I assume that it exists. I also assume because it is kind of vague there are people who take advantage of it. Like the OP, I've known some. Sadly, those people cast a negative shadow on those who truly do have it.
Is Fibromayalga Real?
- Thread starter deadeyededric
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I had the flu last week and hadn't felt that bad in years. This was the first year I hadn't gotten a flu shot in a while. I was even having some slight difficulty breathing one of the days. Waking up soaked in sweat constantly.
See I could point to my 102 temp. as evidence I felt like ****. What do the fibro people have?I think you were faking
Sure, if you believe thermometers.
Fibromyalgia | Arthritis | CDC
Basic information about fibromyalgia, including common symptoms and treatment.
The condition is real, but it's likely over-diagnosed because of the wide array of non-specific clinical signs (pain, soreness, stiffness, fatigue, trouble sleeping, anxiety/depression, cognitive decline) kinda like Celiac disease except that actually has a defined cause. Can't deny that people occasionally suffer from the pee-poops, but that doesn't mean they all actually have a gluten-sensitive enteropathy. The lack of an observable sign that is specific to that disease/condition is the source of a lot of the confusion in those that suffer from it and the source of a lot of the doubt from those that don't......also the lack of a defined cause doesn't help. Much easier to understand something when we can see both the cause and effect: kid falls out of tree-->broken arm, pretty straightforward.
My mom was diagnosed with fibromyalgia several years ago.........and I'm very skeptical that her situation actually fits into this condition. She's battled severe depression and anxiety for around 20 years, and those symptoms were present long before she felt fatigue/soreness/low grade pain. She taught second grade for ~40 years and helped on the ranch in the summers. She's 68 years old, has had a pretty terrible diet for a very long time, has put on probably 50-60 pounds, and makes no effort to get any physical activity which would likely help many of the things she's going through. Her doctor is quick to prescribe medication regardless of the situation and almost never talks with her about lifestyle choices that may be impacting her health......so she's also on all kinds of medication, each of which has a list of potential side effects. I think their are many contributing factors that are causing the vague symptoms she is having.....it's just easier for her to say she has a condition rather than take accountability and work to eliminate some of those factors.
My dad is 70, and has worked his ass off raising cattle for the last 50 years (something he absolutely loves and was born to do). He's slightly overweight and his diet is terrible, but he's incredibly physically active essentially every day of the year. He's often sore, stiff, fatigued, and forgetful......does he have fibromyalgia?
At the same time this country has never been more obese, more sedentary, or older than it is right now. Massive numbers of people carry around far too much weight for decades: think that might cause some inflammation in ligaments/tendons/joints that evolved to function under far less stress for far shorter lifespans? What is the long term effect of decades of terrible diet choices/malnutrition and lack of physical activity that led to the weight gain in the first place?
These questions are incredibly difficult to answer and take years of epidemiology investigation....I certainly don't have the answers. But we need to start doing two things: take a preventative, long-term approach to promoting health/wellness and take mental health far more seriously than we have in the past.
I agree. I think it's probably an actual condition for some but is also a huge "go to" condition for those constantly searching for something wrong with themselves.Fibromyalgia | Arthritis | CDC
Basic information about fibromyalgia, including common symptoms and treatment.www.cdc.gov
The condition is real, but it's likely over-diagnosed because of the wide array of non-specific clinical signs (pain, soreness, stiffness, fatigue, trouble sleeping, anxiety/depression, cognitive decline) kinda like Celiac disease except that actually has a defined cause. Can't deny that people occasionally suffer from the pee-poops, but that doesn't mean they all actually have a gluten-sensitive enteropathy. The lack of an observable sign that is specific to that disease/condition is the source of a lot of the confusion in those that suffer from it and the source of a lot of the doubt from those that don't......also the lack of a defined cause doesn't help. Much easier to understand something when we can see both the cause and effect: kid falls out of tree-->broken arm, pretty straightforward.
My mom was diagnosed with fibromyalgia several years ago.........and I'm very skeptical that her situation actually fits into this condition. She's battled severe depression and anxiety for around 20 years, and those symptoms were present long before she felt fatigue/soreness/low grade pain. She taught second grade for ~40 years and helped on the ranch in the summers. She's 68 years old, has had a pretty terrible diet for a very long time, has put on probably 50-60 pounds, and makes no effort to get any physical activity which would likely help many of the things she's going through. Her doctor is quick to prescribe medication regardless of the situation and almost never talks with her about lifestyle choices that may be impacting her health......so she's also on all kinds of medication, each of which has a list of potential side effects. I think their are many contributing factors that are causing the vague symptoms she is having.....it's just easier for her to say she has a condition rather than take accountability and work to eliminate some of those factors.
My dad is 70, and has worked his ass off raising cattle for the last 50 years (something he absolutely loves and was born to do). He's slightly overweight and his diet is terrible, but he's incredibly physically active essentially every day of the year. He's often sore, stiff, fatigued, and forgetful......does he have fibromyalgia?
At the same time this country has never been more obese, more sedentary, or older than it is right now. Massive numbers of people carry around far too much weight for decades: think that might cause some inflammation in ligaments/tendons/joints that evolved to function under far less stress for far shorter lifespans? What is the long term effect of decades of terrible diet choices/malnutrition and lack of physical activity that led to the weight gain in the first place?
These questions are incredibly difficult to answer and take years of epidemiology investigation....I certainly don't have the answers. But we need to start doing two things: take a preventative, long-term approach to promoting health/wellness and take mental health far more seriously than we have in the past.
Ill make a long post about Fibro here in a second (and why its a touchy subject) but Celiac is a bad reference because it has an actual diagnostic testing to determine if someone has it so it isn't "over diagnosed". Many people will claim they have it or gluten intolerance without ever going in for tests and that is almost always due to a lifestyle choice.Fibromyalgia | Arthritis | CDC
Basic information about fibromyalgia, including common symptoms and treatment.
The condition is real, but it's likely over-diagnosed because of the wide array of non-specific clinical signs (pain, soreness, stiffness, fatigue, trouble sleeping, anxiety/depression, cognitive decline) kinda like Celiac disease except that actually has a defined cause. Can't deny that people occasionally suffer from the pee-poops, but that doesn't mean they all actually have a gluten-sensitive enteropathy. The lack of an observable sign that is specific to that disease/condition is the source of a lot of the confusion in those that suffer from it and the source of a lot of the doubt from those that don't......also the lack of a defined cause doesn't help. Much easier to understand something when we can see both the cause and effect: kid falls out of tree-->broken arm, pretty straightforward.
My mom was diagnosed with fibromyalgia several years ago.........and I'm very skeptical that her situation actually fits into this condition. She's battled severe depression and anxiety for around 20 years, and those symptoms were present long before she felt fatigue/soreness/low grade pain. She taught second grade for ~40 years and helped on the ranch in the summers. She's 68 years old, has had a pretty terrible diet for a very long time, has put on probably 50-60 pounds, and makes no effort to get any physical activity which would likely help many of the things she's going through. Her doctor is quick to prescribe medication regardless of the situation and almost never talks with her about lifestyle choices that may be impacting her health......so she's also on all kinds of medication, each of which has a list of potential side effects. I think their are many contributing factors that are causing the vague symptoms she is having.....it's just easier for her to say she has a condition rather than take accountability and work to eliminate some of those factors.
My dad is 70, and has worked his ass off raising cattle for the last 50 years (something he absolutely loves and was born to do). He's slightly overweight and his diet is terrible, but he's incredibly physically active essentially every day of the year. He's often sore, stiff, fatigued, and forgetful......does he have fibromyalgia?
At the same time this country has never been more obese, more sedentary, or older than it is right now. Massive numbers of people carry around far too much weight for decades: think that might cause some inflammation in ligaments/tendons/joints that evolved to function under far less stress for far shorter lifespans? What is the long term effect of decades of terrible diet choices/malnutrition and lack of physical activity that led to the weight gain in the first place?
These questions are incredibly difficult to answer and take years of epidemiology investigation....I certainly don't have the answers. But we need to start doing two things: take a preventative, long-term approach to promoting health/wellness and take mental health far more seriously than we have in the past.
Had meetings and shot that last one off fast. I want to clarify I don't think researchers are sitting there being actively misogynistic and hey if women die they die sort of thinking. But the path of least resistance is using male subjects and so when time and resources constrain, unless regulations force them to have a more representative group of study subjects, time and money will win.
I despise this phrase. It has been used to dismiss women and girls and minimize very real issues for as long as I can remember. And yes, it was used on me. That was BEFORE I eventually had to have a hysterectomy.
I think it can make it more complex however that is not a reason to write off developing medical treatments for half the population. Especially when federal money is often involved. And sometimes the solutions are not that complex. Like including crash dummies that actually mimic a women's skeletal structure and musculature. They aren't simply bigger children or smaller men. And because women-specific crash dummies weren't used until recently, more women died in car crashes, especially those at an angle like hitting a telephone pole. Because the whiplash to their neck was much different than men even of the roughly the same body size.
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I didn't realize that phrase was exclusively for women.
goes hand in hand with "you're being hysterical". It's far more common to see it used in reference to women.
Perhaps because they don't have the physiological variations that women do, or at least not as many, and their health is not compromised as easily?
Ok so lets clear a couple things up on fibro and why it has such a weird stigma in the medical community.
1. Fibro is an official diagnosis however it is an extremely hot topic in the medical community, it is not really covered in the DSMV and there is a lot of debate on if this is a mental health concern or an actual neurological problem. A large part of this confusion stems from the fact that there are no real tests to determine Fibro and it is often a diagnoses of exclusion, meaning it is what happens when all other possibilities for the pain have been exhausted.
2. Another major problem with Fibro, as many have pointed out, it is is a diagnosis that is overwhelmingly represented by middle age women. Especially middle age white women, so you get a lot of the "karen" stereotypes. Women historically have had to fight to get their voices heard in the medical community and for their pain to be taken seriously. All physicians have bias and unfortunately fibro often brings those biases to the forefront. Unfortunately Fibro patients are often horrible to to deal with, which makes sense because they are in pain, but helps build the stereotype.
3. Part of the reason Fibro gets a bad rep for treatment, especially in the emergency department, is there is almost nothing we can do to help and people present with major pain seeking behavior. It doesn't help that due to the pain many of these individuals have very unhealthy lifestyles that go against medical advice to manage fibro. You get into a little chicken/egg of is it the lifestyle causing the symptoms or is it the fibro causing the lifestyle to change. No one really knows 100%
4. Finally many of my fellow physicians, mid level providers, and nurses of a wide variety of specialties believe Fibro is made up. It has become way over diagnosed as something insurance companies will accept and physicians will often put it in the chart because they almost have to put something in for billing purposes. So while the OP might have phrased it weird if you polled 100 physicians regardless of background I bet you would find a lot of people that have the same take.
1. Fibro is an official diagnosis however it is an extremely hot topic in the medical community, it is not really covered in the DSMV and there is a lot of debate on if this is a mental health concern or an actual neurological problem. A large part of this confusion stems from the fact that there are no real tests to determine Fibro and it is often a diagnoses of exclusion, meaning it is what happens when all other possibilities for the pain have been exhausted.
2. Another major problem with Fibro, as many have pointed out, it is is a diagnosis that is overwhelmingly represented by middle age women. Especially middle age white women, so you get a lot of the "karen" stereotypes. Women historically have had to fight to get their voices heard in the medical community and for their pain to be taken seriously. All physicians have bias and unfortunately fibro often brings those biases to the forefront. Unfortunately Fibro patients are often horrible to to deal with, which makes sense because they are in pain, but helps build the stereotype.
3. Part of the reason Fibro gets a bad rep for treatment, especially in the emergency department, is there is almost nothing we can do to help and people present with major pain seeking behavior. It doesn't help that due to the pain many of these individuals have very unhealthy lifestyles that go against medical advice to manage fibro. You get into a little chicken/egg of is it the lifestyle causing the symptoms or is it the fibro causing the lifestyle to change. No one really knows 100%
4. Finally many of my fellow physicians, mid level providers, and nurses of a wide variety of specialties believe Fibro is made up. It has become way over diagnosed as something insurance companies will accept and physicians will often put it in the chart because they almost have to put something in for billing purposes. So while the OP might have phrased it weird if you polled 100 physicians regardless of background I bet you would find a lot of people that have the same take.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
That whole thing about male willingness leaves out a whole lot of potential variables, including those. Guy is painting plenty of things with very broad brushes in this thread.
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