mental health / fibromyalgia

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

Suffered for years but never known about fibro till somebody at work asked if I had it due to some little symptoms I was displaying. I do suffer mainly with anxiety. Doc says fibro is all to do with mental health what's everyone else's views

[LarrytheCucumber]

I looked it up on the internet. There seem to be a lot of doctors who think it is a mental illness, but also people who argue that it is a physical illness.
I don't honestly know. I know three people who have been diagnosed with it. Two of them are quite stressy people anyway, the third is not. No help I'm afraid.

[howtorebuild]

Yes secondary condition to physical health issues are common.

[howtorebuild]

To be clearer the physical health condition is the cause of the mental health condition.

[HeyMacWey]

Agree with howtorebuild. Fibro is a physical condition. Any mental health issues can be as a result of living with a long term health condition and subsequent changes to your lifestyle.

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

Totally different from what the doctor said to me then ... Mental health then fibro, I to believe it's more physical

[howtorebuild]

Yes if you don't have the physical health problems and all the issues it brings your mental health would both ok.

I do feel people put far too much faith in a form of medicine that is in it infancy and is underfunded. Science in general are a guess until proven, where was the evidence your Doctor was quoting?

I am a member of the public and I think his ideas deserve the finger.

[HeyMacWey]

I should qualify my post by saying that I have post viral cfs with associated fibro symptom and have no mental health issues.

[howtorebuild]

*Science is a guess

[KinkyAfro]

I have fibro and no mental health issues

[jorahmormont]

I've heard both but I'm inclined to think it's that physical health causes mental health issues.

I have EDS which is linked to fibro, and a lot of people with EDS have depression or anxiety or similar - but no-one ever says "EDS is caused by depression" because you can see EDS and you can quantify it in a way - I suppose until you can do that with fibro, you'll still have a group of people including health professionals, who say that it's strictly psychosomatic.

[jorahmormont]

(when I say linked I mean that some people consider them to be in the same 'group' of illnesses, rather than people with fibro tend to have EDS and vice versa)

[howtorebuild]

It's particularly due to misogyny, it won't be believed as it is mainly Women affected and science as yet has no test, so instead of blaming science they blame the patient.

[Shirtsleeves]

There a link between pain and mood. I find it strange that people are adamant that there isn't a psychological component/connection. People also manage their pain in different ways. I suspect some people with Fibromyalgia are misdiagnosed; some have a disease that is not yet diagnosed, some have mental health problems, some have somatic illnesses. My concern about fibromyalgia is the shocking amount of opiates that are prescribed.

[MajesticWhine]

Chronic conditions like fibro will inevitably will have an impact on psychological wellbeing. Just as psychological difficulties can cause physical symptoms. But I think it is more helpful to get away from a dualistic view of mental / physical health and one thing causing another, and instead to think of them as inextricably linked.

[howtorebuild]

I De have Fibromyalgia, like Jaroh I have a related condition and a load of secondary conditions that can be measured. I was treated as if it was not real at first, then I was to be believed when science could measure it and then it was ok to believe me.

[howtorebuild]

*Argh, I don't have Fibromyalgia.

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

They are quick to say its to do with mental health. I suffer extremely bad with anxiety., this though is on another level !! At the minute I'm fine anxiety wise but do have brain fog, memory loss and lack of concentration. Last week I was pulled up on speech which I had noticed before but not acted on. Today had trouble also with my legs.. Seems this has happened around the same time each year for the last 3 years. Also over the period of about 10 years had toilet issues, ibs, burning sensations , numbness in limbs, tender spots

[howtorebuild]

Have you looked into PoTS, op?

[Groovee]

I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia since 2009 but the symptoms go back about 15 years before that.

I have no mental health issues X

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

Post traumatic stress ? How ? No haven't .. Having routine bloods taken in a few days

[howtorebuild]

www.potsuk.org/symptoms

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

Thank you I will mention this , I'd never heard of it before

[StEdmundsPippins]

Momma

I'd like to see every so called 'professional' who spouts this unsubstantiated garbage to walk a mile or in my case 15 years in both mine and every other Fybromyalgic person before making such crass statements.

I'd like them to feel every rotten pain, every new limitation of mobility, every all consuming sensation of fatigue, of confusion and memory loss, and more......

I'd like them to know the terror of watching your life spiral inwards and downwards as you lose your job, your home, your so called friends and family who don't believe you're ill. In fact the whole of your life as it was.

Then, and only then, can they link fibro with mental health. Because when there is no end to the pain, when you are hounded by the establishment to attend workshops and interviews on pain of sanction, when you mourn for the life you had and person you were, and still want to be there, THEN, you can suffer mental health through depression , anxiety, and so on.

I'm now working as self employed and sharing a house with a fantastic person, and my quality of life is now pretty good. But I went through all of the above before I got to where I am now....and yes, I still have the Fibro.

[Mommagonnaknockyouout]

I am just slowly losing the will to go on. If someone at work can out of the blue just ask did you realise this and that but yet doctors don't look back in to the records.. I could honestly have so many things wrong. When my legs won't work as the should there isn't a lot I can do

[PancakesAndMapleSyrup]

I completlt agree with StEdmunds. I have now finaly been diagnosed with fibro after 2 and a half years of pain. car crash followed by Spinal fusion followed by fibro. I rattle with opiates, benzodiazepines, diazepam (long term) etc. I am on 29 tablets per day and slow release morphine patches, despite taking liquid morphine and tablet form too. I am slowly trying to get off them. This ongoing severe pain has made my MH problems so much worse and i now have PTSD and because i cant move very much have put on 7 stones in 18 months! Despite not eating much and when i do its healthy. I woke up screaming in pain at 3 am the other day both arms burning and just an swful pain i cannot describe plus the back pain. Hydrotherapy and massage wheb i can do it are a life send! I am about to lose my job and am clinging onro the house too.
my super pain consultant said that although i feel the pain i am not doing any muscular damage its about pacibg your day and what you can do. However if you push through too much you start to damage the nervous system and the pain signals. I see both a clinical psychologist dut to the pain an the explanatios behingld that and a psychiatrist re the anxiety, anger, depression, and PTSD. I did ask if the pain was in my head and actually wasnt there but he was adamant that it was normal and actual pain i feel. the rehumatologist confirmed the diagnoses too.
Up until my accidnt i was super fit at work doing a physical job full time and the bastard has screwed my life up xompletly. I was 27!!!!! Now nearly 30.
So no its not all in your head it really is physical. Ask for a referral to your local pain clinic