there aren’t a handful, there are tons and they are not fake or in someone’s head.
February 8th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I can only hope that all the heartless assholes on here who want to be the judge and jury for so many people who suffer end up with some type of debilitating pain that is misunderstood so that they face the same ridiculous scrutiny they are dishing out.
I do not have FM that I know of although I have considered going to rheumatologists to see what help they can give me. I do have aches and pains from head to toe most of the time. It has been going on for years now. I do not complain to other people, I do not seek narcotics for the pain since they don’t work well anyway and have a bunch of nasty side effects that I wouldn’t want my enemies much less friends to have to deal with.
I live a full and active life, but the pain is a constant stressor that I must deal with. Headaches that come on in the middle of having a great day, pains in my back, neck, shoulders out of nowhere when everything seems to be going fine. I would love a solution for whatever is going wrong. I don’t know if its FM or not. I workout 5 days a week and work 6 days a week as a fitness instructor. It is my passion and I refuse to let these nasty pains and symptoms stop me. But they are there, and they are very real. What they are from I do not know. I do know what I felt like a few years ago vs today and all I can say is that there is no way this is the natural aging process. On bad days I literally slide out of the bed onto the floor in the mornings and have to crawl for a few minutes before I can get up and walk. Often I have to spend an hour just getting warmed up and stretched enough before I exercise that I can endure a solid workout. 10 years ago I could do jump and jacks for 1 minute and be ready to go. That is not natural aging for a 33 year old guy who exercises regularly and intensely and eats a very healthy diet.
I am sure there are some people who fake things for attention, but it is simply astounding how many people feel qualified to be judge and jury for everyone out there based on a few isolated experiences they have had. And for the doctors who scorn their patients seeking help, I hope you rot in hell as you are not fit to be called a professional, much less a doctor.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I do not believe the pain anyone suffers is fake. I worry that those who believe they suffer from Fibromyalgia have a real condition, just one that hasn’t been identified. It could be different for every patient. Fibro seems like a scapegoat when there is no real diagnosis in sight. How can it be a true diagnosis if there is no real working treatment and no true test to confirm the disease? My mother believes she suffers from Fibro, and I know she is not faking the pain that she feels. I do, however, believe that there is an underlying condition that has yet to be identified. I want my mother to be better and happy, but I do not think banking on the concept of Fibromyalgia is a good idea for her or anyone else. She discovered the disease on WebMD (not unlike many other Fibro patients I assume), convinced her doctors she had it, searched for a doctor who would prescribe Lyrica when it came out, and is still in pain and depressed. This cannot be the solution. Why give up? Why insist on a disease that most talanted and knowledgeable doctros do not agree with? I don’t understand. I often wonder if anyone who considers themselves to have the disease and is taking Lyrica has truely solved their problem.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Wormwood just may be a physician. Sounds like the ones I work with. I am an RN. The docs I work with refer to it as the “F” word. They know when we get an admission and the person states fibromyalgia as part of their history that we are going to get a “whiner.” They say it is a catch all phrase for people who want to whine about their pain instead of tolerate it like the rest of us. My boyfriend’s daughter is diagnosed with “F” and she is and always has been the laziest person I have ever know. Age 40 and won’t even make her bed. She is now trying to get disability. My boyfreind overheard a phone conversation she was having with her other “F” friends (dont they all seem to migrate toward each other?) In this conversation she said the doctor wanted to do an epidural and her friend said “Don’t do that” “You would be able to walk normal again and would’nt have a good disability case” DUH! Ain’t that the point? You want to not be in pain and walk normal. Their may be some people who are in pain but this is also a “disease” one can fake and get disability. I am in pain. I am 64 and I have a torn meniscus, spinal stenosis and stress fractures in my foot but I go to work and go on with my life. And no, I am not a paperwork nurse- I work the floor and believe me it is WORK. For those dignosed with the “F” word, get off your butt and get moving and you would be in less pain. And stop living off my tax dollars.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Lauren, you are normal. I am sure you have a lot of pain. but like the majority of us you refuse to let it get you down and go on with your life. Many of those who are diagnosed with fibromyalgia are indeed in pain. But they go on with their life. My complaint is about those who either fake it (malingerers) so they do not have to do anything or those that become whiny complainers, thinking their pain is worse than anyone else’s pain. Yep, they hurt and that is life, get over it. For Lauren and those who are really in pain, some medications my help. Lyrica, Cymbalta and Topamax to name a few. Check with your physician. But the most important thing is to keep busy, go on with your life and do things you enjoy.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Ginger, FYI dear, disability is NOT YOUR tax dollars. It’s money people pay out of their paychecks that is for the sole purpose of helping them if they do become disabled. It’s THEIR money. If you’re going to make comments like that, do your research so you don’t come across so ignorant. I have no patience or tolerance for ignorance!
February 28th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I can understand why it is that people think fibromyalgia is fake. When my deceased mother was diagnosed with the disease, I thought that she was faking to get out of work. Her descriptions of the pain was so unnatural and out of the norm. One moment she spoke of sharp stabbing pains esp. in her lower back, soreness, swelling, and burning sensations over her body. Sometimes she couldn’t move a muscle without excrusiating pain.The pain could last for days. In a matter of seconds, the pain could disappear as if by magic. I had a difficult time believing her.
It was in 1986 when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I have a severe case of the disease. At its’ worse, I laid in bed for ten days. Involuntary muscle movement had me screaming in pain. I prayed to God that he would take my life. If I had a pistol, I would have taken it. There is not a day that goes by when I am not in some measure of severe pain. When a bad attack threatens–I panic. I think about my mother often and the pain that she endured. The symptoms of fibromyalgia is outside the usual description of illness and treatment. It moves throughout the body in seconds and can hang on for weeks. It never leaves the body entirely. It can allow a person to rest just enough to catch a breath for the next severe attack that can come an any given moment—caused by stress, change in atmospheric temperature, another type of injury, repetition, or for no reason. Anyone that says fibromyalgia is a fake is lacking understanding about the disease. Understanding of the disease really doesn’t exist. I am sure that there will be people that will fake the disease to benefit themselves but take it from someone that knows, fibromyalgia is very real!!! I wouldn’t wish it on my worse enemy and I have a few.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 am
I read all the comments about how some women are angry at the men for being so insensitive, ignorant, stupid, selfish, and ridiculous. This makes me believe that maybe we men have a disease that hasn’t been discovered yet. Maybe there is something that makes us think or say these things and we haven’t figured out the cause. I’m looking for a Dr. to help in my quest to find out what causes us men to suffer from this unknown disease. So, ladies who are angry, please keep this in mind. We suffer, too. We just don’t know it yet.
Zulu, your comment speaks multitudes about how you judge people who lack in agreement with you. Besides that, it also makes you look like something you may not be.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
I am a little confused whether this is a fibromyalgia support group or a let’s abuse some one with words site? Those of you that don’t believe in fibromyalgia should not be writing or reading these personal entrees. You have no business here. Why are you where you are unwanted and are doing harm? These suffering people are trying to help themselves to a better life. You seem to get pleasure out of putting people down and trying to demean them. None of us, none of us can fairly judge another human being so why do you try?
Matty
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Matty – I am just letting these comments accumulate, without editing them. I think they reveal the central problem with fibromyalgia: Those who don’t believe it exists are enraged for some reason. That’s what’s REALLY interesting. Why all the rage and contempt????
Anyone who reads the entire comments thread can see my own about-face on the issue. Perhaps I will have to post yet another update on fibromyalgia.
best,
SW
March 27th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Thou Shall Not Judge,
You have something else. I injured my neck two years ago and it caused tingling down my arm for at least 8 months after. It’s completely gone. Nerve damage.
Your back injury may have had something to do with the tingling. Pinched nerve, maybe?
Just asking…
March 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Thank you Sister Wolf for this post–I truly enjoyed reading it along with all the comments it has accumulated. My nasty, evil, bi-polar mother-in-law has this so called Fybromass and collects a disability check each month. She makes life a living Hell for her eldest son, and her husband. She also has a circle of “friends” and ex-coworkers who all conveniently have the same “disease”. There are days she claims she can’t get out of bed; yet the next she is shopping or partying with her youngest son and his friends. She is prescribed “morphine” and every other pain medication known to Man and Pfizer. She claims she has nervous breakdowns to excuse her absurd, bizarre and irrational behavior, such as cussing her children out, cussing her husband out, cussing anyone out, and acting like a child in most situations. My diagnosis, and I am nothing more than an ignorant, backwood, in bred hillbilly from West Virginia, is that she is selfish, bi-polar and wanted a way to sit at home on her fat ass to escape the working world (by the way she was a nurse) and enjoys bringing others into her circle of misery. (She has recently told me I suffer from a nerve disorder in my back and she can assist me in getting my disability claim started.) I refuse to be labeled the same as this psycho!
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Some posters in this forum are making up what they say.
Some posters in this forum are false identities.
How much do you people that have FM weigh?
Why is it mostly women?
Strange how needy women are isn’t it?
FM is when the women’s “worry” gene flares up and dominates the mind.
My muscles ache full time because I exercise a couple hours a day.
The operations of the mind can exhaust the body.
What women has ever answered a question directly w/ out excuse?
What are any of you doing to help the problem? Worrying!
Why was a penis ever brought into the discussion?
Penises are for reproduction and for people of substance, that’s all.
I love ponies.
I think I can make my wildest dreams come true.
The internet is a refuge for the needy and helpless.
I love chocolate
I do whatever I want.
There is no recession
Almost everything is a lie.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Wow! I came here looking for support about this disorder and now feel like I need to go back to my neuro and ask if he is sure about this. Not a drug seeker, very happy in my life, 5′4″, 137 lbs, 40 years old. Work 40+ hrs a week, until about 4 yrs ago, was very active. I now have chronic pain and fatigue associated with some very real physical disorders. Neuro says I have FM with Autonomic Dysfunction…affects heart rate and blood pressure responses…..critically. Now you folks, most of you, some physicians, are telling me this isn’t real! Again, Wow!
May 6th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I just think it is awful how all these people especially men are so judgemental about fibromyalgia. In my research after finding out I have fibro I found out that it is a very common disease in women over 30 and it also has something to do with your immune system. Maybe that is why these men don’t understand. I have a male cousin who has it and I know he would tell you in a heartbeat he has no drama. Educate yourself on this disease before you go throwing the first stone you may get sick one day and people won’t believe you. There is NOTHING FAKE about fibro, I have to wake up and exercise my leg muscles before I start out my workday or I will fall in the floor. I am not overweight I am 5′7 and weigh 125lbsand 36 yrs old. I am also a single Mother of three children and I workout 3 times a week because with this disease if you don’t your muscles and joints will just get stiff. I just think it is wrong for you to judge others when they know what is wrong with them. I think mine started from a motorcycle accident I was in because I went walking one day and could not even walk I had to call my ex to come and pick me up I hurt so bad from there it went to my back shoulders neck just all over so it is very real, but I deal with it. Have a heart people or are you just bored and like putting people down because you aren’t happy in your own life. By the way I never whine about my condition and I am not on any antidepressants because guess what I am HAPPY… I won’t be back because I just can’t get over the ignorance in some of these people. My ex was a jerk and I left him he didn’t leave me he liked beating me so you can’t say Oh I bet she whined all the time.. Good luck to you all that suffer from this disease and go somewhere else for support you don’t need this negativity.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Anyone with chronic pain can spend enough time visiting doctor after doctor until one of them gives the stamp of approval, so the meds can start floating in and the label can be used to keep from “trying hard in life”. I’ve heard from physicians that this disease is over diagnosed. Doctors are often put in a position where patients visit repeatedly with the same complaints claiming that nothing works. The insurance company pays for visits to multiple specialists, and once they get the diagnosis that allows them to begin receiving pain meds, antidepressants and pain management, they are happy to have a label for their malaise. Not to mention the time off and possible chance at bilking their employer for disability. Yea, that thing the rest of us troopers pay for so those sufferers can sit in the movie theater and go to lunch with their comrades. I am in full agreement, there are usually other problems that just take More effort to solve than the patient is willing to make. Many personal, fitness, diet and mental health issues. I could do it too, but I won’t. It’s disgraceful to spend ones life complaining instead of trying to get up and COPE with life. I don’t actually mind eating well, staying fit and knowing I have pain to deal with. Without pain, you’re not really alive.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Yes, some people have pain because the have real diseases! If you have REAL pain go to the doctor and get a real diagnosis. The people on here saying there grandmother, sister or friend have it the quite possibly have something but FM is just not it. FM is just what the doctors give you as a diagnosis to get you off there backs! People that say they have FM make it there identity it that what you want to be known as … the whiner party pooper that know one wants to be around! because that’s what you are ask anyone around you! No one wants to hang out with you except other people that whine like you and then you just feed off each other.
May 26th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I have fibromyalgia. I would like to say that I am not a depressed, middle aged woman. I don’t know anyone else with fibro. I am a teenager. I don’t hate school, I love it. get high 80’s. 90’s. I am in the band. I am on the swim and dive team. I was diagnosed with fibro when I was eight. I was being hoomschooled. When you are eight, you can’t fake this kind of pain. I all the sudden developed ADD like symptoms – I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t remember things. Around the same time, I developed arthritis like symptoms, but I had no swelling. My whole body would ache. I couldn’t get out of my bed. I would just cry. I was hospitalized for it, and nothing helped – NOTHING! Tylenol, advil, codeine – I was just in pain. I could hardly walk. I couldn’t play with my friends. All I could do was sleep – but I would wake up because of pain. I was eight. It lasted for months. You don’t fake this kind of stuff when you are eight years old. I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was put on diclofenac for the pain amd adderall for the fatigue and concentration – this finally helped, but I eventually had GI problems from the diclofenac, so I have started taking celebrex – this works ok to. They also added Lyrica to the mix recently. It does nothing so far, and I feel like crap – but I’ll see. I just want to be a normal teenager like my friends. I want to be able to get out of bed in the morning, with out feeling 90. I want to play piano without feeling like I am dying. I don’t tell people I have fibro, because I don’t want them feeling sorry for me, or treating me differently. I just want to be like everyone else. I work really hard to keep up to the other 16 year olds. And I do it, and I suffer in silence. Very rarely do I complain , I don’t whine – I don’t want to burden others. I don’t know anyone else how has this condition. This disease is real – please don’t say it isn’t. An eight year old wouldn’t fake this – a happy teenager wouldn’t fake this.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
The women’s lib movement was started as a population control mechanism.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I’m guy – who grew up with hypochondriac sisters – I would be the first to say a disease is fake. In this case, it is not.
Do people fake it or think they have it? Of course. People fake backaches to get hydrocodone. People watch mystery diagnosis and think they Chron’s disease or Lupus. In my case, I’ve watched my wife suffer through this. She started taking Cymbalta, and the change was dramatic. SNRIs and SSRIs will not have a change like I witnessed unless there really is a deficiency in those neurotransmitters.
The funny part, is it will probably be shown it is in the mind (in part).. but in the physical sense. Read about trials involving dopamine levels and pain thresholds. However, it more than just one or three neurotransmitters out of whack. Like any stochastic system, the mind and body respond to each other, amplifying some signal and filtering others. An allergic reaction is a prime example of this.
A lot of things are over prescribed. ADD for example. But, I’ve known a few people, adults even, that certainly fit the bill. Just cause most cases are hyper kids that a teacher or parent doesn’t want to deal with, doesn’t disprove the existence of ADD.
If you can’t have math/physics tell you what the weather will be 3 days from now with 99% accuracy, why would one expect science to be any better at giving a systematic method of proving every disease or condition there is – especially one that spans both the mind and body like fibromyalgia.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I’ve should have added, my wife had muscle spasms all the time. Mostly in her sleep. If her “mind” was doing this, it has a pretty powerful kick. She isn’t overweight, actually teaches yoga which helps considerably. Yoga also helps for MS, which use to be stigmatized just like FM.
Women also seem to be sole suffers of this terrible disease where they bloat up, become needy, and hungry. Luckily, it goes away on average of 9 months. I think they just get tired of faking it. Now, I can go back and read my comics about a “Prince” that lives “under the sea”.
Sister Wolf, it is unfortunate that the mechanism to go from not believing to knowing was experiencing. I wish Dr. Wolfe could feel it, even for just a week.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Ladies, get real with yourselves once and for all. For the record, this is coming from a 28 year old female who has also suffered from lethargy, fatigue, pain, migraines, etc… Do I tire of feeling physically drained and exhausted? Of course. Am I willing to ascribe myself to a disease fabricated by a bunch of attention-seeking women and diagnosis-whoring doctors? Hell to the no. I take the responsibility for the fact that there are many deep-rooted underlying emotional/behavioral problems that manifest themselves in physical symptoms.
I now know three different women who developed fibro literally out of nowhere. One of them was clearly seeking attention, suspecting a new random disease every other week (from GURD to IBS to PMDD… the list goes on and on). When someone was finally willing to give her a diagnosis, boy did she tout that around for months, telling everybody about her excruciating fibromyalgia pain and how she’s been suffering with it her entire life. Funny, I’d known her for 11 years and had never seen or heard her complain about typical fibro pain until it was the new disease she set her sights on. Almost the exact the same story with number two, a cousin who complained of a different ailment every month (sleep apnea, panic disorder, again the list goes on and on) and was finally thrilled to be diagnoses with fibromyalgia. Now all of the sudden she literally screams in pain and cries randomly because the pain is so unbearable. Not even going to go into detail about number 3, it’s the exact same story. It’s just really sickening, and the sad part is that I can tell these women truly believe they have this disease. They are that desperate to identify themselves with some disorder so that they can pity themselves and have everyone else pity them. Funny how women with fibro LOVE to talk about it, no? You don’t see people with cancer touting the fact to every random stranger.
Look. Fibromyalgia is nothing more than a fancy name for a group of symptoms that are psychologically generated. Do I believe some people are truly in pain? Yes. Do I believe it’s physiological? No. Do I believe many many women fake it? Definitely. I think all of you women who claim to have it really need to dig deep within yourselves and ask “am I happy?” Is this the first vague disease that you’ve thought you had, or are you the girl who also had “really horrible periods” and irritable bowel syndrome? Does ANYONE but me think it’s ironic that the treatment for fibro includes a antidepressant??? I dunno people, I’m with the guys on this one and I think the women need to ‘man up,’ get fit, get some sleep, eat well and maybe seek therapy if you’re still having these mysterious pains. I’m frankly really tired of finding a woman with some strange disorder everywhere I turn, it makes all of us look like a bunch of attention seeking mental cases.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:30 am
OMG you are so right about this, im so freaking tired of it.
my friend was ok till she got diagnosed with it and now thats all she talk about and she got worse since she found out she had it. like she said “man up,’ get fit, get some sleep, eat well and maybe seek therapy if you’re still having these mysterious pains” and stop crying about it.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
fibromyalgia is fake.
August 6th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Frankly, I think most about FM is crap. First, the “diagnosis” of having 11 tender points or whatever is completely subjective, and anyone that can read an internet article and say “ow” 11 times can have FM. That makes it suspicious. If that makes anyone angry, please pressure your miracle Drs to do some research and find a legitimate pathological lesion or reproducible OBJECTIVE diagnostic test. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
I think that about 1/2 the people that have “FM” are faking, lazy, or have a very unrealistic idea of how much pain is acceptable in their life. I have talked to patients with “FM” that have pain to rate it from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst pain imaginable, and they rate it at 10 or more. Give me a break. People with that much pain can’t even speak because it hurts so much. If your heart isn’t racing out of your chest and you aren’t delirious with pain, you are not at a 10 or above.
I think also that about 1/3rd have physical manifestations of psychiatric problems. yes, that does mean it is “all in their head” but then again schizophrenia is “all in their head” but is still a real, treatable, debilitating disease. Psychiatric =/= fake.
Maybe 1/5 or so are just plain obese. For that 1/5th, lose some weight. Studies show that FM patients that drop pounds have less pain.
And I think the remainder have something that isn’t well described or understood, but is an organic source of pain. These are the people that, despite having pain constantly, shy away from narcotics, don’t sit on their butts all day, and aren’t out to make everyone feel sorry for them. For that small group, my heart goes out to you.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
from being diagnosed with fibromyalgia to everything i have experienced, seen and heard, i believe it is something environmental causing some kind of defect (think, most if not all cases are from canada/US) and scientists and researchers just have not found the true cause of the pain yet.
September 12th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I was diagnosed with FMS a little more than a year ago. I probably had it for several years prior to the diagnosis. I also have asthma and I have problems with my sacroiliac joint. An MRI about 4 years ago helped to diagnose the SI joint dysfunction. I always just figured the SI joint problem was what was causing pain throughout my body.
I saw a pain doctor who did several sets of injections into my SI joint and spinal facet joints, which helped with the stabbing low back and hip pain immensly. I still always had a level of ache throughout my body on any given day, but I just did the best I could to power through it, and when I couldn’t, I used a sick day. So frustrating.
I am a reference librarian in a public library, so I am a research fanatic. I came across FMS all the time when I was researching the SI Joint issues. I must admit, FMS sounded really fishy to me, and I kind of skipped over the information about it while shaking my head and rolling my eyes. About a year and a half ago, my husband and I relocated to a new state and I subsequently started seeing a new doctor. During my second visit to him, he started off with a physical exam. He said he needed to test some of my reflexes. He proceeded to apply pressure to a number of different spots on my body, and to my amazement, these spots were incredibly painful to the touch! I remember that the spots on my elbow and on my knee were so painful that I flinched. The amazing thing is that I had not been fully aware that these spots were kind of the apex of the pain until he pressed on them. He finished up the exam and then asked me if I had ever heard of fibromyalgia syndrome. I said yes, that I had come across it here and there, and then he said that he was adding the diagnosis of fibromyalgia to my medical chart. I burst into tears. I said, “that just can’t be! I’m not that kind of person!”
It’s true, I’m not. I despise crybabies and people who display learned helplessness and refuse to learn new things or help themselves. One of my favorite sayings is “Quit your crummy bellyaching!” I kind of have a theory about FMS: You know how people who’ve had chickenpox as a child can come down with shingles, a variant of chickenpox, later in life? Well I think this may be what FMS is doing. I went through a terrible bought of depression in the early 1990s and it tends to run in my family. It is my belief that FMS is depression recurring as a physical manifestation of the same problem.
But make no mistake, I am not depressed right now. I love my life. My husband is the best and we are nuts about each other. We recently bought our first home, and I love my job!! I was born to be a librarian! It is the best career on earth, and I HATE it when I have bad days that make it impossible for me to do the job I love so much. And I so DO NOT fit the mold of the bitchy whiner FMS sick lady with a bunch of bitchy whiner FMS girlfriends. Honestly, I do not even like women that much. I am embarrassed to death by the legions of selfish bitchy estrogen crazed gossipy drama queen chicks running around out there. When I am having a bad painful foggy achey day and someone notices it and asks me about it, I just tell them I have some sore muscles and I leave it at that, because frankly, I would not want someone else to stand there and whine about their health problems to me. Also, I own and frequently wear a pair of black leather pants, especially when my husband’s old school metal band (he plays bass) has a gig. So I guess my story shoots down some of the previous posts here. There are other things about me that shoot down the previously posted theories and beliefs, but I’ve already blathered on long enough. Suffice to say I am living proof that at least some cases of FMS are valid. BTW: the best clinical term to describe fibromyalgia is “fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS)” because of all of the loosely related and hazily defined symptoms without a consistant definite clinical presentation or underlying cause.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:00 am
Look, I think this “debate” has spawned a lot of immature bickering and accusations. I find it irritating that the pro-FM side of the argument refuses to concede that MAYBE there are legions of malingerers out there using a very ambiguous and easy to fake disease to further their own agendas. I don’t doubt that some of the fakers are right here, hotly denying that anyone could fake something so serious and agonizing.
Like it or not, whenever there’s a “convenient” disease that’s easy to fake, you’ll have far more people faking it than suffering from it. The fact is, people have numerous motives for faking illness. If you can pull it off, there are numerous perks and advantages to being “sick.” You get attention and sympathy, people expect less effort from you, doctors hand out intoxicating drugs, and you might even get a monthly check for your pain and suffering. With all of these incentives, it’s no surprise that disability claims have EXPLODED in the past twenty years. The greedy corporate takeover of the medical industry hasn’t helped one bit. Even if you’re not inclined to lie about your health, there’s a commercial on every channel every ten minutes to convince you that your “symptoms” require that you immediately “talk to your doctor” about Splendifica, the new breakthrough treatment for the DAD syndrome. “What’s that,” you ask with concern. Why, it’s a most serious ailment that causes depression, fatigue, sore feet, loss of appetite, irritability, and mood swings. It’s also known as the drag-ass-droopsies.
The point is, this is a pointless argument. I’m inclined to take the side of the “suck it up and stop whining” crowd, but this doesn’t mean that I think nobody has ever suffered from fibromyalgia. I just think that too many people are far too eager to slap an important and serious-sounding label on what is probably ordinary, easily explainable aches and pains. Sure, you’re hurting and that sucks, but anyone who says life shouldn’t involve a little pain is trying to sell you something. Therefore, unless you’re writhing in agony on a daily basis, suck it up and stop being a wussy. I bet at least half of these fibromyalgic muscle pains could be CURED MIRACULOUSLY with regular exercise and a proper diet.
September 26th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I have fibromyalgia. I totally understand why people and many Doctors and health care providers don’t believe that it exists and that we are making this up or we are hypocondriacs. It is the perfect diagnosis for a hypocondriac, noway to prove that they don’t have and no way to prove they do. I can tell you that whatever it is, it is real. I do doubt that everyone that has been diagnosed iwth it do that the illness. There are always these people in society that will fake an injury or accident to be compensation, for symphony and laziness does fit too. But, I can assure you that whatever this thing is, I am suffering, I didn’t and don’t want to live like this. I am 32 and have lived with this condition for a very long time. I am not lazy, I am active, I do work (not nearly as much as I would like to) and I am not a depressive person.
http://www.FibromyalgiaIsNotMyLife.com
So, “Fibromyalgia: Sign Me Up!”, if you want to live in constant severe pain, being tired all the time, miss out on life, I hope you do get it. Once you did, you would wish you weren’t so ignorant about it in the first place.
September 27th, 2009 at 6:30 am
I agree with Tricia. All I have to add is BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
September 27th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I really do want to believe that fibromyalgia is a real disease, but from a past experience, I really can’t. I had a friend who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about three years ago. At that time, I thought it was a legit diagnosis because she experienced leg problems years past. However, as years went by I started to doubt its existence. My friend would often skip school on days of major tests because of her “swelling and pain”. She refused to do recreational activities climb stairs and took the elevator instead. Yet, she would be bouncing up and down during our homecoming dances and climbing up the stairs in her own home. Almost every excuse could be blamed on her “fibromyalgia”. It also didn’t help that she became mean and bitter (and did I mention she complained A LOT?)
So to those of you who are genuinely suffering from pain, I do hope you find a cure, but at this point, I highly doubt that the cause is fibromyalgia.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:20 am
In response to above – Your friend may have not had fibromyalgia – if she did, it sounds like she used it totally to her advantage to get out of things, which is wrong. Just because there are people like that out there – who lie. Doesn’t mean that it’s not a legit illness.
We all shouldn’t be judged by a few bad apples.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Hi genius.
I would advise you to read the following stories :
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/health_medicine/fibromyalgia/
Then contact all these sientists and tell them they are idiots who don’t know their job since you have just solved the problem.
Not very high respecting idiots like you.
Will.
September 28th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Pure ignorance. I may have fibromyalgia but it is you that I pity. I would rather walk in my shoes any given day than to catch what you have. What I have is physical. I have something, you lack something. Since your knowledge is so great…I’m sure that you can figure it out.
October 1st, 2009 at 2:24 pm
” # In awe of the ignoramous Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Ginger, FYI dear, disability is NOT YOUR tax dollars. It’s money people pay out of their paychecks that is for the sole purpose of helping them if they do become disabled. It’s THEIR money. If you’re going to make comments like that, do your research so you don’t come across so ignorant. I have no patience or tolerance for ignorance!”
A little late, but I call BS. The people I know going after disability are looking for SSD or SSI. Not many jobs have disability insurance these days and if you never worked why would you have any coverage for taht.
Social Security disability is the Holy Grail for trailer trash malingerers, because with it you get Medicare, Section 8, the whole Cheetos-eating Oprah-watching lifestyle.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I have been a practicing MD for 12 years now, and I can tell you(ALL OF YOU) that this “disease” is a load of garbage. We all experience aches and pains in life, some much more than others, but it doesn’t mean that it should be labelled as a disease. When people come into my office complaining of these symptoms I refer them to a psychologist and 99% of the time, after a few sessions, their “pain” is relieved not to mention their attitudes toward physical labor has changed. This medical lie has become a big problem in America and it needs to be addressed.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:09 am
my sister hated her job (hated) and began running around to doctors complaining bout sorts of stuff. a bud who I told this to, his wife is a nurse for over 20 years. he said “don’t worry run around to enough doctors they will diagnose you with fibromyalgia, my wife sees it every day, its to adults now what add used to be to children”. bout a month my sister called me and said a doctor told her she had a “rare” disease. guess which one. I was scared for a second at the word “disease” but noticed she seemed happy as she told me. when she said the magic word “fibromyalgia” all I could think was wow the drug companies are going to love her. now 6 months later she is fat and still constantly complaining bout stuff (even more so), out on early retirement (psyche disability she did not get for physical reasons) and going to doctors and physical therapists basically every day. funny I have noticed at times she walks, lifts stuff normal, but if there is a crowd or a new person around she starts hamming it. its sad, and she has no business being on a drug like this lyrica or whatever its called. my bud was dead on. drug companies are just that. this country is a filled with greedy doctors/companies and prescription junkies. my sister is now (sadly I fear) the latter. I can’t turn on the tv for 15 seconds without hearing “bla bla bla ask your doctor if you might have fibromyalgia. at least the guy on the corner selling little baggies is not posing as anything other then he is.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Im working at an inpatient, acute psych unit and my experience so far with Fibromyalgia has been that a lot of people with it are also have methadone addictions and are drug seeking. Now I don’t know what came first. It is a highly addictive drug, and it must be prescribed and used cautiously. A lot of the patients who have it also have horrible, shitty lives too. Again I don’t know what came first, if fibryomyalgia caused a shitty life because of inability to cope due to significant physical pains or a shitty life leads to lack of sleep, poor eating habits, etc. which would cause the common symptoms of the disease. There is often comorbid depression and anxiety, so it’s really hard to tell when something is a real physical problem or psychosomatic. But you have to be careful with that because it could lead to factitious disorder or a diagnosis of malingering. Both of those have huge stigmas attached to it that basically say you’re a liar, a drug seeker, or just a big whiner. I’m more inclined to say that fibryomyalgia is really people who have crappy lives and don’t take care of themselves or they whine because they don’t have the basic coping skills or resources to deal with a normal or expected amount of pain. I would say it’s more psychosomatic. But i am not an MD I will say, just a mental health therapist, working in a psychiatric situation. It is still really sad though, even if fibromyalgia isn’t ‘real’ because something is still wrong, be it a unstable family life, low ses and inability to get basic health and psychological care. Something needs to be addressed, just in different ways maybe.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I know a couple people who have FM and they are whiners and can’t handle pain. They think they ware worse off than everyone else.
The people that I speak of are my mother in law, her sister, and everyone else that goes to their fibro meetings. Or as I like to call them, pitty groups.
When I had my son, I was having induced labor because I was at 42 weeks. Well, I hadn’t had any pain medication for the first 6 hours and then I caved, I’m sure anyone who has had a child would understand. The nurse comes in while I was laying there with my eyes closed and ask my MIL a high pain tollerance because I was doing so well without the pain meds. She said “No she has no pain tollerance at all” I wish I would have said something but when I looked up the nurse was rolling her eyes at my MIL as if to say “yeah right”
Heck, even after I had my c-section because in the induction didn’t work I didn’t even take much of the pain medication as I was precribed.
Now my MIL belly aches at every little pain and doesn’t get up off the couch for anything when she comes home for work. Mean while anyone else could be bleeding to death and it’s nothing compaired to her pain.
I’ve noticed that all FM paitents travel in groups, have horrible hard luck stories, and they advertise that they have it to everyone.
Now I understand that my MIL has some problems, and she probably does hurt some of the time, but come on, she can go to the mall and go shopping for hours. She drags my husband and I around the mall, and by the end we are sitting on a bench and she’s still going. But the next day, she’s not able to walk? It just doesn’t make any sence. None at all.
November 7th, 2009 at 6:43 am
I went to a rhuematologist yesterday for the 1st time after a positive ANA that my primary thought to run alongside a Lyme test a couple of months ago. I originally went in because I was having a stiff neck, low grade fever, joint pain, and exhaustion on and off for about a year. Since I hike about 4 days a week and am an avid birdwatcher, my husband was concerned about Lyme. The Lyme titer was negative, but the ANA was not, so it was off to the rhuematologist. He drew 11 vials of blood, took x-rays, and did a complete medical history. Because of my history of recurrent 2nd trimester miscarriages (4 total), plus the delivery of my twins at 25 weeks, and the nature of my current symptoms, he is leaning toward Systemic Lupus, BUT he did mention FM “if none of the specific AI blood test came back abnormal”. I said, “Isn’t that a fake disease?” he said, “No, unfortunately, it’s not.” I still think it is. If I don’t have lupus, I will just deal with the pain when it is there (and it does come and go). Yes, it hurts. Yes, there are days that I don’t want to get out of bed. Yes, it pains me that I sometimes can’t enjoy some of the hobbies that I am passionate about. But you know what pains me even more? When people whine and complain about these things. I still get up and do the things that are my job as the stay-at-home wife and mother of 3 young kids. I still cook, clean, run carpool, exercise to keep myself in healthy and looking good for my husband (and my kids- who wants a fat mom?), act as president of the PTA, chair book fair, etc., etc. My point s that everyone, EVERYONE has pain in their life. Sometimes it’s physical, sometimes, it’s emotional, sometimes it’s both. Most of the time the best “medicine” is sucking it up and pushing through it, as hard as it may be some days. Maybe that is the athlete in me, but I have certainly noticed that most of the people I know with FM can manage to do the things that they really WANT to do and only seem have those debilitating flares when they don’t want to do something. I don’t doubt the pain is real for most. I know it is for me, but it should never be an excuse. Rest for a couple of hours, if you nee to, but then get back on the horse and be productive in whatever way you can. If I have FM, you can bet your behind the the only excuse I will get out of the diagnosis is the excuse to IGNORE the SYMPTOMS and get on with my life!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Sorry to disagree with many of you. I am a nurse, work in an ER. It is nonsense. Most of the people who come in with this complaint are woman. Most have other mental health issues as well. Also sorry to enlighten some of you but most of the people who present in the emergency room by a margin of almost three to one are woman with varying complaints, usually abdominal, rarely with any clinical findings to support the pain. These are the same people who lie on the stretcher, text messaging, reading books, etc while telling us there pain is 10/10 when they are clearly in no distress at all. Sorry but woman are extremely histrionic and are much more prone to exaggerate the smallest symptoms into full blown drama. You can all flame me all you want but that doesn’t change the facts.
November 12th, 2009 at 4:11 am
I love the anger expressed towards people with Fibromyalgia. I think we should also hop on the MS bandwagon and call them hysterical attention seekers, and Cancer victims people who brought the illness upon themselves because of self hatred and a deep rooted psychological need to die but are too chicken to pull the trigger. We should also discredit AIDS/HIV victims because it would be safe to assume the only mode of transmission is being homosexual and that is just unacceptable and if they would just “think straight” their illness would go away too because obviously their psychological conflict over their sexuality somehow brought this disease to the forefront. Oh, and wait, let’s also attack those on anti-depressants due to a “Chemical Imbalance” because all the rocket scientists here would put their hands on fire that in fact, the exact chemical has yet to be identified, as well as the exact volume needed to bring the imagined chemical into balance has yet to be proven. Hey, illness is all a sham. The only real illness is that you can see like a missing limb. Those are the real disabled. DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW IGNORANT YOU ALL SOUND??? The aforementioned are not my views at all…but it is representative of what every one of you who are making a mockery of this illness are saying. Before MS was understood, thousands were locked away in mental institutions because the disease had no funding for research, science could not explain it so Doctors could not effectively treat the disease. MS is still a medical mystery whose treatment is designed to alleviate symtoms, there is no cure…just like cancer, HIV/Aids and the others, so before you spew feces, educate yourselves.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I call it Fake O Myalgia. Everyone I have ever known that “has” it is a miserable hypochondriac who does NOT fit in at work.
All of the sudden they pop up with this FAKE disease and need pills to take care of it.. of course THEN they get all the easy jobs and the NORMAL people have to take up the slack.
If your life is so miserable that you REALLY BELIEVE that you have some kind of illness, get to a psychologist before a happy pill doctor RIGHT AWAY because I have ZERO tolerance for fakers.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have been a nurse for a long time, and from what I observe, fibromyalgia is fake. If a patient has fibromyalgia in their history, I know they will be difficult. This attitude is shared by 99% of healthcare providers. If you have FM on your chart, we dread taking care of you. Trust me. The patients are usually women, but I have had a few men. They seem to have the same sets of issues: GERD, anxiety, depression, IBS. If the patients are really “good” at fibromyalgia they have usually had every non-essential organ removed and a back or neck surgery(or two). These people seem to need a lot of attention, and enjoy laying around complaining and being high! It is funny to me how the non-narcotic medications shoved down on our throats on TV do not work for so many of them. Trust me they know the narcotics and their dosages. They will insist that their pain is a 12/10 when they can barely keep their eyes open and are slurring their words. I think that fibromyalgia is one of the worst things that has ever happened to healthcare or society. It is a huge excuse for bad behavior and shirking responsibility.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I was in a auto accident in 1988 and had a whiplash injury. I’ve had neck, jaw, and lowback pain since. I was always given conservative treatment and even went to two chiropractors and many doctors. My back spine went from having scoliosis to not having any curve in the entire spine and neck. I had EMG readings that showed I had bilateral cubital tunnel and had surgery on both arms and exploritory surgery on my wrist in 1994. I still have numbing and tingling in my fingers and my fingers and wrists lock up. I had a deep subfacial lipoma removed from the back of my neck where I have this pain. This was in the muscle and very hard to remove. I have daily headaches that radiate from the back of my head forward since the accident. I lived on ibuprofen. I just recently had an EMG on my legs because of pain in my kneecaps and feet and it showed that I had nerve problems in my back even though my MRI was absent for anything in the lower back. The doctor stated that was probably the same with my cubital tunnel surgeries. I’ve lived with extreme pain for over twenty years. I never went for insurance money since I was in the military and I knew I had medical coverage. The Navy doctor that first saw me never gave me an xray and proceeded to crack my neck because he said it was malalighned. Young and stupid. I let him do it. I’ve been out for twenty years and my pain has never subsided. I also never went for VA money either since I thought I didn’t deserve it. I’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and for the first time had to take pain meds. It doesn’t eliminate the pain; but puts me in a different frame of mind so I don’t think about it. I was diagnosed with incontinance and urgency when I was twenty nine years old. This never should of been happenning to me at that young age. I havn’t never been without work. I did have to switch jobs when I could no longer lift a substantial amount of weight. I’ve endured for so long and always excelled in the workforce and still do. I was diagnosed with depression due to pain a few years back and my wife finnaly told me that I really have to find out what is wrong with me. I just learned or thought I knew how to deal with it. My wife pointed out to me how I was really behaving and coping with this pain. I don’t know about faking it in others. I never got any gain out of my ailments. I use to play sports on a regular basis and just this year had to quit because I could no longer run because the pain was too much to handle. My daughter is an awesome fastpitch softball player and can hit the long ball just like her dad could. The sad thing is she always wanted to play ball with me when she turns eighteen. I will give it all I can for her; but I will never be at the level I once was at. I probly will look and feel like an eighty year old. Recently I was talked into submitting paperwork to the VA. I have doctors notes that are six inches thick. The rep said that I would get it with little effort since I’ve been seeing doctors for this within months of getting out til now. You can say all you want about faking or all in your head. It is in my head. The worst headache you could imagine. Others can’t see your pain so they judge. I use to do the same and now have learned the hard way. Only god should judge.
Sorry so long.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 am
It surely couldn’t have anything to do with Adam and Eve disobeying God in the Garden of Eden…you know, when sin, sickness and death were supposed to have entered the world. Nope, ALL “illnesses” are in your head. Anyone who “claims” they have a cold, the flu, cancer, MS, FMS, Lupus, Arthritis, Bi-polar, Diabetes, heart disease, CHF, COPD, ADD, ADHD, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, or any other “ailment” are ALL FAKERS!! Even if you did have any of the above, you brought it on yourselves. You’ve abused your bodies, through poor diet, lack of exercise, etc. So suck it up and deal with it. You’re just suffering the consequences of your own poor/bad choices in life.
It’s ALL IN YOUR HEAD PEOPLE! If you think you are sick, guess what, you’ll BE sick!! Just say no. Get to a shrink!!! Oh wait, they might prescribe anti-depressants, or anti-psychotic medications, SHIT.
Medicine is NOT a “science” it’s ALL experimental. We’re all guinea pigs, lab rats. Drs prescribe some medication that drug companies push, if it works, great, if not, they TRY something else. They keep prescribing their “cocktails” until they find the right combination to bandage all your made up “symptoms” and then pat themselves on the back, write a “research” paper, and voila…you are another notch on their stethescope. You know, the shiny, expensive ones the drug companies give them, right out of medical school. In exchange for the hopes/bribe they’ll push their drugs.
Guess what people, sometimes, most of the time, life sucks and then you DIE! You might as well try to make the best out of life while you still have it. If you want to walk around with one foot in the grave, and be an oh moana, whine and complain, that’s your problem…nobody cares…nobody wants to hear about it, nobody wants to be inconvenienced by it…with the exception of Drs…that’s how they make their money.
Oh, and did I mention that I suffer with FMS? But it’s MY problem…I keep it to myself. I’m not a freaking martyr. I DON’T want attention. I don’t want anyone knowing about my pain. I don’t want drugs, I don’t want sympathy, and I certainly don’t want the criticism I’ve read in these comments. Geesh! So everyone, go on with your own life and mind your own damn business.
The ones I think have “psychosymatic” disorders are the ones who find pleasure from cutting others down because they think they know it all…have all the answers…can know for certain how another person is feeling…because they MUST have walked a mile in their shoes…are annoyed that someone may not be able to live up to THEIR expectations.
Well what makes your opinions, including these “Drs” and “RNs” who pass their “words” off (as if they were gospel truth), even worthy of being taken seriously? It must be awesome to have all the answers to everyone else’s lives. That would make you, um…Godlike. Because we all know many Drs and nurses have a God complex anyway. I just wasn’t aware that He had relinquished His throne to fallible, thinks they know it all, peeon, sinful, hooman (sic) beings. WOW!
Merry freaking Christmas people. You don’t get anything for Christmas, because you already have it all, know it all. So enjoy your lumps of coal.
December 29th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
It is total faux-myalgia. I am a well-educated woman who believes this disease is completely false and used by lazy women that don’t want to work or have sex with their husband. Maybe they should do a study on cases of people with fauxmyalgia and munchausen symptom. It is an attention getting “disease” and if you “have” it then maybe you should see a shrink and discuss what’s really bothering you – like your crappy life and job.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I am female and I am on Will’s side & other male posters with respect to Fibromyalgia. My sister is obese & has depression and is middle aged and hates her job. She’s been on leave from work since Feb of 2006 with “fibromyalgia.” Only because she got a doctor to diagnose her and fill out the necessary paperwork. It seems strange that she can go for coffee all day with my niece and go shopping and run errands. When asked she will still complain of all the pain she is in. I have seen an episode of Intervention where the woman on there had manipulated everyone – her family and doctors alike so much that she would scream out in fake pain just to have people do things for her and get time off work. It was finally put to an end when she was confronted about her fake pain and went to a treatment facility for ADDICTION and also for having a psychotic Delusion Disorder. All this time she was milking the system and getting her brother to clean her house and run her errands while she sat on her fat ass. I am going to report my sister and hopefully something gets done. I am tired of scammers, sister or not.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Fibromyalgia is a REAL syndrome. My best friend was diagnosed a few years ago. She is in constant pain and hates taking medication. SHe was told by her own family that “it’s all in her head” and to “suck it up and get over it”. She was going through the process of getting SSDI because of this. It got so bad she couldn’t work and got evicted from her home and that was her last straw. She committed suicide because she just couldn’t take it any longer. In the note she left for her family she said that the fact that the SSA and most people in general don’t believe that Fibro exists, that SSA took years to get her a hearing so she could go in front of a judge with her medical records and doctor to prove she was sick she became homeless because of everyone’s lack of giving a shit about anyone but themselves. She filled a prescription of painkillers and took the whole bottle. She wasn’t a drug seeker, she wasn’t lazy! She worked two jobs for years with no problem before she got sick. So for all of you who think that it’s an excuse to be lazy or to leach off the government, think again. Three days after she killed herself SSA finally approved her after 5 years of putting it off. They never had to pay a penny because that is what they do. They wait until you give up and become homeless and invisible or you die. She did both.
January 9th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Well the only way a diagnosis came about for fibro was by the exclusion of everything else. So doctors will use fibro as the “disease” when nothing else fits. It’s pretty easy for manipulators to hone their acting skills and study what they need to say in order to get pills or time off work. Most of these women will NOT allow anyone to tell them it’s anything else because their goal is to get the gov’t to pay for them to sit at home and watch tv or go out shopping,etc. So I would imagine they can milk it pretty effectively. Just saying………..
January 11th, 2010 at 7:11 am
I have read much of the comments left on this page and to tell you the truth I don’t care what anyone thinks!!! writes!!! or says!!! about those people including myself, that have had the misfortune of developing fibromyalgia. For whatever reasons they’ve got it and I can tell you it is very painfull!!!! Remember Doctors are human and some humans are LIARS!!!!
I have worked, paid my taxes, paid my way, done my duty for God and the Queen, brought my family into the world, made sure they turned out decent, never smoked, never drunk, never did substance that harms, ate healthily whilst keeping a face on my pain and covering it all up, because of the social stigma attached to people in pain.
WHY? BECAUSE THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE I.E. GOVERNMENTS AND THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATIONS, POLITICIANS, PHARMACISTS, DOCTORS, ALL WITH THE SECRET HANDSHAKE would have us believe that we are social outcasts, no users, wasters, lazy loafers, idiots, need I go on!!!!
The real wasters are those at the top that step on the heads of infirm people to get there: and systematically abuse their power and authority when they have social climbed the ladder pretending to do good for the world. Giving out flu jabs etc., to children, the elderly and infirm. Hmmm!
Open your minds!!!! See what’s going on!!!!! Foods are doctored, before being put on shelves, Livestock are pumped full of Human Growth Hormone, antibiotics, and a cocktail of drugs that interfere with their development. CROPS ARE GENETICALLY MODIFIED AND SPRAYED WITH PESTICIDES. This is what we EAT!!!!! CHEMICALS!!!!!!!!
THOSE THAT HAVEN’T CONTRACTED FIBROMYALGIA OR WORSE……, WELL……. WHAT CAN I SAY, DOES THE WORDS TIME BOMB SPRING TO MIND YET?????
TO ALL THOSE DISBELIEVERS I SAY
NEXT TIME before opening your mouth and farting, try keeping your gaseous comments for those that give a shit!!!!!
January 11th, 2010 at 7:32 am
And Oh…… I forgot to mention……., I don’t take a so called pharmaceutical cocktail of medicine that’s prescribed to me, that’s just like offering to put a plaster on a burst artery. No thanks they can keep their pills!!!!!! It’s much better doing without!!!!!
January 11th, 2010 at 11:08 am
I can’t believe all of the so called doctors and nurses that don’t think this is for real. Yes, some people have financial gain when it comes to injuries. Why is it that this disease isn’t found until after all financial gain from injuries is well over. If you think social security is going to make someone rich, your crazy. I would never think about going on disability, I’d be bankrupt in less than a couple of months. I have 2 children a wife and a large mortgage. The people that have to go on it usually have lost everything before any payment is ever received. I get pissed at our government for this denial after denial. These people put into social security. This is not a free handout. I have pain 24 -7 and I’ve never received a dime for anything. I was hurt in the service and have gone downhill for the past 20 years. So called doctors never could figure out why I went from having scoliosis after my accident to not having any Lordotic curve at all. I have neourology issues, urology issues, asthma, severe allergies, and chronic sinus infections due to loosing all lordotic curve in neck and back, “I never had any issues before accident”, depression due to pain, and chronic pain and daily headaches ever since. I never asked for pain medicine or disability from any doctor, just a diagnosis which I never could get! My present neourologist admitted to me that I fell through the cracks and it never should of went this far. If the doctors cared enough to research all of my symptoms that were well documented. I wouldn’t have fibromyalgia or the list of other issues that I presently have. This forum must have alot of non believers. Only GOD should judge. You should be ashamed of yourself.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I am not obese, lazy or depressed. I have not had any organs removed and I am not a hypochondriac… and I don’t have MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME. I go to work every day and am very successful at what I do. I am highly educated and do not find the need to “seek attention.” I don’t go around discussing my medical issues because it is no one’s business besides mine and my husband’s. Before you jump on that….YES….he pays plenty of attention to me in a very positive way and always has. I don’t need to “make up” some illness to suck the life out of him and my family and friends. I do not take narcotics. I am NOT miserable. I have a very blessed life and I am happier than most people I know. I don’t care if “it” is called Fibromyalgia or Mickey Mouse Syndrome. I know the symptoms I experience on a daily basis are very real. If any of you freelance doctors would like to explain to me what you are basing your “findings” on and what research you have personally conducted, I would love to take a look at all of it
February 7th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Dear, dear,
if it were in my power, I would sign you up. I would sign you up right now, and I tell you, you would regret it very bitterly. I have been having fibro and FMS for eight years and I kept on working all the same, the same volume and rate as other people, having to meet the same expectations, while getting a degree and finding the time to volunteer. I pay for it of course. There is not a day that goes by that I do long for my life and myself before the onset of the illness, when days were clear, long and free of pain. I truly hope your wish is granted and you taste life as we know it.
@Doc: have done a lot of looking deeper, I looked so deep -you have no idea. Maybe you should to, you know apply your own advice to yourself… Start by curing your ignorance, my friend.
More seriously, symptoms are very strange, eclectic and generic. Yet, all sufferers complain about the same cluster of things. It was eery to me when I first read about fibro: that they were others, experiencing the same unrelated symptoms as I was. Research is on the way: hopefully, the neat medical and scientific proofs needed for people like you, will soon come; they are already trickling in- do your homework. But most importantly, if they do come, they will bring us much relief in the form of better and more adequate treatments. (and, blogger: if the infectious lead is proven solid, XRMV, for instance, If I will make sure you get a shot).
All others who suffer from fatigue: exercise (I do), eat well, maintain good sleeping habits, maintain a spiritual -whatever it is- and creative life, and if you can afford it, take a break from work or a holiday: that should alleviate your fatigue. Only and only if it does not, you should consider Fibro. Good night all!
February 7th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Oh, and @Sarah: your comment cracked me up! An excuse for women not to have sex with their husband! Woman, you should win a prize for that one! Personally, I still enjoy sex (as you call it )a lot: I do regret that fibro decreased my stamina and ability to do acrobatic things, otherwise I would have it twice a day instead of once!
@all fibro and CFS sufferers: it touches me to read your comments and outrage. Right now, it’s a low point for me, as I see it is for a lot of you. I know, you know, we know how it is and it’s enough. I have warm thoughts for all of you; don’t give up!
February 25th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
As a 27 y/o woman, married and self-employed as a violinist, the continued degeneration of my ability to tolerate my fibromyalgia pain is the worst thing in the world. It goes along with my vulvodynia, which I have had for years and predated fibro. Both of them have been tested to show that they are the result of malfunctioning, pain receiving nerve endings. Biopsied tissue from the areas in pain have shown to be littered with nerves, much more then normal. I injured my tailbone, and a couple of years later my vulvular pain began getting worse and worse. Injury created more nerve endings, which fired normal responses as pain. I have changed so many things in my life to try to reduce the pain- soap, detergent, type of underware, foods, and medications were the last thing to be used. Some days I am good and the pain is very, very low, nearly not there and I can function normally. But on a day when any of the pains flares up, I am incapacitated. I did not know what this was, I was just in constant pain, before my doctors started working on me. And the more research that goes into trying to help people like me and others commenting here, the more actual clinical physical proof comes along to explain it.
And no, this is not a “lazy day” thing. I want to play my violin, but some days I can’t. I used to horseback ride, and now I can’t. These are not work to me, they are things I love to do. Why would I not be able to do what I love most because of pain if it wasn’t real? And most people who have it work through it because of ingnorant people who won’t understand. I teach, I perform, I do whatever I can but some days it’s just not going to happen. I had to turn down the chance to perform Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony because I lost weeks of practice to chronic pain while changing medications. I miss my orchestra friends, I miss the music, I miss everything about it.
It’s not that my muscles aren’t used to doing the work- they do the work anyway most of the time and the pain is low. If there are people using this problem to gain some sort of advantage or to get out of something, shame on you, because you’re making things worse for those of us actually afflicted. It’s bad enough to feel this way without people questioning the truth of what you say, acting like you’re crazy and it’s all in your head. Anyone faking does us a great disservice, so don’t assume that everyone is.
And I write this while sitting at the computer with a heating pad on my back.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
That sex comment from Sarah was a bit whacked for sure. Also, I am not saying ALL people that claim to have Fibro are disgruntled,pill popping, attention seeking, lonely, middle-aged, hefty women in need of constant validation BUT there are LOTS who are. I get sick of the ones who are just looking for a vacation and to be paid by the gov’t to watch soap operas & eat bon bons all day, making their fat asses even fatter. Those are the ones that irk me to no end.
March 20th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
My friend has this – funny how it seems to get worse when she has to get up early for work or when shes trying to convince the sucker – oops I mean man – in her life she shouldnt have to work.
Ive never known her to pull out of Friday night drinks becuase of it though. Oh, and did I mention she gets pethadine on prescription for it?!!!
You cant even get pethadine when you are pushing out a baby – I must tell her now she can get “Lyrica” instead – that seems somehow much more fitting.
March 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
It is 100% fake. It only happens to WOMEN who are not happy with their situation in life.
I have renamed it FAKEomyalgia . I have to deal with these nutcases at work and I flat out call them fakers to their face.
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:44 am
I ran three miles yesterday and lifted weights and now the muscles in my arms and legs are sore. It must be Fibromyalgia!!!
Gimmie gimmie gimmie!!!!
April 8th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
HA HA HA gimmie gimmie gimmie
that made me laugh, James. :p So true though, hey!
April 12th, 2010 at 10:26 am
You guys are terrible. Sure they may be some fakers, or misdiagnosed people but becasue of taht you claim it doesn’t exist? I suppsoe racism no longer exists either just because some people falsly claim that as well?
Look i exercise regularly. Out of nowhere, after hitting the gym 3-5 times a week I woke up in extreme pain. It was 4 weeks before I could even walk again. THAT IS NOT MUSCLE PAIN BECASUE I AM LAZY or because i worked out and now am sore. In fact I am more sore now than when I everr went ot eh gym, and I am doing NOTHIGN that would explain that. You can dismiss symptoms of this 1 at a time, stress, life, depression. But when you present over the course of a year multiple symptoms, including rashes, breast cysts and other visiable symptoms it is pretty hard to dismiss me as crazy.
I was diagnosed with this after only 6 months, and I had several symptoms present themselves over the last 3 years, but alwayss dismissed them. I am NOT a complainer nor a lazy person. I continue to work, so I consider myself lucky I can most days manage the pain through relaxation therapy, yoga, and a strong will to not let it ruin my life.
April 15th, 2010 at 8:33 am
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your pubic region. That’s right I said it.
If you had any clue, felt .01% percent of the pain, fatigue and/or side effects of the so-called miracle drugs they try and pimp on us, your opinion would likely change. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has at least one and they usually stink. You, like your opinion, are very assinine.
April 15th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Slut face, Gandu and James, Do youse guys have a heart?
Fortunately I married for better or worse and my hubby has stuck by me, without launching accusations at me. For 20 years my doctor prescribed antidepressants for my pain, and year after year I gained weight. I felt trapped in an oversized body. Those treatments did nothing to help me heal my pain, but only made me sicker.
I started looking for alternative treatements (in addition to accupuncture and yoga) and lost my drug induced weight with amino acid therapy. Now I am taking low dose naltrexone (LDN) and regaining my life and cheap and effective old drug. My out of pocket health care expenses this year, before I started LDN are over $3000, but this year I committed myself to finding something that heals me of the horrible pain and fatigue that FM brings. I hope none of you never have to wake up with pain everywhere, like those that have FM experience every day. Have you ever had the flu with all the aches and pains? That what FM feels like, every moment of every day. Do your self a favor and never get married. You don’t have a clue what compassion is, and it doesn’t come in a pill. If you have FM or CFS search for LDN or better yet, join “Patients Like Me’ and read the threads there. Hope and healing is possible for everyone.
April 15th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I think that it’s really funny that people who don’t have Fibro., and who don’t believe that it exists would actively go out searching for blogs regarding the illness. I could understand a sufferer of it coming across this blog, but not a person who doesn’t believe in its existance or has no experience with it, for that matter.
Why are you disbelievers so obsessed with this illness? Are you able to get some kind of a life, or perhaps learn a new hobby? I mean, THAT’S VERY SAD. Again, it would make perfect sense for a person who is debiliated by this illness to come across Fibro. information on the net such as this site (because they are obviously looking for any info. that might improve their health), but you guys are the ones who sound like you have mental health problems, and issues with being able to socialize with others. Please get some help, for everyone’s sake. ALso, if you work in the healthcare sector, maybe you should think about finding new employment? It’s obvious that this isn’t the right work for you. Maybe a small cubicle, where you don’t have to have human contact. Empathy and common sense are obviously not your forte.
Fibromyalgia is often a diagnosis of exclusion. However, many of the correct tests were never performed in the first place. THere are countless sufferers who have turned out to have a malignancy, thyroid problems, and/or neuromuscular diseases. That to me, sounds like someone missed the mark, and didn’t do their job correctly. Since doctors are the ones who provide diagnosis, this is obviously their error. Does that mean that doctors are morons, lazy, inconsiderate losers? Maybe. But obviously, not all doctors mke these errors, and not all sick people are faking it, and in fact, the vast majority are probably not in either group. This is Occam’s razor, please use it, if you know what that means (which you probably do not, so you can google the ‘dictionary’ next).
P.S. Please get a life. You are embarassing yourselves by doing what you’re doing.
April 15th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I didn’t believe in fibromyalgia. I had a friend who had it in college and I thought “She just seems depressed. She needs to lighten up!”
Then, my mother was diagnosed with it when I was in my 20’s. She had other things, like arthritis that was cutting into her spinal cord, and she’d had a laminectomy. “Mom, you have aggressive osteoarthritis all through your body. That’s why you hurt!”
I was 23 years old, and I had really motivated myself to lose weight. I lost 175lbs and was exercising 3-4 times a week. I was eating great — the “DASH diet” for lean protein and high fiber.
Then, I started struggling! I complained to the doctor that I felt achy and I was tired all the time. I wanted to continue to exercise, to keep off the weight that I’d lost. Just think, what it takes to lose 175lbs without surgery! Who would willingly give that up after having established a new healthy lifestyle? I was really proud of it.
But, I got no help from doctors and the weight started creeping on.
It wasn’t until 2007 when I finally got a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
Take a look at those faces that indicate the level of pain. The smiling person has no pain, the crying person has a lot of pain, right? Well, gosh-darnit… how can you tell someone in pain from someone who is depressed?
Pain and emotion are inter-related in the areas that they affect in the brain.
What does a person who is really tired and fatigued look like? Are they smiling? How can you tell someone who is fatigued from someone who is depressed?
Maybe depression is the “waste-basket diagnosis.”
I am still working. I go to work and I come home exhausted. I do this five days a week and I recover on weekends. I work every day with roving pains in my body and I perform as best as I can with fatigue while my body fights against me. Sometimes because of my disturbed sleep at night, I can’t think of words or can’t solve a simple puzzle or concentrate. I’m on sleep meds to help and they do improve my life. I have to pace my activities, use rest periods, plan ahead, try to get rid of stressful things in my life that use up my limited energy, I practice good sleep hygiene. I’ve made a lot of adjustments in order to live pretty well despite the illness but I have had losses. I have grief. I don’t have the energy to go bird-watching as I enjoy… I sure can’t play softball like I used to. I used to exercise 3-4 times a week for 30mins to an hour… Now, I do 20 minutes as I can and before Lyrica, I could only do 5 minutes of exercise at a time.
Try giving things up in your life or imposing limitations on your activities so that you can only do something you truly love once a month (bird-watching, for me) and then only with lots of rest periods and pacing myself. Try getting housework done when you can only work for 15 minutes at a time before having to sit down for an hour. I am still pretty functional compared to others with fibro.
Truly, wouldn’t you be sad if you had to change your life in ways you didn’t want to, if you faced your limitations day after day, if you saw other people your age doing things you love without a second thought. That’s grief, as a result of a life-changing illness.
If you refuse to “believe” that fibromyalgia is real, I fail to see any compelling evidence that I should “believe” that you’re a real doctor.
April 15th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I’ve seen too many people I know suffer with fibro to believe it is not very real. I’ve been told by medical doctors that it is nothing more than a disorder for “Overweight, depressed, and lazy women”, a literal quote. My first encounter with fibro was a 28 year girlfriend of mine 14 years ago. She was a beautiful 5′6″ 130lb happily married mother of 3 girls. Her and her husband outright owned their beautiful house up in the mountains. She had little stress, was definitely NOT overweight, nor depressed… nor lazy! They had tons of land and she enjoyed all her gardens out in her yard. Flower beds, veggie gardens etc. She was also very into arts and crafts and kept busy sewing and knitting and creating things that she then donated at fund raisers she helped organize in their small community. So when she was suddenly afflicted with debilitating pain at 27 years old, and was damned near crippled with it by 28… you tell me it wasn’t real. She was not fat, lazy nor depressed and unhappy with her envious life. She was young, beautiful and seemingly healthy otherwise.
Last year I began to suffer bizarre symptoms and severe pain. It was in the midst of one of the happiest points in my entire life. After years of living in an abusive relationship I’d broken free a few years earlier… met my soulmate, had an awesome job that I’d longed for for years… and then married the man of my dreams. My family and home life were happy, and stable. We moved into a beautiful, huge farm house out in the country. My life had never been better. Nor am I overweight or lazy. I have 2 children, I worked full time, was financially stable and married to the love of my life. Yet, by the end of 2009 I was diagnosed with fibro. Hmmm…. I’m not seeing the “depressed, overweight, lazy” theme here at all. Oh, lets not mention my boss… who runs 3 businesses, one of which is a gym she favors 5x a week, also has fibro. Yup, again, not fat, lazy nor overweight!
Let me instead tell you it is VERY REAL. But lets see what might be causing this mass onset of such a disease. After being diagnosed with fibro I was also diagnosed with several other things. Such as candida yeast overgrowth and PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) Both of these required me to make a sudden and drastic dietary change. This included little to no sugar, low carbs and virtually 100% organic foods. Within weeks almost ALL of my symptoms were gone. Fibro symptoms and others. The longer I’ve stayed on the diet, the better I have felt. Perhaps the root of fibro. is our diet. And our practices of food growth and preservation. Perhaps it is the numerous poisonous chemicals plaguing our food industry. Because once I stopped ingesting them, I’ve become a new person.
It’s not that fibro is not VERY real. It’s whats causing it that needs to be addresssed.
April 16th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
5ft 6in and 130 pounds is fat fat fat. The horse probably kicked her so of course she was in pain if there is a bruise. ha ha ha
April 17th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
I am an educated (though not doctor) woman who works for a physician and have done so for several years.
I do not believe fibromyalgia to be a real disorder, but I can tell from what the patient’s say that the pain is real.
The problem is that the symptoms are so vague. Going through a list at WebMD or the Mayo Clinic can include symptoms that apply to us all. About half of the people who come in who have been diagnosed with it AREN’T Complainers who are attention and drug seeking. They generally have pain and are searching for answers.
The OTHER HALF are people who dramatize EVERY SYMPTOM they have. They come in with lists of medications that have failed, umpteen symptoms that are vague, and then demand every test be done to rule out something else. After all the tests come back negative, they simply move on to another physician.
If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, please take a look at your life and your mental health. Are you stressed? depressed? Not eating or exercising well? Avoiding issues?
I cannot tell you how many patients have thanked me that I suggested any of the above because it cured their symptoms.
Please do not over dramatize your symptoms. If you go to the doctor and tell them that you are in the worst pain that anyone has ever felt, but you walk in then they are not going to listen to you. Physicians only have 10 to 20 minutes to listen, assess, and treat you. If you tell them that you are in excruciating pain, but are able to sit and laugh with your friends, it doesn’t bode well that you are telling the truth.
So though I don’t believe in fibromyalgia, I suggest that those who have it seek treatment and take care of themselves. The pain that they are suffering through is real and deserves treatment. My best advise is to do the following:
Come prepared with a shortened list of symptoms and approximately how often they occur, constantly (>80% of the time), frequently (50 to 75%), occasionally (25 to 50%), infrequently (1-25%).
When making this list state “I have had frequent nausea for the past two weeks”. Don’t give day by day plays, physicians don’t have the time or the patience to listen to such detail. They are more apt to listen if you speak generally of your symptoms. If they are interested, they will ask for more information.
Please follow what the physician says to do. If he suggests exercising or physical therapy, don’t argue and state that you are in too much pain to move. Simply start slow and do whatever exercise you can. Trust me, this will help to make you feel better and show the doctor that you are willing to listen (as so many fibromyalgia patients are not).
Try not to sit around and invent medical problems. Sometimes the internet is a bad place. I have patient’s who have occasional mild headaches who are convinced that they have a brain tumor or arteriovenous malformation. The test is always obtained, which is normal.
If the physician performs testing, MRI, CT, EEG, VNG/NCV, Ultrasound, etc, and the results are negative take the results for what they are worth. If your symptoms continue ask for lab work, but don’t demand expensive testing (lumbar puncture, etc) and then complain when it as well is negative.
For all of you that are diagnosed with this, please just try your best to not over dramatize your symptoms and to present “Just the Facts, Ma’am” so that your symptoms can be treated and hopefully resolved.
April 18th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Mary,
I wanted to respond to you directly.
I know my story that I posted above is long, but I wanted to just point one part of it out:
I got sick with fibro when I was the healthiest that I’d ever been in my life. I’d lost 175lbs through a doctor-recommended diet and regular exercise. When I sought the doctor’s help it was because I suddenly began struggling with exercise, despite my desire to maintain this healthy lifestyle.
I just don’t think the answer is very simple. I really, truly wish that there were an easy cure. There are things we can do to reduce fibromyalgia symptoms, but I doubt anyone is “cured.” Current research suggests the central nervous system is involved. I guess it’s like a malfunction. It’s not well-understood yet but in time, more will be known about it. In the meantime, folks really ought to sit tight or be contributors to the body of knowledge instead of speculating on if it’s real or not.
To my understanding, there was a time when Diabetes was thought to be a psychological illness. Now that the mechanisms of the illness are understood, nobody would question it. It’s going to take time.
April 18th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I have FibroMyalgia. I do not take pain medication, nor do I take mind altering medications. I do not drink and have never been drunk in my life. I do not use drugs and have never been high in my life. I do not suffer from mental illnesses.
I miss being able to do the things I used to do like hike, camp, hunt, go spelunking, and work. My symptoms did not get worse after the diagnosis, they got better as I learned how to deal with the pain. Only recently has my symptoms gotten so bad as to debilitate me and this is 20 years after my diagnosis.
Currently my biggest problems are the loss of feeling and use of my limbs, severe weakness, severe fatigue, and back pain. It is hard not to think about these when you try to stand and can’t. So I don’t understand how one is suppose to go about not thinking about such serious problems going on with one’s body.
What is FibroMyalgia? It is an all over body pain in the lining of the muscles, each and every muscle and overactive/oversensitive nerve signals.
Is it all in our heads? Possibly, because their may be a link to the hypothalymus.
If you don’t know what I mean then you need to research more on FibroMyalgia. Those of us who have it are looking for a cure, because we are tired of this “syndrome” and our lives being limited.
I wish it were fake, but it’s not. I live with the pain and symptoms every day. For those of you who wish to ridicule FibroMyalgia patients: Please educate yourselves a little more about FibroMyalgia. And I hope you never ever find out that it is real by living it.
C
April 19th, 2010 at 4:08 am
YES!!! Finally someone feels the same way I do. Most people I have ever encountered that say they have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia are the biggest whiners and attention seekers I’ve ever met. From the very first time I heard of fibromyalgia I thought it was a fake illness. There is so much lie and deceit in this country about everything… I wander how many other things they tell us are lies. Like for instance obesity and alcoholism are not diseases, it’s a bunch of lazy individuals with no self discipline.
April 20th, 2010 at 6:16 am
The symptoms of FMS are very real! What causes the symptoms is anyone’s guess; however, doctors diagnose these symptoms as FMS. Personally, I do not care what name they give it, it exists. I am concerned with what causes these symptoms and an effective way to handle the pain.
One of the reasons people do not believe FM is real is because some doctors are guilty of diagnosing a patient with FMS simply because they have no real idea what is wrong with them. Because of this, many people were later determined to have some other disease/disorder. Obviously, these were not good doctors. As for the people who say in this thread that they are doctors and doctors in training, how about some credentials.
I have worked in the medical field for over 20 years and I know some people will claim any illness/syndrome that they hear of. But that doesn’t negate the fact that real people experience chronic pain.
As for disability, the person receiving the disability payments made contributions to the fund as required by the government. The purpose of the program is to provide for you if you should become disabled; it is money the employee contributed. Also, filing a claim for disability is not easy; lazy people probably would not even finish the paperwork.
I also do not understand why there are so many people are on sites like this who don’t believe FMS is real. This site is definitely not a support forum for FM. If you don’t believe, then don’t come to sites like this one and attempt to harass people who suffer from FMS.
Most people who suffer from FMS are not whiners or complainers. We are also not liars, lazy or hypochondriacs. Many of us are educated and had productive lives before FMS.
Lastly, because we cannot “see” the symptoms of FM and because there is an assortment of symptoms, some people do not believe. We all breathe; we cannot see air, but we know it’s real – and so is FMS
April 27th, 2010 at 1:54 am
Can some one HELP My brother is seeing a new girlfriend and she told me she has fibro, chronic fatigue, irraitable bowel syndrome, but when I first met her she got really drunk and was mucking around with him she look physically quite capable I have also seen her washing her car, gardening, walking for about 3 miles. So my question is, is a fibro sufferer capable of these things.
April 30th, 2010 at 8:04 am
I deal with Fibromyalgia fairly frequently in my legal practice, as a defence lawyer. Of all the forms of chronic pain I encounter, fibromyalgia seems the least credible to me. A chronic pain disorder that targets almost exclusively a single sex in a specific age group, that has no apparent somatic cause but seems to be merely a grouping of several ill-defined symptoms. It’s all very fishy.
These firbromyalgia sufferers are always so similar too. You see the same type of personality over and over, almost without fail. Middle aged. Lousy job or no job. Bored, depressed, etc… The profile is so uniform, it’s just eerie. The second that magic word appears on a medical record, you know who you are dealing with and you can predict with almost pinpoint accuracy what they are going to tell you. But when you catch them on the surveillance video walking, shopping, and otherwise living their lives just like a normal person without this “disease”, you’re never surprised. The second fibromyalgia appears in a file, my hand goes to my phone to call my PI to do a background check and conduct surveillance. I am never disappointed with the results.
To those of you who have real intense pain, perhaps you have something legitimately wrong with you that is not fibromyalgia? Bona fide neurological disorders like RSD and other neurological injuries can produce intense pain in sufferers that is very difficult to pin down and often gets missed or diagnosed by doctors, or dismissed as being merely in the sufferer’s head. I think we have to distinguish between such real conditions like RSD and fibromyalgia, which is your doctor’s way of saying “no clue”.
May 9th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I think the reason this hits home with so many people is because if you have experienced a mentally ill person who is constantly seeking attention get diagnosed with fibromyalgia it is obnoxious and only hurts them. My mother who suffers from depression and various personality disorders got diagnosed with this. You know the person is mentally ill and doesn’t suffer from this if they seem HAPPY to get this diagnosis and also if it is extremely inconsistent and convenient when they have bouts of pain.
Now, the other side of the spectrum is normal, mentally healthy people who are suffering real pain. They don’t want all the drugs, the change their diet and do yoga and continue working and being productive members of society.
Both groups of people and everyone in the middle is suffering pain. Why and if it is fibromyalgia every time, is a different story.
For the angry people, I feel you. It has been the “f” word for me and my experience. However, I know that there are sane people with this as well. It has unfortunately been a catch all for people with mental illness too, which gives it a terrible stigma.
Either way, I hope everyone finds the help they need with as little drugs as possible.
May 12th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Don’t be so mean. I think pain is not needeed. If someone is in pain ,then give them as much oxycotin or morphine as they want mabee even a Valium. Be nice!!kindness is good
May 28th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
All the bitter, contemptous people who post on this site to voice their condescension for people who are suffering from this illness are really not wanted here. I don’t have to “prove” anything to you or need your “belief”. Most of you remind me of times in history when a primarily male run industry or institution ( can anyone say AMA) has denigrated something that affects mainly women. I have both FMS and Lupus (guess that is in my head too). I study, do triathlons, work full-time as a Dr. (bet the haters love that) and am a mom and wife, but there are plenty of weekends I have to spend in bed recovering. I was also a personal trainer and know the difference between fatigued muscles and training pain versus the pain and fatigue I experience most days. Yes, I guess I would much rather stay in bed on the weekends, than go out with friends, travel or run my business (no sarcasm here of course), I find the the denigrators to be offensive and ignorant.
I will also be sure to tell my female friends (most of whom are in the prime years of their life) that their MS, Celiacs disease and Parkinsons are all in their head. Yes, the loss of balance for MS, the inability to metabilize nutrients for Celiacs, or the shaking with Parkinsons must be made up and an attempt to get disability or sympathy. Oh, forgot, most of these were considered female complaints, not “real” diseases, until many years of medical research determined the opposite.
And an additional note to all the medical professionals who posted such scepticism and lack of compassion for the people on this site who are suffering. I entered medicine to help people and offer hope, whether their illness was mental, physical or emotional; those of you who seem to be lacking in this area should probably be looking for another profession. Heaven help the person who is under your care or is served by you. I pray it is never me.
Hope and health to everyone else who suffers from this illness.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
No one said anything about REAL illnesses not being genuine such as: MS, Parkinsons, Lupus or Celiac Disease. Stick to the topic and stop being so self righteous about your life. No one is interested in your “lacking” sense of humour and your ever so brilliant mock-sarcasm placed in parenthesis either.
We all know whiney, self righteous, hefty, middle-aged, sick of their jobs women are the primary abusers of Fibrofaker Syndrome. That is nothing new. They will keep filing false complaints because they feel justified in doing so. The Health Insurance Companies keep giving them their time off, because these women whining so that the doctors sign their forms just to shut them up, so they can get paid to watch soap operas all day.
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
@ Catgirl
I guess it is sad I need to point out the obvious but…
I said the diseases I mentioned were at one time considered “female” problems or psychosomatic. I was not changing the subject. I was showing how much medical perception changes when research shows causation.
Second point was that most of the women I know with this illness are not as you describe and it is your erroneous representations that are not needed. Most people I know with this illness are not fat, not lazy and have full time jobs and families. And would love to shut people like you up with some biological evidence.
I don’t know what your beef is with these people, as apparently you have nothing better to do with your time than harass and denigrate people who are not bothering you. But that is your problem, not theirs. So get a life! And my sense of humor is fine thank you…have plenty, just not for people like you.
August 10th, 2010 at 8:47 am
It’s not surprising to me that a fibromyalgia diagnosis has an 80% correlation to a BPD diagnosis. I know someone diagnosed with fibro and she fits the BPD criteria to a T. A nebulous disease with no clear cause or solution is a BPDs wet dream. If they’re raging they blame it on the pain. If they’re lazy and barking orders they blame it on the pain. If they’re upset they blame it on the pain. Nothing eases the pain, even opiates, so they can revel in their victimhood whenever things don’t go their way. When they do manage to do something simple they feel an inflated sense of accomplishment like they have just moved mountains and will be sure to tell everyone all about it despite the fact that it’s a menial task to everyone else. People diagnosed with fibro don’t deal with it quietly. They’ll make sure everyone knows about their “illness”.
To top it all off BPDs rarely EVER admit that something is wrong with them psychologically so any mention of of fibro being related to BPD is met with derision and defensiveness. They will generally exclaim something along the lines of “You have no idea how bad the pain is” or “You would kill yourself if you had to deal with the pain I do on a daily basis”. It’s just another way to “prove” how much stronger they are than everyone else because they take on so much when in reality they blame everything on outside forces and never take responsibility for their actions. Fibro is just another excuse in a long line of excuses they use to explain away their failures in life.
August 11th, 2010 at 9:42 am
I’m the doc who posted about 2/3 the way up the page, about 2 years ago.
I think it is pretty telling that all the doctors and nurses who took a moment to post believe the disease to be a tip off to a difficult patient who will not get better.
I don’t make any money from it. I have no dog in this fight. All I know is if I see it on the chart, I know I’m about to meet a depressed woman with vague complaints that just don’t respond to any therapy.
In my experience the only docs who claim to believe in it are rheumatologists who make their money from this.
A win-win. Whiny patient gets to complain, complain, complain and under employed doc gets to charge, charge, charge.
Everyone wins. Except the tax payer as almost all of these folks end up on disability, Medicare or Medicaid, SSI etc.
As I stated above, aside from some fakers, fibromyalgia=depression with somatization. Maybe with a sleep disturbance component.
One last point.
People with objective disease almost always refer to it as separate from them selves “I wish I didn’t have this damn arthritis”.
People with fibromyalgia adopt it and nurture it making it “their fibro” They say “I’m so tired and hurt so bad from my fibro” Heavy on the “MY”. And they give it a little pet name :”fibro”, not fibromyalgia.
August 27th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
After reading through this entire thread, the one thing I find the most laughable is the idiot who keeps posting under different screen names, pretending to be a doctor here, an ER nurse there, et cetera. Same grammatical syntax, similar use of “scare quotes” and sentence structure, eerily similar sentiments, and most of all, the same level of callous, unprofessional, would-get-you-fired-if-your-boss-found-out behavior in THAT many different health practitioners who all just HAPPEN to have found this one random internet site?! Riiiiight. Dude (and I’d bet my Grandma’s farm that it IS a man) you aren’t fooling anyone. Give it up.
I guess because people call mononucleosis “mono” for short, it’s fake too! BRILLIANT logic there. No way in Hades that I believe you passed medical school–not unless the University of Phoenix Online has started selling–I mean AWARDING–medical degrees. At best–at BEST–you’re some low-level scumbag CNA/gurney pusher who hates his patients and his job. At worst, you’re a sexist Google MD who probably posts on Free Republic and lives in Mommy’s basement, and who probably hasn’t had a date in years that didn’t involve Hustler and a bottle of Jergens.
Frankly, the people who actually suffer from this disease really don’t give a flying rat’s rear end if some internet troll thinks it’s “fake”. It wasn’t that long ago that people of YOUR ilk thought that depression was “fake” too–and lo and behold, medical science evolved and suddenly there was concrete proof of its existence. So now you’re off to pick on yet another group of innocent, suffering people–and why? All I can figure is that your lives must be the shittiest of the shitty. I can’t imagine any other reason why a rational adult would spend time bashing sick people on the internet.