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!
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!
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.
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.
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
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
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…
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
The women’s lib movement was started as a population control mechanism.
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.
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.
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.
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.
fibromyalgia is fake.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I agree with Tricia. All I have to add is BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
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.
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.
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.
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.
” # 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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………..
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!!!!!
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!!!!!
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.
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
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!