There are now so many people in our various numerous support groups with this label, that we now know FQ induced fibromyalgia by another rather more accurate name instead, CIPROmyalgia , & yes, although Fibromyalgia itself as a syndrome may well have been around a long while, known under various names, THIS cause of the symptoms which are then labelled Fibromyalgia by Drs, who invariably know nothing about the accurate immensely toxic profile of this class of ‘ antibiotic’ ,, is all too often left completely unrecognised . THIS cause of the symptoms which are then often misdiagnosed as Fibromyalgia is kept hidden ‘ under the radar ‘ by Big Pharma, & in fact has been so for many many years, since the 1980s.

It does not hurt to do a little independent research on this subject .

Please google fluoroquinolone toxicity, the symptoms of this, also search out the numerous youtube videos, the recent news coverage, there are many. Google The Quinolone Vigilance foundation, do this & you will enter a parallel universe you never knew existed, At the QVF you can find information on the petitions filed by SONAR to add yet 2 more black box warnings to these horrendously dangerous drugs, which of course carry two black box warnings already, that in itself should ring warning bells in respect to their toxicities, this after all is supposed to be an antibiotic !! .

This subject has recently been getting a lot more attention, due to hidden information found via a Freedom of Information request discovered in internal documents at the FDA. This information has been kept hidden from the medical profession / patients, the fact that these so called ‘ antibiotics ‘ The fluoroquinolone antibiotics ( Cipro , Levaquin , Avelox there are others ) can cause mitochondrial toxicity. With fluoroquinolone toxicity many of these symptoms can actually be delayed for many months, & as well as potentially causing immediate disability, although the damage begins at a DNA/ mitochondrial level from the very first dose, often this damage does not noticeably / visibly materialise in many people until AFTER numerous courses have been taken over time.
These drugs are NOT your usual ‘ benign antibiotic ‘ as is so often thought, but instead the FQs are chemotherapeutic agents, they are Topoisomerase inhibitors ( again please look this up ), you will find that every other drug described as such is chemotherapy, & as with chemo, the FQs can cause delayed adverse reactions, this is something known in the field of oncology as ‘ late effects ‘

The fluoroquinolone antibiotics were originally developed for, & are MEANT to ONLY be prescribed as a LAST resort, when every other suitable antibiotic has been tried first, all have failed, & the only alternative left is your death, but instead they are being given out like candy, for the slightest infection, even just for suspected infections, & as a result they are devastating uncountable numbers of peoples lives.
IF you find you HAVE been prescribed fluoroquinolone ‘ antibiotics’ before your Fibromyalgia diagnosis please consider this as a potential cause of your symptoms.
We have numerous support groups online.

The fluoroquinolone antibiotics, they literally come straight from hell, unfortunately they often drag you back down there with them & leave you there, sometimes for the rest of your life . I sadly know so to my cost , I live there myself, & have done so now for 26 years .

Whatever your belief in respect of your symptoms at the end of the day, it is SO important to become informed on the potential risks of taking these so called ‘ antibiotics ‘, for a very important reason, because our Drs unfortunately are NOT .

First of all, you said it best when you said that no one can prove that they have it or don’t have it. Although this isn’t always true for the patient, it is true when it comes to your claims that fibromyalgia isn’t real. Honestly, you can’t prove that it isn’t. And to write a hateful post that claims otherwise is a bit presumptuous.

Here’s the low-down on the physiology of fibromyalgia:

Fibromyalgia, like syndromes, is based on a collection of symptoms. For fibromyalgia, this means pain that exists in at least 11 of the trigger points. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Iritable Bowl Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, etc., are also syndromes that, although real, are diagnosed based on clinical presentation. The hallmark of a syndrome is that it does not point to a singular cause, and oftentimes is idiopathic (of unknown origin). The S in AIDS stands for syndrome, as it was an idiopathic condition for many years. More recently, we have discovered that it is caused by HIV. Interestingly, CFS is often successfully treated with antibiotics, indicating that an infection is presen. POTS is a form of dysautonomia, which is an umbrella term that refers to the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. I chose these illustrative syndromes specifically, as patients with these conditions often also have fibromyalgia.

So, fibromyalgia itself does not denote a specific cause. This means that fibromyalgia is almost exclusively a secondary condition — a condition that has developed through a primary condition (if fibro is primary, it is idiopathic).

So what are some conditions that fibromyalgia can stem from?

Thyroid Disease. Patients with thyroid disease often have reduced oxygenation in the soft tissues which, as you could imagine, leads to pain. You should also realize that far too many people who have thyroid deficiencies go undiagnosed, meaning that many people who have not isolated a cause for their fibro likely have a thyroid condition.

Small Fiber Neuropathy. Patients with SFN have a genetic defect, that often goes undetected, that causes pain. SFN is often found in patients with dysautonomia.

POTS. Patients with POTS have an elevated heart rate upon assuming an upright position and most have orthostatic hypotension and hypovolemia. This has many effects on the body, including pain. Many POTS patients also develop IBS.

CFS/Lyme/Infectious Disease. Patients with infections often find that the infection manifests as, among other things, pain.

Polycystic Ovarian Sydrome. Patients with PCOS have extreme hormonal irregularities that manifest as a variety of symptoms, including pain. PCOS is frequently secondary to thyroid disease.

I could go on and on, but let it be known that patients with these conditions are often labeled with fibromyalgia — that is how they refer to the pain that is secondary to another condition. IBS is the same way. Patients may have IBS due to POTS, or a food allergy, or any other number of conditions. Irregardless, they refer to IBS separately.

Yes, pain is often a symptom of depression. So yes, fibromyalgia is often diagnosed as secondary to depression. This does not make the pain less real — your mind is part of your body and can get sick just as your nervous system or thyroid can. This also does not mean that all patients with fibromyalgia are depressed, no more than it means that all patients with fibromyalgia have thyroid disease. Correlation causation colloquialism.

And yes, fibromyalgia is more often diagnosed in women. Many of the conditions that I listed also affect a disproportionate amount of women. PCOS is exclusively women, POTS has a 5:1 ratio, etc. This does not make these conditions less real, it just means that women have different bodies that work in different ways and malfunction in different ways. Men have their own problems.

I hope this was helpful and I hope that you think twice before making similarly uneducated accusations again. These patients already fight against their bodies — they don’t need to fight against non-afflicted, non-medical bloggers who are trying to stigmatize them, too.