I’ve been reading my favorite medblogs, and some of them have been talking about the fantasy of fibromyalgia. Not being a doc, I never realized that this wasn’t a real disease, or at least one that could be diagnosed with any certainty because nothing shows up in the lab tests. Since I have no dog in this particular race, my thoughts, instead, went to the frustration a sufferer must feel over having something that many agree doesn't exist. It reminds me of when my daughter, at the age of 15, got a raging case of mono. It was horrible to watch my kid suffer as she stayed out of school for an entire semester and had a teacher come to our home 3 days a week to check on her progress. After she was well enough to go back to school, she developed mind-crushing headaches and needed long afternoon naps. I thought it was some leftover from the mono; maybe Epstein-Barr or chronic fatigue, but the labs kept coming back normal. I remember the frustration of seeing my formerly vibrant daughter suffer and cry because no one could figure out what was wrong with her. All she could do is learn to live with the constant headaches.
Six years later, the symptoms finally abated, and we’ll never know what was wrong with her. But I always harbored the irrational frustration that only a mom can have at the docs who insisted there was nothing wrong. Clearly there was, but no one could find out what. So did that mean that it wasn't real, or were they suspicious she had a mental problem? It wasn’t that the docs didn’t try. She had CT scans, MRIs, blood tests, but nothing ever popped up. Sadly, it will always be a mystery.
Which brings me back to these fibromyalgia sufferers. I have no idea if it’s real or not, and I make no judgments either way. But after experiencing a damnably puzzling and frustrating number of years with my daughter’s undiagnosable (Lordy, is that word?) affliction, I can’t help but wince reading the number of medical people telling fibro folks, “I don’t believe you,” and making fun of them.
The only thing I can think is that these medical heroes (and, yes, you are heroes) have their reasons for believing as they do about fibromyalgia. I’m just so grateful that no one said this to me or my daughter. Her pain and suffering was real, even though no one knew why. And is there anything more frightening than that? It makes me wonder if it’s possible to have something terribly wrong and not be able to find out why.
And what does this mean for the medical community? If there's nothing that shows up, how does one go about treating it? I can see where an inability to diagnose could turn to doubt and derision on the part of the medical world, but it makes me wonder how fibro can afflict so many people so consistently, yet there isn't a test that will reveal what it is. And since we can't say we know absolutely everything about the human body, is it necessarily fair to deride these sufferers? Or do I have this all wrong?
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4 comments:
Its' real... I'm one of many people suffered much pain of Fibromyalgia. I went from doctor to doctor to look for answers regarding my condition. It's really difficult to lead a normal life having this kind of illness.
I just want to give helpful information for all fibromyalgia sufferers.
Fibromyalgia is a condition where you feel chronic pain in certain parts of your body; it is a muscular pain especially around the joints. There can also be centralized pain felt in the spinal chord, brain, neck shoulders etc. People with fibromyalgia generally complain of pain in the joints, but it actually is the muscles and the tendons around it that cause the pain, it can be excruciating sometimes and can be a continuous throbbing pain. People suffering from Fibromyalgia also show symptoms of depression, sleeplessness, irritable bowel syndrome, stress and many others, which are caused due to the pain.
Rid Fibromyalgia provides a simple process to helps you eliminate all your symptoms of fibromyalgia and enjoy living your life again. This will provides us the best and most effective solutions on how to rid ourselves from pain.
The Rid Fibromyalgia provides an eBook entitled “Heal the Body” that will teach you the best diet that will allow you to eat your way to wellness, it will also document which vitamins and supplements will target and reverse the illness, how to achieve pain relief through acupuncture, what exercises are safe and will work, and what type of medications may make you sicker, and what will work. This eBook takes a step by step approach in showing you how to rid yourself of the pain naturally so that you can take back your life.
We must know the symptoms of this illness. For us to know what would be the approach we will going to apply. Here's Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia and steps to treat it naturally.
We must also be responsible and aware to the things to gain and cope up with this kind of illness. Eating nutritious food with regular exercise would be result to a better life. Here's Basic Tips in Coping Fibromyalgia.
If we say Fibromyalgia Diet, there is no specific recommended diet for fibromyalgia. But a healthy diet rich in vitamins and minerals can certainly help in coping with the illness. Magnesium rich vegetables are recommended for patient's suffering from fibromyalgia. Here's some information for you to help in Fibromyalgia Diet.
We must also think that vitamins are important for Fibromyalgia sufferers. This will give us additional energy and strength to kept a healthy living. But of course, you must be aware that not all vitamins are effective or directly gives you a good result. Find the best vitamins that would easily give a good response if your taking it. The best thing is your healed and keep your body healthy as possible. Here's The Benefit of Vitamins for us to know why vitamins are important for fibromyalgia sufferers.
Also feel free to view this video Fibromyalgia Help. It really gives good information for those who have Fibromyalgia and encourage not to give up because in every pain your getting through has a good solution in the end.
Here's Rid Fibromyalgia, For free info and helpful articles on fighting fibromyalgia.
Hailey, do you suffer from depression? I've read that many fibro suffers have varying degrees of depression.
Unbearable depression
Hmm, for a medical community that claims firbo doesn't exist, big pharma sure is pushing a "new" fibro medication, Lyrica. How are you supposed to get this great new treatment that has commercials running every five minutes if your doctor doesn't believe you and your symptoms are all in your head or caused by depression? Then there are the natropaths that tell patients who really are suffering, "You don't need that poison from your MD, take these 30 special expensive supplements, and you will be symptom free." We're going through this with a friend of mine, who is suffering to the point she hurts to be hugged by her children. The pressure of clothing on her body makes her wince. We convinced her to see a doctor, but she refuses to take the medication because her natro says "his" supplements are better. Although, at least her physician believed her.
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