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

"It’s well known, said Bansal, that certain predisposing factors are associated with CFS, and people with these kinds of immune and autoimmune conditions (such as EDS) have a very high incidence of CFS,"

EDS isn't autoimmune.

I'm sure it isn't EDS as surely that wouldn't affect my speech. Interesting reading and will bear it in mind

Interesting the link between fibromyalgia and coeliac disease. I have non coeliac gluten intolerance and was ill with it for many years before going to a strict gluten free diet.

I started developing all the classic symptoms of fibromyalgia about two years ago and that rapidly escalated about 6 months ago. Serious all over pain, muscle and joint stiffness. Exhaustion but insomniac. Irritable bowel, brain fog, numbness in fingers and feet. Loss of balance. I fell off several ladders and down stairs so it was becoming life threatening.

I went to my GP with a printout of the NHS website fibromyalgia symptoms and I explained I had all of them. He accepted my description and put me on amitriptyline 30 mg per day It is an anti-depressant and has cleared my symptoms remarkably well. I do not have depression but obviously the condition can make people feel depressed. It is not a mental illness though I do become irritable if I am exhausted.

The prescription of amitriptyline is quite common for fibromyalgia and I got it only because I convinced my GP I had the symptoms. It is not something that a GP will think of first. He did do some tests to exclude other conditions. I am also going to see a rheumatologist to check other potential issues.

I've had fibro for over a decade. None of the medics involved have ever referred to it as a mental health issue. I've never been diagnosed with any mental health issue. I'd love someone to try and walk in my shoes then tell me it's all in my head.

Haven't read the thread, in bed knackered as usual. I hate this condition.

Finding this thread fascinating.

I was diagnosed with Fibro about 5 years ago, after 4 years of misdiagnosis. The pain started 10 years ago. When I was diagnosed with it a weight was lifted - I literally match the diagnostic criteria perfectly. I was taken off my cocktail of 27 tablets a day and put on one...

Interestingly I also have CPTSD - and I've done a lot of reading about how they are linked. And how Fibro is linked to a lack of phase 4 sleep (problem with CPTSD).

Both started within a short window (a year or two) of each other.

I also have quite notable hypermobility.

I don't think it's wrong to say it is something linked to the brain - that doesn't mean it's a 'mental' illness or that it's 'in the mind' - the effects are very very real, but I do think there's probably some truth in the theory tht the pain-messaging system has basically 'gone wrong' - and that's the brain...

Off to do more reading...

FreeWorker - I'm on Amitriptyline too and it's made a huge difference... still bad pain etc, but so much better than before...

I am newly diagnosed with fibro and hypermobility. The relief is enormous. Just need to try and manage it now.

It's a physical neurological condition that is closely linked with poor mental health

You can have one but not the other however one can cause the other.

Fibro/cfs/anxiety/depression are all common misdiagnoses for eds/hms. Doesnt mean you definitely havent got one of the first four, but it is possible.

All four also seem to exist as either their own diagnoses, or as symptoms of something else

I have eds fibro (BTW if you have eds and fibro pain you likely don't have fibro but have hypermobility syndrome as opposed to just being hypermobile) and a whole load of other chronic physical health issues. I also have severe mental health issues as a result of being in chronic pain. Mental health issues exacerbate the pain but don't cause it.

Have just read up on cfs and a lot applies there also.

Shirtsleeves I cannot remember it well and I cannot find the quote, but I think it was saying somewhere else on the ME forums, not that hypermobility was autoimmune, but there was a suggestion that the constant damage from the hypermobility could lead to increase in immune disorders. There's a good chance I have remembered it wrongly.

The reason you get the fibro pain is because you use more energy stabilising your joints and more energy doing basic stuff when you're hypermobile. It exhausts your resources and so your muscles and ligaments go on strike and hurt as a reaction to make you stop

Thanks jorah, will definitely ask about it!

Lunchpack, my fibro has been diagnosed specifically as a symptom caused by eds too. Luckily it was after the hms diagnosis or i could be one of the many people insisting they have eds and fibro and cfs, and their fibro/cfs are not symptoms because th doctor said so.

Oh and kate, i definitely read that but cant remember the details now. I have an autoimmune condition alongside the eds so it would have caught my attention

pukkapine - I have been on Amitriptyline for 2 months and has made a huge difference. It still hurts a little if I do manual work all day and I get tired.

Today I painted my office and am in bed now as my joints and muscles hurt. The pain comes at the end of the day anyway as the effect of my 30mg dose runs out. I take the pills before I go to bed but I don't want to take too much as they make me groggy in the morning.

Its definitely not in my head.

Why are people angry and insulted by the suggestion that an illness has a psychological component?

When you are given a mh dx for physical health symptoms it stops you getting the correct care.

Because of mental health stigma and because many of us have fought for years to be heard that our pain is real and not 'in our heads'. But I do agree that the brain/body connection is part of this.

I'm on 40mg of amitriptyline. The pain is so much better on it. I can't go higher without the 'fog' getting too much, so it's a balancing act.

When you reject a psychological influence on a physical illness it stops you getting the correct care. But my point is that it's seen as a slur, an insult, not just incorrect. Which I don't get.

Nobody thinks my symptoms as a mental health issue, they are happy it's physical because they can do scientific tests to prove I am telling the truth.

It's not about telling the truth - dogs cancer centres have psychologists to help manage pain. Why the face, why the defensiveness? Pain causes depression, depression causes pain and fatigue. Why is it an outrage to address psychological factors in chronic illness?

Fgs not dogs! Don't know about dog cancer psychology.

HCP's gaslight you when you tell them symptoms that are real are not as in the op. All HCP's can access nhs information.

I copied the following text from another thread.

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which one party tries to convince another, through rhetorical dishonesty and outright fakery, that the latter’s memory, intelligence, and even sanity are in doubt. The aim is to make the victim constantly doubt and second guess themselves and their own judgement.

...- but it is defended with such unwavering conviction that women are forced to second guess their own judgement and personal boundaries, mentally silencing that nagging feeling that 'this isn't right' because they don't want to be...

Women as a group are of course very vulnerable to gaslighting techniques because of the way that we are socialised. We are raised to behave as the emotional caretakers of others, and to avoid causing offence or distress wherever possible, even if it means self-sacrifice. But conversely, we are also socialised to dismiss female emotional response as irrational or unbalanced, particularly if it is in anger or retaliation ('you're overreacting!''you need a sense of humour - it was only a joke''you seem upset - are you on your period or something' etc) So you have a perfect feeding ground for predatory groups who are able to very quickly silence any opposition from women by making them doubt the judgement of both themselves and other born females.