Is Fibromyalgia Reall a Thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, thanks 22:22. Things falling on one's head is usually unpleasant. Good luck with it.

You're welcome and thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have no idea if it's real, but according to one of my friends who's a physician and works in the Emergency Department, the following signs are almost always present in people who suffer from it:

- Minimum 40-50 lbs overweight
- At least one Axis II psych disorder
- Stated allergies to OTC pain relievers such as Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. Can somehow tolerate opiates with no trouble, though! Funny how that works.
- When asked to rate their pain on the 1-10 scale, answer will always be somewhere in the 8-10 range, even if the patient is sleeping or resting comfortably when the doctor comes in the room (hint: if you're able to do either, you are not in the 8-10 range)

Apparently emergency rooms are a hotspot for fibro sufferers. A lot of rheumatologists, neurologists and immunologists aren't willing to prescribe opiates to deal with the pain and recommend dietary changes, PT and NSAIDs instead. That doesn't always go over well, so the people who don't want to hear it head to the ED. Nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone keeps posting these "is fibro real" threads - Jeff, is it the same person?

Yes, it is real. But the medical community hasn't fully figured it out yet.

Fibro is painful and awful. Having friends and family not believe you and dismiss you as a crazy cat lady multiplies the pain tenfold. Imagine if you had a broken leg and people were sneering at you for not walking on it.

Y hasn't fully figured it out, I mean the cast majority of doctors now recognize it as a real syndrome, wither all symptoms, but they don't fully understand the why or the how to treat it.

Sort of like where lupus and ms were decades ago.

Um...Lupus has been recognized for over 200 years, and MS for over 100...

Fibro is recognized as real in that doctors recognize there are patients with symptoms. But, like many syndromes, when there is no infection, no nerve activation at the site of pain, etc...no Physiologic cause of pain...it's root is usually psychiatric. So does the medical community recognized fibro? Yes, in as much as they recognize depression.

My Dr. did an ESR test to check for inflammation. That is how she is monitoring how I am responding to treatment. Why would a dr. not check that? http://www.emedicinehealth.com/sedimentation_rate/article_em.htm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if it's real, but according to one of my friends who's a physician and works in the Emergency Department, the following signs are almost always present in people who suffer from it:

- Minimum 40-50 lbs overweight
- At least one Axis II psych disorder
- Stated allergies to OTC pain relievers such as Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. Can somehow tolerate opiates with no trouble, though! Funny how that works.
- When asked to rate their pain on the 1-10 scale, answer will always be somewhere in the 8-10 range, even if the patient is sleeping or resting comfortably when the doctor comes in the room (hint: if you're able to do either, you are not in the 8-10 range)

Apparently emergency rooms are a hotspot for fibro sufferers. A lot of rheumatologists, neurologists and immunologists aren't willing to prescribe opiates to deal with the pain and recommend dietary changes, PT and NSAIDs instead. That doesn't always go over well, so the people who don't want to hear it head to the ED. Nice.

How does your friend account for people who are absent all of those signs, but have the complaint of chronic pain?

I trust my doctor that I don't have it (thank God). However, my doctor was the one brought up the possibility of fibro and then, decided to screen for it although I don't fit your friend's criteria at all (only 5 lbs overweight, no psych disorders, no allergies to any OTCs and won't take opiates except when I've been hospitalized, worst pain was a 7 the day I was injured, but it has lingered at a 3 or 4 for weeks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if it's real, but according to one of my friends who's a physician and works in the Emergency Department, the following signs are almost always present in people who suffer from it:

- Minimum 40-50 lbs overweight
- At least one Axis II psych disorder
- Stated allergies to OTC pain relievers such as Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. Can somehow tolerate opiates with no trouble, though! Funny how that works.
- When asked to rate their pain on the 1-10 scale, answer will always be somewhere in the 8-10 range, even if the patient is sleeping or resting comfortably when the doctor comes in the room (hint: if you're able to do either, you are not in the 8-10 range)

Apparently emergency rooms are a hotspot for fibro sufferers. A lot of rheumatologists, neurologists and immunologists aren't willing to prescribe opiates to deal with the pain and recommend dietary changes, PT and NSAIDs instead. That doesn't always go over well, so the people who don't want to hear it head to the ED. Nice.

How does your friend account for people who are absent all of those signs, but have the complaint of chronic pain?

I trust my doctor that I don't have it (thank God). However, my doctor was the one brought up the possibility of fibro and then, decided to screen for it although I don't fit your friend's criteria at all (only 5 lbs overweight, no psych disorders, no allergies to any OTCs and won't take opiates except when I've been hospitalized, worst pain was a 7 the day I was injured, but it has lingered at a 3 or 4 for weeks).

Well, did you go to the ED complaining of pain, asking for narcotics/opiates after other doctors brushed you off? No. So you're not the group that PP's doctor friend sees in the ED. (Being a doctor seems to make you incredibly cynical, it seems. It certainly has made my brother very cynical and suspicious of people who complain of pain and then ask for painkillers at the ED.)

As someone noted upthread, some people have fibro, others may have something else that may eventually be diagnosed, and others simply want painkillers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if it's real, but according to one of my friends who's a physician and works in the Emergency Department, the following signs are almost always present in people who suffer from it:

- Minimum 40-50 lbs overweight
- At least one Axis II psych disorder
- Stated allergies to OTC pain relievers such as Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. Can somehow tolerate opiates with no trouble, though! Funny how that works.
- When asked to rate their pain on the 1-10 scale, answer will always be somewhere in the 8-10 range, even if the patient is sleeping or resting comfortably when the doctor comes in the room (hint: if you're able to do either, you are not in the 8-10 range)

Apparently emergency rooms are a hotspot for fibro sufferers. A lot of rheumatologists, neurologists and immunologists aren't willing to prescribe opiates to deal with the pain and recommend dietary changes, PT and NSAIDs instead. That doesn't always go over well, so the people who don't want to hear it head to the ED. Nice.

How does your friend account for people who are absent all of those signs, but have the complaint of chronic pain?

I trust my doctor that I don't have it (thank God). However, my doctor was the one brought up the possibility of fibro and then, decided to screen for it although I don't fit your friend's criteria at all (only 5 lbs overweight, no psych disorders, no allergies to any OTCs and won't take opiates except when I've been hospitalized, worst pain was a 7 the day I was injured, but it has lingered at a 3 or 4 for weeks).

Well, did you go to the ED complaining of pain, asking for narcotics/opiates after other doctors brushed you off? No. So you're not the group that PP's doctor friend sees in the ED. (Being a doctor seems to make you incredibly cynical, it seems. It certainly has made my brother very cynical and suspicious of people who complain of pain and then ask for painkillers at the ED.)

As someone noted upthread, some people have fibro, others may have something else that may eventually be diagnosed, and others simply want painkillers.

I can't help but think though that at some point people who have been diagnosed with fibro come into the ER for other things than pain mgmt (food poisoning? a strange rash?) and that's in their self-stated medical history but perhaps some of them don't fit the friend's profile. Does he figure that they don't really have fibro either? If so, what does he think they have instead?

[Anonymous]

I read an article once titled "Fibromyalgia: The Fat White Women's Disease".

Seems to fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read an article once titled "Fibromyalgia: The Fat White Women's Disease".

Seems to fit.

Hmmm, Google Search doesn't yield any results for this. Can you write down the title of this medical journal the next time you are at your psychiatrist's office?

[Anonymous]

I think it is more real than restless leg syndrome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is more real than restless leg syndrome

RLS is a recognized neurological condition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read an article once titled "Fibromyalgia: The Fat White Women's Disease".

Seems to fit.

Hmmm, Google Search doesn't yield any results for this. Can you write down the title of this medical journal the next time you are at your psychiatrist's office?

Pretty sure I never claimed it was in a medical journal. It's satirical, and though clearly meant to be funny, also accurate. 90% of fibromyalgia sufferers are white women. 77% of them are overweight or obese.

[Anonymous]

I would always be in pain if I was obese

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea if it's real, but according to one of my friends who's a physician and works in the Emergency Department, the following signs are almost always present in people who suffer from it:

- Minimum 40-50 lbs overweight
- At least one Axis II psych disorder
- Stated allergies to OTC pain relievers such as Advil, Tylenol, Aleve, etc. Can somehow tolerate opiates with no trouble, though! Funny how that works.
- When asked to rate their pain on the 1-10 scale, answer will always be somewhere in the 8-10 range, even if the patient is sleeping or resting comfortably when the doctor comes in the room (hint: if you're able to do either, you are not in the 8-10 range)

Apparently emergency rooms are a hotspot for fibro sufferers. A lot of rheumatologists, neurologists and immunologists aren't willing to prescribe opiates to deal with the pain and recommend dietary changes, PT and NSAIDs instead. That doesn't always go over well, so the people who don't want to hear it head to the ED. Nice.

How does your friend account for people who are absent all of those signs, but have the complaint of chronic pain?

I trust my doctor that I don't have it (thank God). However, my doctor was the one brought up the possibility of fibro and then, decided to screen for it although I don't fit your friend's criteria at all (only 5 lbs overweight, no psych disorders, no allergies to any OTCs and won't take opiates except when I've been hospitalized, worst pain was a 7 the day I was injured, but it has lingered at a 3 or 4 for weeks).

Well, did you go to the ED complaining of pain, asking for narcotics/opiates after other doctors brushed you off? No. So you're not the group that PP's doctor friend sees in the ED. (Being a doctor seems to make you incredibly cynical, it seems. It certainly has made my brother very cynical and suspicious of people who complain of pain and then ask for painkillers at the ED.)

As someone noted upthread, some people have fibro, others may have something else that may eventually be diagnosed, and others simply want painkillers.

I can't help but think though that at some point people who have been diagnosed with fibro come into the ER for other things than pain mgmt (food poisoning? a strange rash?) and that's in their self-stated medical history but perhaps some of them don't fit the friend's profile. Does he figure that they don't really have fibro either? If so, what does he think they have instead?

ER for pain management = drug seeking

[Anonymous]

I believe there really are overweight, insecure, mentally ill women out there claiming to have fibro. I don't particularly believe it's real, however. I think that if it were a real condition it would have a clearly delineated set of symptoms and wouldn't constantly be causing so much conflict in the medical community.

Some combination of hypochondriacism, physical pain from depression, and major dramatics is my theory as to what fibro really is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe there really are overweight, insecure, mentally ill women out there claiming to have fibro. I don't particularly believe it's real, however. I think that if it were a real condition it would have a clearly delineated set of symptoms and wouldn't constantly be causing so much conflict in the medical community.

Some combination of hypochondriacism, physical pain from depression, and major dramatics is my theory as to what fibro really is.

And what gives you the authority to support this theory?