Know Anybody With Fibromyalgia?
 

is this a real disease? supposedly it's a women's disease. my older sister has been diagnosed with it and the more i ask her questions to see if there's something i can do to help or look for help the more it sounds like this is one of those vague diseases doctors make up when they have no clue.

if anybody has any good info on fibromyalgia let me know - i've already googled and read.

It is very real.

My aunt has it and an acquaintance. Both have horrible pains from time to time.
Some days it's good some days people can't even touch their skin for it to hurt.

I'm really sorry to hear that your sister has it :(

It is VERY real. It is closely related to Rheumatoid Arthritis and is an auto-immune disease.

Your best bet is to get her to an Arthritis specialist.

you may have seen this already but in case you haven't.

http://search.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplu...X=500&ASPECT=0

I too have an Aunt who suffers from it. I don't know a whole lot about it, except that it is very painful.
I wish your sister good luck.
LL

I honestly think its something doctors diagnose people with when they have no clue what is causing their symtoms. Just like IBS.

my friend who is a chiropractor salivates over this diagnosis

Its basically something that happens over time as a result of other things. Such as... not getting enough exercise... not sweating out impurities in the body or drinking enough water.

Before i sat in front of my computer all day I was a bodywork therapist and had a few clients diagnosed with it. One woman didn't do much for it and barely could take any touch from me.. and so canceled the sessions. I heard later she was doing much worse.

The second woman, started going to a gym every morning to walk on a treadmill & do some light weights. She changed her eating to un processed foods and added a lot more water to her dailiy intake. She had to change her brands of makeup and lotion because some things just bothered her skin so much and when I started to give her massages I could barely touch her and sometimes had to do it through a cloth so it wouldn't bother her skin as much...

After a year of a massage every week, working out & eating better she was undiagnosed with it...

After knowing about 8 people who have been diagnosed with it I have sort of come to the conclusion that its more of a lifestyle thing.. like .. if you sit at the computer all day every day and not exercise you will eventually start getting aches and pains in your back and your neck... and probably some other places..

Fibromyalga is just the same kind of thing but it usually takes years (its not a young womans disease and men won't complain about stuff like this to a doctor generally)

Your muscles get stiff to the point of drying up & it inflames your nerves making it hard to be touched anywhere..... and will only get worse..

best thing for them is healthy eating.. lots of water.. movement.. wallking.. stretching and sweating every day & hope :)

Good luck

End the Pain of Fibromyalgia
Did you know that nearly 6 million Americans suffer from fibromyalgia? Common symptoms of this condition include chronic pain in the muscles, ligaments, tendons and/or bursae around joints. Fibromyalgia may also cause fatigue during the day and sleep problems overnight.
http://www.flexcin.com/fibromyalgia1.asp?acp=6399

Yeah I have it
 

My mom and sisters have it my uncle has it and I have it.... there is a guy in marina del rey .... cali that is the worlds renoun expert..... etc.... he does a body mapping and puts you on gwefenifen (dont know if I spelled that right)
it is non life threatening and usualy manifests itself in a manner that produces pain when some one puts pressure on you..... ie takin a finger and pushing firmly at diff points in the side of the arms is a dead giveaway.... there are lesser known symptoms.... but unusual aches and pains are common......

EM's correct -- fibromyalgia is often related to the under or overabundance of seratonin in the brain. There are very specific tests associated with diagnosing Fibro correctly -- pressure point tests and then further MRIs, PET scans, etc..... Make sure she sees either a rheumatologist or osteopath.

My mom's being tested for this currently, and I have a very good friend who's been living with it for several years.

thanks for the replies so far - and as i expected, mixed opinions. she has been to an arthritis specialist. like some people who've posted here - i'm suspicious of the diagnosis of fibromyalgia - maybe this disease really does exist and people really do suffer from it, but it sounds to me like it's being diagnosed by doctors whenever they hear a bunch of symptons and the tests for other diseases like rheumatoid arthritis are negative. i'd never say this to my sister but my guess is if she dropped 15 pounds, took a good walk everyday and ate a bit better most of these symptons would go away.

its not real

Welcome to Western medicin :( Fast in, fast out.

They don't cure anything, they only take away the pain the problem is causing. The problem is still there, but you don't feel anything.

It could be what you're saying, but have in mind that Fibromyalgia is real. If you (she) can, try to get a second opinion from someone that has a solid understanding of the human body, not a Doctor.

im reading the other serious replies in this thread
then get to this and burst out laughing
good show

anyway, yea i know a couple people that have it and it can hurt like hell

there have been pretty significant advances

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

It's a sad statement, but unfortunately true :)

Its very real
I have had it, and there was nothing I could do about it.
nothing worth taking for relief unless it was powerful enough to make me zombie.
It has gone away and left a bad case of Rheumatoid Arthritis in my neck and back in its place.

I've read online about it some .... protein diet allegedly helps releave the simptoms

So easy for some that don't have it to shrug it off as hogwash. As a person that has lived with it for 10 years, I can tell you it is real. It is so very real. And here is head scratcher for you. I was 30 years old, working out 4-5 days a week with weights and kickboxing, weighed 105 lbs and ate healthy when diagnosed with it. So that blows away a lot of the theories that it only happens to old, fat, women that work on a computer all day.
I don't think my FMS will ever be cured but, I have found what triggers it for me and I try to take steps to avoid my triggers. Not getting enough sleep can bring on an attack that makes it painful to even touch my face. Drinking too much alcohol can do it too. Exercise although a bit painful at times, does help lesson the severity. Melatonin at bedtime helps me get a deeper sleep. Taking care of my body helps the symptoms but, I do not believe it is a cure. FMS is something that I will most likely be living with for the rest of my life.

Hey Honey,

Was great seeing you in Phx.

For personal reasons I am not going to get into on a BBS, I spent a lot of time doing research on Fibromyalgia and RA. Some recent theories on how they are contracted have to do with Head trauma (and I am not talking BJ's here)

There is a school of thoght that believes that head trauma at an early age can lead to having FMS or RA later in life. But as with all things related to the brain, no one really knows for sure.

Hey you! It is always great seeing you :winkwink:

I have heard or read that before as well and it could hold some truth. I was in an auto accident when I was 16, that resulted in me being thrown from the vehicle and injuring my noggin. I guess it is one of those mysteries of life.

Like someone said earlier, it's a derivitive of the lifestyle people lead in "most" cases. Toxins, impurities in muscle tissue and basically, you lose what you don't use.

For some it's linked to arthritis, for some, there's no explanation.

Terrible disease.