''I get so irritated by people who don't believe fibro is real'' reveals Lady Gag

Typing this response has used up all my spoons.

I'm taking the rest of the day off and "working" from home.

Fibro party

[quote] For me, and I think for many others, it’s really a cyclone of anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, and panic disorder, all of which sends the nervous system into overdrive, and then you have nerve pain as a result.

I think she may be right about this. My brother suffered from pain which they classified as fibromyalgia, and it seemed to be caused by mental issues. He had no reason to make it up and wasn't looking for sympathy or attention (like some cube fraus seem to be).

Lady Gaga is officially a frau!

There’s always some new name for people feeling tired because they stayed up too late.

It was yuppie disease for a while.

My mother has it (diagnosed), along with osteoarthritis and other pain conditions. She's worked hard all her life and isn't inclined to mope around and post memes.

Interesting R3. Years ago my mother was coming for a month and whole I was looking forward to it, I was stressed about sharing my home for so long. A day or so before she arrived I started to get a weird nerve like pain in one small specific spot on my back by my shoulder blade. It got so bad I was almost in tears, and popped ibuprofen and Aleve like candy. I knew if I went to the doctor they'd fob me off with some kind of addictive painkiller, so I just dealt with it myself.

It hurt like a motherfucker for three straight months, then gradually faded and went away. Reading about people with fibro it did sound similar, and if they deal with widespread pain like that all the time I feel bad for them.

I do wonder if it was triggered by stress though, even though the pain was very real.

Fib 'bout my age , Huh?!

I know a guy who has had it for decades, he uses a wheelchair part of the time because of it. This guy is extremely vain, and I know how much being seen in a wheelchair bothers him, so I have no doubt that it is real.

R7 I can definitely sympathize with them as well. I had localized pain in my finger for years -- like someone was stabbing me in the nail. It would worsen at night and when it was cold, and it was once so bad I was yelling/crying. People would laugh or tell me to stop complaining about pain in a single finger. It turned out it was a small tumor. If i had that pain over a larger area, I can't imagine what I would do.

I was recently diagnosed with costochondritis, I couldn't imagine the whole body overtaken with pain. Yikes.

Nerve pain is no joke. The only time I ever understood suicide. Constant intense pain that makes life not worth living.

Wait I thought she had lupus?

Someday medical science will actually figure out how the female reproductive system works. It will be a time of much rejoicing.

Damn R10, that's scary.

-R7

r13 they will have it replaced with a bionic uterus!

Considering that most of the people who have “fibromyalgia” are a certain type of woman (they also have soft tissue injuries and are fond of medical paraphernalia and pain pills), I think it’s overdiagnosed. The only people I’ve ever met who had it were... neurotic.

[quote] This guy is extremely vain, and I know how much being seen in a wheelchair bothers him, so I have no doubt that it is real...

"This guy is extremely vain, and I know how much he loves being seen in a wheelchair, so I have no doubt that it is fake..."

Fibromyalgia sufferers often have oddly elongated nosehairs.

Lady should stick to music.

[quote] R3: My brother suffered from pain which they classified as fibromyalgia...

Why the past tense? Did your bro pass away, or did he recover?

[quote] R13: Wait I thought she had lupus?

I don’t know anything about Lady Gaga, but Lupus and Fibromyalgia are often mistaken for each other and misdiagnosed.

[quote] R16: The only people I’ve ever met who had it were... neurotic.

You no doubt have met a lot of people who have it, but who haven’t told you that they do. Especially after they learn your thoughts on it. In addition, being in constant pain, permanently, should make a person neurotic, especially if surrounded by people like you, who aren't just unsympathetic, but also seem a little sadistic. So, your sampling is skewed and completely worthless as far as meaning anything.

I don't understand it and I know we joke a lot about it, but I'm sure it's a very real thing and very painful. A lot of you have the "Dr. Budd" mentality where if you can't see it, it's not real.

The writing was perfect in this scene and It sums up doctors and people who lack compassion:

We all suffer from a variety of issues. And we usually feel some comfort when our own, personal issues and problems are being validated by others.

Any illness/disease process that has a mental or emotional component tends to be discounted and questioned by the medical establishment. I've also worked with several fibro folks who seemed to have a flare up every time actual work was required.

R23 That was an excellent scene. I haven't watched Golden Girls (I know), but it was always on TV when my mom was watching it. That was really powerful acting by Bea Arthur. Thanks for sharing!

Bea Arthur's nosehairs were preserved after that scene. They were bronzed and are now on display in the Getty Museum in New Mexico.

R22, thank you for the correction. The people I have met who CLAIM to have it are neurotic and have other “invisible” diseases that lack concrete diagnostic criteria or lab tests. My favorite fibro warrior gets “lung spasms”.

And, as r25 points out, the flare-ups are conveniently timed. If there’s something good they want to do, they’re having “a good day”.

Shall we send Gaga this amusing and inspirational garment?

Let's tweet this to LG it will give her succour in her darkest hours

r28 you monster! My imaginary lung spasms make my life hell. That's why I have to be a bitchy, self-righteous scold, it's my only compensation. Plus I like pretending I'm Bea Aurthur in the infamous Fibro episode!

I think it is real, but entirely mental. It seems to mostly be white women. I’ve never seen women of color who work like dogs getting this. It’s usually Caucasian’s who are middle or upper class. I do think they suffer greatly, but that they are causing it themselves without knowing it.

They have diagnostic criteria and lab tests which are indicative of disease, R28. What doesn't yet exist is a single diagnostic test.

There are plenty of people with an interest in classifying such diseases as "neurotic". Their agenda is diverting research funds into their own area, usually psychiatry. MS was also classified as neurosis, and it is still a differential diagnosis, i.e. no one specific diagnostic test.

R32, false, at least in the case of ME ("CFS"). American studies showed that incidences in Latinos and black populations were much higher than in white populations.

I'm inclined to believe that it's overdiagnosed, and that some supposed sufferers are malingering.

However, I think it's possible that it's a real condition for other people. The reason is because, about 20 years ago, I was very sick (swollen lymph nodes, vomiting, low-grade fever) for nearly a year with something that doctors eventually decided to call chronic fatigue syndrome. They had tested me for everything, including cancer and HIV, and found nothing. But the sickness was real. It thankfully resolved itself, and I've been in excellent health ever since. But I've always vividly remembered, and been humbled by, that experience. We still have a lot left to learn about the human body.

Well I’m 70 and I feel fucking great!

this reminds me of the time, not so long ago, that people thought being a drug addict or alcoholic was the persons fault. Also reminds me of when people thought only gay men could get Aids. Also reminds me of when everyone thought being gay was a choice.

no one knows what another one suffers and what is real or not. If the Dr.'s are willing to say it is a disease I tend to believe them.

[quote] I think it is real, but entirely mental.

Well, there is no evidence to conclude this.

Until a decade ago or so, ulcers were thought to be caused by stress, i.e., entirely mental. Then they discovered some kind of bacteria or virus that caused ulcers in the majority of cases. That’s recent history. The science of medicine is still in its infancy.

Where is the option "OP should get fibro, then tell us how it feels"?

[quote] I think it is real, but entirely mental.

Suppose for a moment that it is entirely mental. Does that mean that the person with it is somehow not suffering? Does this mean that they could simply choose to stop having Fibromyalgia symptoms, anytime thay want? Of course not. Regardless of whether or not there is an organic cause for it, people who have it [italic] still [/italic] have to live with it.

Given that this is the case, how does it contribute to understanding or treating it by labeling it “entirely mental”? It doesn’t. What it does do, though, is frame the illness as something that is the “fault” of the sick person. This is how many illnesses were treated for centuries until just a few hundred years ago, until we learned better.

Some of my friends have crippling affluenza.

Lady Gaga might have her afflictions confused. She might be suffering from famewhormyalgia.

The only person I know with fibro is also obese and uses they/them pronouns.

People with Fibromyalgia get less of a certain phase of sleep than typical people. There was an experiment whereby people were woken from sleep when they entered this phase of sleep. Some developed symptoms of Fibromyalgia after only one night of that. Others think the sleep problem is another symptom of Fibromyalgia, not the cause.

Others think it’s caused by an accident or near accident, whereby the body goes into “fight or flight” mode, and gets stuck there.

Others think it’s an auto-immune disease, where the body attacks itself.

Lots of doctors think they know, but the fact is that there is no general agreement on the cause.

Hmm r43 might be onto something. Maybe it’s like cancer. There are many different types, many different causes.

Although you can see cancer with a microscope, and test for for it, so never mind.

If fibro was real, men would get it. And they don't.

If fibro was real, women in poor countries would get it. And they don't.

It's in your head. See a shrink.

I got Fibromyalgia about 1995. This is what it’s like:

I wasn’t obese. I was thin enough at the time that you could actually see the knots in my back muscles under my skin. Its onset did correspond to a period when I experienced some unexplained dizziness that passed. I don’t know if it was related. My cousin has it too. I’m a guy. My cousin is a woman.

There hasn’t been a day since then that I haven’t had some unusual and generally, severe pain. At its worst, it keeps me up at night. Sometimes, I get out of bed in the middle of the night to stretch.

I have three college degrees and was very ambitious but it does make working difficult. I worked with it for 15 years and finally retired early as I figured, fingers crossed, that I had enough money, but those would have been my best earning years, and it was a tough decision to retire.

I have become accustomed to living with it, sort of. I don’t talk about it, usually, and especially not on DataLounge given the attitude of many people here.

Lots of people have problems and I count my blessings that I am otherwise healthy.

R45, I’m a guy. You’re wrong when you write that guys don’t get it.

R44, you can’t see a stomach ache either, does that mean it doesn’t happen?

CFS - 80's. I was in my 20's and I had it 3 times. 1st time was several months. 2nd and 3rd I had my techniques to get out of it. Specialists in NYC and Zurich. Sober doctors who believe it body and mind reacting oddly to virus such as EBV, HHVs, CMV, whatever. Worked with "alternative" practitioners identified I got it when I felt "trapped" and "frustrated" in life. I believe that the mind is involved. Getting out of it requires "mind over matter" and its obviously a viral something because I would sweat buckets while I was climbing out of it. Night sweats, day sweats. Now decades later sober doctors will take a patient with something like "fibro" seriously and try to find a solution - and its probably viral. But the solution is going to be mind work and removing "blockages", new agey as it sounds - western doctors won't get you out of it you have to figure out whats wrong that your system is "hurting" you.

[quote]I don’t talk about it, usually, and especially not on DataLounge given the attitude of many people here

I was molested.

I have a friend who has had it her whole life and is in her late 60's. it wasn't diagnosed until about 15 years ago. It was completely debilitating for her. She was never over weight.

I like the theory that fibo is an autoimmune disease effecting the female reproductive system and triggered by an infection.

I know a skinny lady who says she has it. I’m not saying she doesn’t, what would I know, but she is very jumpy, nervous, intense about everything. Prone to exaggerating in ways I can verify- work stuff.

In the old days, when it was mostly gay men here, the results of this poll would have shown no mercy.

Colleagues of mine who suffered from fibromyalgia never missed a holiday away even if included foreign travel.

Both of them could race to the escalator and take it two steps at a time if it was quitting time.

Other times, much drama was seen on the escalators.

They never did any of their coworkers any favors including for one who uncomplainingly continued to work after being diagnosed with cancer .

That is my only experience with fibromyalgia sufferers.

There may be legitimate cases but those two were desperate to be declared unemployable and did nothing to forward their cause.

a couple of years ago Asia Argento started tweeting about her fibro, her chronic pain, her "struggle". then she stopped, not mentioning again EVER. maybe underage dick cured her.

Don’t let antidotes influence your thinking.

Besides, a distraction is good to get your mind off chronic pain.

r23, the joke is that chronic fatigue syndrome was, in fact, NOT a real thing. No one self-diagnoses themselves as that anymore.

Did Dorothy Zbornak's fibro only last for one very special episode? Or was it a season long thing?

That New Age guru Louise Hay told us disease is merely “Dis Ease,” a discomfort with one’s true self.

Then she died.

... but she speaks from the beyond, r58

R23, are you saying that it wasn't a real thing in the episode or that it doesn't exist? The WHO definition still stands.

Frauschwitz!

R30 i LOVE the word succour ! !

I am really lucky to have always had excellent health.

When I do get a flu every 5 years or so, I’m like, “Oh my GOD.....what’s HAPPENING to me??? This is what PAIN is?? I’M DYING!!!”

I am a primary care physician and have lots of fibromyalgia patients. Every single one of them has severe anxiety and depression that began prior to their pain. Most are difficult patients, and doctors joke that you can diagnose it when you leave the patient’s room and are worn out or want to quit. This being said, I 100% believe that they are all in significant chronic pain. Whether the etiology is from increased sensitivity of the nerves or psychosomatic, they are in pain and deserve to be taken seriously.

Serious question, r64. Would you consider referring these patients to hypnotherapy for pain management? To avoid the possibility of drug abuse. Thanks.

"They're talking about me again"

The Lady Bunnika

Big titted grifter and fibrofrau [italic]extraordinaire[/italic] Did she ever get enough $ to go to Orlando to eat at Disney?

Anyone who is suffering from fibromyalgia and who is at least somewhat psychologically minded should check out the mind/body work done by physician John Sarno. I could be a poster person for Sarno. I suffered from lower back pain for years and finally, out of desperation, went to a bookstore and found his book on healing back pain. Less than 24 hours later my back pain had vanished--I used his technique of just yelling at my brain and telling it to knock it off. And it worked even though I didn't really believe it would. A few days later, my neck was so sore I couldn't turn my head. But Sarno warned about the pain moving and so I was prepared for this. I laughed it off and in a few days my neck was fine.

It's important to understand that this pain is very real and that it's your unconscious trying to distract you from something. And the unconscious mind can be a real bitch.

[quote]I am a primary care physician

Hey, doc. It hurts when I go like this with my arm...

^^ HAS to be a native Californian.

The one person I know who has it is a white, male, Trump supporting, "Christian".

I am sure he has very high anxiety.

R63, me too. Knock wood.

R64, not that I’m a doctor, but all the fibro people I’ve ever known were a certain type, and I laughed to read your comment. My late MIL was a stoic, no-nonsense, logical woman. If people like her were diagnosed with fibro, I’d have a lot more respect for it as a real disease.

Whoops, posted too soon.

I view fibromyalgia as Morgellons. It’s real to the people who have it, but it’s primarily a psychosomatic thing.

Hey [R64], I usually send these patients to pain management, rheumatology and physical therapy. A lot of times they are not seeking narcotics and understand that narcotics are not indicated at all for fibromyalgia. I agree that sleep may be involved somehow, and I find a lot of patients with untreated sleep apnea.

R20 He recovered, and the pain eventually went away. My brother is also neurotic and has sleep problems (just to speak to a couple of anecdotal observations of fibro sufferers made above).

R53 my coworker has a wife on disability for fibromyalgia. He was talking about how her decorating the house and making big Christmas dinners one time

If Fibro and M.E. were conditions that only exhausting neurotics developed, then every fag in the country would have them.

Morgellons is REAL.

And so is Chronic Lyme Disease.

My aunt has fibro and so does a good friend. I do believe it is a true illness. Both these women were raised by very abusive mothers (and had enabler fathers) and I’ve always wondered if something happened to their physiology as a result of their childhoods that set them up for fibro. Both women also have challenging temperaments, but I do care about them very much.

R17 have you ever been in a wheelchair? It's embarrassing to him, and even more so because of his vanity. People in wheelchairs are generally ignored. I've been out with him and people address me instead of him, as though he was a small child, or pet. No one wants to be the guy in the wheelchair. He is also not the fat, neurotic, anxious type. He is usually quite stoic and stable.

I saw her documentary and whatever she has is no joke. She was in excruciating pain that almost resembled childbirth. She was shaking. It was pretty disturbing.

A disease caused by the mind is REAL, but also mental.

Holy tautology, Batman!

Hmph. I see the datalounge is a great deal more FORGIVING of our traditional enemies, the fibrofraus, than of yesterday!

[quote]He is also not the fat, neurotic, anxious type. He is usually quite stoic and stable.

'Stoic'? AKA, passive aggressive.

R29’s picture has sent me to my Bed of Pain.

r52 we were sent to help

Listen to me ! I have PROBLEMS !

And something to sell.

I have peripheral neuropathy and as an "expert" neurology specialist recently told me: "we don't know everything".

For 5 years I've had progressively worse pins and needles pain, coupled with numbness in my feet. You think of numbness as a lack of sensation but even that is a sensation. Yeah, I can take pills to help, but then it's akin to walking on dead stumps - not to mention that I feel like a homicidal/suicidal maniac when I'm on them.

All the Drs can say is that they don't know for sure what causes it. I've been tested for everything under the sun. All I know is that it started after I took some antibiotics for an intestinal issue. A side effect that is on one of the dozens of pages of warnings for Cipro. The Drs say "oh, yeah but thats a rare side effect". Not so rare when you're the one affected.

I have no doubt that fibro exists.

Pain is weird. I don’t trust any medical professional who doesn’t understand this fact. Pain is controlled and processed by the brain so ALL pain is mental.

The brain is so little understood by medical science I think admitting we just don’t understand diseases like fibro is the smarter, more compassionate explanation. Why blame the patient because medical science doesn’t have an answer yet?

I know some major studies have shown people with fibro and chronic fatigue have certain bacterial infections in common (eg,. mycoplasma). This is a hot corner of research because common diseases from heart disease to Alzheimers have also been theorized to be triggered by infection. Very interesting stuff.

I don't think it's fake per se, but I believe it's a mental disorder that manifests itself physically, which is why there are some common personality traits to those that have it. Given the stigma that still exists about mental disorders, a "physical aliment of unknown cause" is much more marketable. If it was labeled a mental disorder, no one would have it.

Immunopsychiatry has a theory that depression is caused by inflammation

[quote]When we think of the immune system, we typically envision a system devoted to protecting our bodies from disease. This system innately responds to pathogens with first-line defense mechanisms, such as chemical barriers or inflammation. Over time, a healthy immune system will adapt to pathogens and activate a more specific response to each one, which only affects the pathogen and not surrounding cells. However, an unhealthy immune system can inadvertently cause disease. Abnormal immune responses may disrupt healthy cellular functioning, leading to immunodeficiency or autoimmune disorders and, in some cases, even psychiatric disease.

R64, I agree to some extent. My mother had a lot of trauma in relation to medical care and how she was treated when she was giving birth, for example, so there's real preexisting physical and psychological trauma. These are definitely factors which aggravate illness or predispose people to it.

I'm also aware, from personal experience and many, many anecdotes, of a certain confirmation bias among some doctors in relation to these illnesses, especially when they're reported by women. (It's an established fact that doctors take men more seriously when they're reporting the same symptoms across a range of illnesses, by the way.) Certain illnesses are treated as moral failings, which is a strange throwback to 19th century attitudes. The idea is that patients are "difficult", recalcitrant and have "false illness beliefs".* The doctors believe that patients are somehow mistreating them, the doctors, in not accepting the dynamic of doctor as authority and (female) patient as meek and accepting. You would think society had moved beyond that dynamic, but not in this instance.

R44, mental illnesses do manifest themselves as physical ailments. The WHO has a classification for that, but lists fibro and me(cfs) as discrete disorders. The problem when they are conflated is that mental illnesses can be misdiagnosed as idiopathic chronic fatigue and other potentially serious illnesses dismissed in a similar way. I know personally of someone diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome who actually had cancer, and when she was finally diagnosed it was too late to treat it effectively. I've since come across another such case. The irony is that it would be much easier to determine which category the illness belonged to if doctors accepted the proper classifications and ignored the fashionable (but retrograde) notion of illness, because the diagnostic criteria for fibro and me/cfs are very specific.

*The notion of "false illness beliefs" is a pseudo-scientific notion promoted by a group of English psychiatrists who have received a lot of public money to justify the theory that exercise and CBT specifically geared towards persuading patients that they are not sick. Don't forget that the NHS is in trouble and politicians are looking for 'miracle cures' across a range of illnesses.

I meant R90 and not R44.

The medical establishment has unfortunately given this legitimacy by labeling it a real “disease”.

This has reinforced the delusional thinking among “sufferers” that they have something physically wrong with them. When in fact they have mental issues like anxiety, depression, and a general lack of appropriate coping mechanisms to deal with the realities of life.

[quote] A disease caused by the mind is REAL, but also mental.

Of course it is real, but how do you know it’s mental? Your qualifications for making this assessment are? So many of you are way out of your element. Talk about “mental”!

I suspect a lot of this is a result of, or aggravated by, drug use.

Marijuana, cocaine, and opiate (including prescription) usage are all known to cause chronic hyperalgesia and oversensitization to pain and other stimuli.

[quote]Where is the option "OP should get fibro, then tell us how it feels"?

Put your large round mug down for a minute and consider what that sounds like.

"Where is the option "OP should meet the Easter Bunny, then tell us whether he's real"?

R94, and your qualifications for making this diagnosis are? Besides a general cluelessness and lack of imagination and compassion, I mean.

[quote]and your qualifications for making this diagnosis are?

Fibromyalgia is not a real diagnosis. There aren’t any diagnostic tests or clinical indicators for it. It doesn’t have any clinical signs... only self-reported “symptoms” that can’t be verified or tested for.

It’s something doctors tell these (generally annoying and neurotic white female) patients to get them out of their offices, so they can focus on patients who have real medical issues.

So really, what are anyone’s qualifications for making this “diagnosis”??

R99, yes, Fibromyalgia is a collection of symptoms, a “syndrome”. That, in itself, does not make it imaginary. It certainly does have clinical signs. Doctors usually aren’t trained to detect these symptoms, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. As I said above, I have it, (I’m R46).

As I wrote, when I was younger and thinner, you could actually see the muscle knots under my skin. You could (and still can) feel them, if you know what to feel for. If you’ve ever had a Charlie horse, imagine have many, essentially permanently.

I find deep tissue massage therapy or Rolfing to be helpful. The first three MTs, or Rolfers I went to, over the years, all literally exclaimed out loud when they put their hands on my back, (ok, they yelled), because my back was locked into place by muscles that were frozen in place, essentially. This is something doctors are completely clueless about, because they are not trained to look for this, nor identify this as a problem. They typically want to run a blood test, or cat scan, or MRI, etc., and it will not show up there.

There are specialists that know what to look for. But, it doesn’t matter “what are anyone’s qualifications for making this “diagnosis””, the question is, what are YOUR qualifications? You’re the one that is passing judgement on it. Based on nothing, it seems.

R99; nonsense. There are other diseases that involve self-reporting and a differential diagnosis including MS. "Diagnosis" does not belong in quotes. You already stated that the medical establishment accepts fibro as legitimate. If it was a side-effect of depression, it would be classified as such.

Your attitude displays a somewhat understandable fear of the random nature of such illnesses. If we attribute them to perceived personal inadequacy (fraus, the mentally ill, drug users) we can pretend it won't affect us. In reality, though, if we look at me/cfs as an example of an associated disorder, it's apparent that, in class and race terms, it's pretty much an equal opportunity illness. It was given the nickname 'yuppie flu' and mistakenly thought of as burn-out because it was reported among high-achieving middle class professionals. A study showed that, in the U.S., Caucasians had a lower incidence than Latinos and blacks. It exists in the developing world.

The problem in trying to put the blame on patients is that there is plenty of scientific evidence to verify and to diagnose the illness.

I knew a girl that had fibromyalgia.

And then she died.

I’m sorry for your loss, R102!

R101 I thought there is no way to diagnose the disease, there are no actual physical symptoms, it is not progressive like something like rheumatoid arthritis?

I’m not R101 but let me take a stab at it, R104; though, let 1000 flowers bloom.

As far as I know, it is not progressive. They rule out other things first, like Lyme Disease and Lupus. There are actual physical symptoms. It typically follows a particular pattern.

Excuse me as I report from memory: there are typically pain-points in X number of specific areas. If you have pain in Y number of these points, and it lasts over a certain period of time, that’s an indicator. It is something like pain in “9 of 11 specific places over 9 months or more”, but that’s not exactly it, I’m just going from memory. There are other symptoms, like migraines, fatigue, other things.

As for me, I found that any position I took on a repeated basis, for an extended time, my muscles would essentially “lock” in that position. Upon locking, they would start to ache, because they aren’t supposed to do that.

Fibro sufferers remind me of trannys, they never shut the fuck up and their 'conditions' have zero markers or indicators.

I’m a medical professional and I’ve never encountered a fibromyalgia “sufferer” who wasn’t an overweight white female with more than 5 alleged drug allergies, depression, and a history of other psychological issues.

R106, R107, well, then your experience is very limited. Sorry, but it’s true.

As a health researcher it amazes me that most primary care physicians are so backwards and behind the research. Here we are doing all this research, creating evidence so they can practice evidence-based medicine and they continue to rely on old ideas and bias. It’s frustrating.

There are many scientists producing great science-based evidence in cases of fibromyalgia. There are many commonalities being discovered among patients with fibromyalgia but scientist don’t have an understanding of how this evidence leads to the disease. It’s all a work in progress.

[quote]There are many commonalities being discovered among patients with fibromyalgia

The commonality is that they are all crazy.

I’ve learned that you are, R110.

It's like having a fag in your family. You can't really accept it until someone you know well comes down with it. Fibromyalgia and M.E. are very real. Like gays.

All of them are depressed or anxious before they even started having pains and some are even in denial about their depression.

Oh, R113, you solved it!

We can be assured that she'll be talking a lot about her abuse and fibro at every opportunity during the run-up to Oscar season.

Is there a Fibro Warning System? Why have the frauen come to frauify this thread with their tautological whining?

"I’m a medical professional "

No you most certainly are not.

R116, and yet you seem to be the one whining.

So much crazy.

r119, I have about a third of those symptoms. It makes me wonder if I have the fibro.

18 Tender Body Points? Sounds delicious!

Are you a fat white woman, R120?

This is just to make her seem sympathetic so she can steal G's Oscar. G climbed those stars in Sunset Blvd. eight times a week and she's like 83 or so. Give G the Oscar.

r122, no. Fyi, the tender points, like where the thighs rub together, is one of the symptoms I don't have.

Then you don’t have it, R124.

This is strictly an affliction of overweight white women with mental issues who need a “legit” excuse to not do any work.

I believe it's real - I just don't believe that she has it.

Why would Gaga even be interested in this narrative of victimhood. Fibro gets little respect. It's been a number of years she's complaining about debilitating health issues and it started when she was young and at the height of her powers. I've never felt that I've had any insight into who she is behind the character. Is "Fibro victim" part of the Gaga character or does the actual woman suffer from this?

It only flares up when she needs to cancel concert dates that aren't selling. It's OK to film movies and attend movie festivals.

I also judge people based on their fibro opinions.

[quote] R125: This is strictly an affliction of overweight white women with mental issues who need a “legit” excuse to not do any work.

Ignorance, voicing its opinion.

Most doctors aren’t trained to detect soft tissue problems, so don’t expect them to be informed.

“Fibro” is like gender identity... it’s whatever a person says it is.

And anyone who doesn’t accept that is “uninformed” or “ignorant”.

First and foremost, ignorant people who profess to know everything about Fibromyalgia, or about anything, really, are ignorant.

DataLounge has taught me that there are people who know nothing about a subject, by education and experience, but feel free to mouth off about it anyway. I think I can mostly tell IRL, but in writing like on DataLounge, I seem to be only able to tell when they post something ridiculous, like R132.

Sorry, R132, but do you realize you are posting an opinion as fact? There’s a difference.

I’m not sure how so many Fibro victims have found their way to DataLounge?

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered a “brain signature” that identifies fibromyalgia with 93 percent accuracy, a potential breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of a chronic pain condition that five million Americans suffer from.

Fibromyalgia is a poorly understood disorder characterized by deep tissue pain, headaches, fatigue, anxiety, depression and insomnia. The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown and there is no universally accepted way to diagnose or treat it.

R135, maybe, but I am skeptical because I have seen similar headlines many times in recent years, but it never seems to pan out.

Fibro “sufferers” do not want a diagnostic test... because then it would be proven that at least 95% of them don’t have it.

R137, how would you know? What are your qualifications? Oh, nothing, right? Don’t let that stop you from judging!

Misdiagnosis of Fibromyalgia is rampant, according to “expert”.

At least 66% of patients have a different condition they should be getting treatment for, rather than mistakenly being told they have fibromyalgia.

The only study cited is one from 2003, I would like to see some more recent research.

That said, the doctor interviewed at the link mentions a number of conditions which might be the real cause of the fibro-like symptoms where it is misdiagnosed: a less evident thyroid dysfunction such as hypothyroidism or an autoimmune condition, mitochondrial dysfunction (caused by CoQ10 deficiency or certain serious illnesses like COPD) and myofascial pain syndrome.

That is the problem with diagnoses of exclusion - the diagnostic criteria have to be very specific, and thorough testing has to take place so that a potentially serious underlying illness isn't misdiagnosed and neglected.

My friend got a Fibromyalgia diagnosis for a brief period before they found his brain tumor. That doesn’t mean that Fibromyalgia isn’t real. But it does say that the pain from it, for my friend, is similar to brain cancer. I can believe that.

Additionally, the doctor in the link at R139 mentions that some of the symptoms might have much simpler causes.

Such as side-effects of other medications someone might be taken. He mentions statin drugs as being implicated in mitochondrial dysfunction and causing muscle pain.

He also mentions sleep disturbances (an actual sleep disorder) and a poor diet as being possible causes of many of the symptoms as well.

The bottom line is that Fibromyalgia is just a generic diagnosis that is applied, generally when doctors haven’t done enough assessment and testing to find what is likely the real and treatable cause of most of these patient’s symptoms.

Unfortunately, once they are told they have Fibromyalgia, these patients often turn into the chronic malingerers and adopt the whole “Fibro Warrior” persona we are all so familiar with. Instead, they should be trying to better understand their actual symptoms and determining the real cause, not feeding into some delusional “one-size-fits-all disorder”.

You've posted many times on this thread R142. I suggest you are mean spirited with a personal ax to grind. Either that or you're nuts.

Fibro is caused by always being in work mode, constantly for years at some time in one's life. It shoots your nerves out. Never knew a fibro person who wasn't at some point an overachiever.

Slackers and lazy people will never get it. It is real!

I believe that is a possibility, R144.

Slackers and lazy people never get it, and fat white women who don't want to work get it? Seems like the types of people who get fibromyalgia are as myriad as its manifestations!

You have to ask yourself about the fibro patient's background. Their track record. If they were always a mover and shaker in their younger years that speaks volumes.

Fibro people often feel disgusted with themselves due to the paralization of the condition. Stark opposition to their character and motivations before they became struck with this debilitating nerve disorder. If someone claims to have fibro, just look into their past. If their background reveals an innate lazy load of a person then my mind would question their claims. If someone shows evidence of cranking it from 20-45 ( giving a general age) and they're wrecked by 50 then you can draw factual conclusions. Why would they suddenly break character? How would they break character?

Those are the people you need to believe. Elongated lapses of silence when you ask them to join you in a pleasurable experience, then they're real. The crux of fibro comes down to one thing. That is that they never know how they will feel day to day. So making plans, taking a job can be traumatizing. Fibro patients absorb everything. Their nerves are firing often and all wonky. Their nerve connection, their nervous system has been fucked with. One day they'll wake up feeling great and make note of it. Because they forgot what that feels like. The problem and the scarring occurs when they go back to their normal selves and routine by taking advantage of feeling pretty good and just go and overdo everything again. It is almost like a physical bipolarism. It is having to rely on a manic-depressive physical vessel. Don't confuse this with manic depression.

Always check a person's track record.

[quote] R142: The bottom line is that Fibromyalgia is just a generic diagnosis that is applied, generally when doctors haven’t done enough assessment and testing to find what is likely the real and treatable cause of most of these patient’s symptoms.

R142, your logic is flawed. You are assuming that doctors will always find a specific cause for fibromyalgia-like symptoms if only the doctor applies himself. The fact is that doctors simply do not have specific diagnoses for all sorts of problems people develop, not just Fibromyalgia-like symptoms, but other problems as well. A good example is allergies. In many cases, the allergen is never specifically identified.

R146, read my above posts and try not to make it about race and projection. You need to go and fix yourself somewhere. Self imposed boot camp or something. You just might as well say negro welfare women. POC are targeting "all white people" and throwing actual "white people" under the bus when they have and have always had your back. Don't forget about these people. Just people that live for love and will take it anywhere that will give it. Truly colorblind. They exist in the really young and the post 50 year generations. Right now "the whites" are being shitted on like POC used to be.

The reality that The Apprentice star Donald Trump is president has PTSD and fibro'd a number of souls.

R149 I was just repeating what others have said here. R125 said only overweight white women get it, and R144 said that slackers and lazy people never do. I have no dog in this fight.

This thread, to me, seems, like a perfect example of how little people understand fibromyalgia.

Well, we better get ourselves united and back to norm. China and Russia military drills this week? Try weak. That's what they think of us right now. We are seeming vulnerable but trust...The US will cast every notion aside when citizens are threatened. Nobody does it better than the US. Their heads will spin when they realize just why their nation's name begins with UNITED.

Europeans will try to emigrate to the US to avoid conflicts with Merkel's pipe dream. Beating them off at the southern border. The United States of America IS fucking great. Not perfect but great. We'll be fine. The multi cultural, multi racial nation will be fine. Earned and it can never be taken away. It truly is the New World. Track record unbelievable. Europe will be in the shit house for the next decade. Not North America, though.

The fact is that doctors don’t understand Fibromyalgia. Many think that they do, but why then, don’t they agree? Because it’s not known.

Medicine simply does not have all the answers. We aren’t that far from the days when doctors were prescribing bloodletting and “mountain air”.

R151, wrong thread.

No 153, just an aside to calling out a racist following my other comment. This reality also calms the fibro nerves. I believe fibro is also a result by being surrounded by crazy, inferior people for a long spell. A stable person can breakdown later from a bombardment of strange/odd people from work, family and friends.

[quote]Where is the option "OP should get fibro, then tell us how it feels"?

[quote]Put your large round mug down for a minute and consider what that sounds like. "Where is the option "OP should meet the Easter Bunny, then tell us whether he's real"?

I don't have fibro, nor do I know of anyone who has it, but I know it's human to try to imagine what another person feels like.

Then again, you probably don't know what human feels like.

I get so tired of her trying to stay relevant. I get so tired of people who can't see through her b.s. I get so tired of her being a singer and then ultimately failing at it only to "reinvent" herself (i.e. dropped the Madonna, Grace Jones, Elton John rip off) as AN AC-TRESS. PFFFY in another fucking remake and with bird face crazy eyes Bradley Cooper.

Lady Gaga has Fiber-Myalgia. It's a lot like Morgellons with painful fiber growths all over her body.

[quote]I suggest you are mean spirited with a personal ax to grind. Either that or you're nuts.

Then he's in EXACTLY THE RIGHT PLACE, read the fucking label we do 'pointless bitchery' here, dear - not coddling and self-pity and whining about the 'chronic fatigue syndrome' de nos jours.

Why do women think they can spam a gay man's gossip and chat board with their fibro bullshit? They have literally hundreds of sites they can congregate for their digital pity parties. They add nothing to DL!

Ancient racist white fags can do pointless bitchery aka rancid hatred where ever it's allowed. You're a dying breed and the sooner the better. I am not woman and I don't have fibro. Not all gay men are so unevolved or so unloved or so full of bile to become the ancient fag queen racist misogynist monsters that try to overrun DL. Many of the pointless are dead or heading for the home now. Get Lost Gramps. Your holes and your opinions are obsolete R158.

Even if it is a physical manifestation of psychological pain, it still hurts. That much is certainly real.

I perform medical chart reviews for (private) long-term disability cases. For the fibro-warriors, there is usually surveillance videos that are part of the review. It is fun to see them hoist things, walk normally without the canes they bring to the doctor's office, stand in line at fast food joints without their mobility aids and carry multiple bags of groceries without so much as a wince.

R162 that can be said of people with any claimed illness. There are pretenders trying to scam the system and get disability using every illness in the book, and especially the ones that are difficult to prove or disprove, that doesn't mean the illnesses don't exist.

Hell, even an illness like MS can have a person experience good days when they can do more, and bad days when they can't. I guess by r162's thinking, MS is fake.