Nasty messages from 'friends' after sharing a condition relating to Mental Health Day

[putheronys]

Yesterday I shared an image on FaceBook about ending the stigma towards mental health, the particular image 'poster' listed quite a few illnesses, depression, BPD, Bipolar.... and it also happened to mention fibromyalgia.

I have two fellow friends that suffer with this condition and both have messaged me this morning, one saying sharing that is beyond the pale, the other suggesting I deleted what I've shared since it makes people think the condition is all in the head.

The thing about the condition is it is somewhat in the head, as it's generally believed by specialist that it's how the brain interprets pain signals, again, a mental impairment really (sorry for my awful wording if that's how it seems).

Anxiety is a mental illness but also has physical side effects, such as breathlessness and fatigue, etc.

AIBU to have shared that post? I'm a bit baffled that they'd attack me with way. Am I really in the wrong here?

*I think even a quick look on the NHS website will tell you that it is related to mental health. One of the treatments is CBT. While I completely understand why your friends are unhappy, it doesn't make it less true.

It is triggered by physically or emotionally stressful events.*

There is a woeful lack of funding for research into fibromyalgia and ME. Patients are given CBT to cope with the mental load of being ill with no treatment or cure available. I have ME and it's really shit tbh but some people don't even believe I have it to add insult to injury.

I am concerned about the amount of disparagement shown on this thread for
'its all in your head'.
I had a period of having horrendous migraines. I could barely function. When the GP explained they were stress linked I was really upset. I wanted another explanation because of this continual narrative about
'It's all in your head' being lesser.
But she was right, the pain is real the cause was stress.

The only person I know well with fybro is very physically debilitated by it when they are in a bad place with the rest of their life and it has little or no physical impact when the rest of their life is going very well. So for that individual at least the physical manifestations of the condition are heavily impacted by non physical issues.
This isn't a lessering of their condition.
It seems possible the links between physical, neurological and mental health are much more intertwined than has always been acknowledged.

It's interesting how a bit of Greek and Latin often throws common sense and empathy out of the window.

Hypoempathetica medicalis is a functional syndrome often seen in overworked health professionals; it's all in their heads and most cases exacerbated by an under resourced environment.

It's not really how it's categorised that matters. It's how we treat and behave towards them when they're suffering that matters. People want to be believed and understood. They will then accept that trying various approaches is worthwhile, whilst medical science does not have all the answers.

It's funny to think that in years to come our medical treatments will seem primitive and barbaric. I have a textbook from 1900 with pages on disease symptoms and signs with very short treatment paragraphs suggesting arsenic, mountain air or certain diets, followed by the comment that the patient will likely die.

I also have degenerative disc disease and have bulging/damaged discs in the neck and L5/S1.

My medical issues were caused as a result of a very serious RTC in the 90s. I have lived with chronic, severe pain for decades.

CantStop

Sounds horrendous. I hope your biological helps and you can see a different rheumy in the future?

All pain is in the head/brain. Intercept the signals before they get there and there is no pain...

Depression doesn't cause physical illness, it IS A PHYSICAL ILLNESS.
OCD is also a physical illness, so is bipolar, schizophrenia and everything else.

You can't suffer any of them without a brain, and the brain is a physical organ in your physical body. Things physically go wrong with it that could be physically fixed if we had the right level of technology to do so.

The medically inaccurate separation of mind and body in the public conscience has a fuck load to answer for. I blame the Victorians!

Sorry OP, I'm not sure we're on topic. But interesting discussion anyway.

"Many of his patients have experienced significant emotional trauma (people who have had damaging childhood experiences are twice as likely to develop chronic pain)."

I've seen this link online a lot, it's very interesting.

My husband has an autoimmune condition and it certainly isn't in the mind. It has caused depression but I wouldn't consider the condition itself a mental health condition. I don't think you mean to cause offence though. Perhaps just remove the post and apologise.

BonnesVacances I finished a 20 week ACT course and it's been the best therapy I've tried. I have severe depression and, until 20 weeks ago, had crippling anxiety. I can't believe the azong positive changes on the way I see things, and how I react to things.

Pull 100% effort and woek into it and you'll. Notice differences from. Week 1.

Good look, I Hope it helps you like it's helped me.

putheronys, I would hate to think you took my post to mean I have no empathy for those who have suffered baby loss. I lost four myself before having my three living children. You never forget.

If FB memes helped you, I'm glad. They weren't around when I was experiencing baby loss, but I did value visits from true friends and the support of charitable groups where I could meet others who had suffered. My best memory is of a brave friend who brought her baby over for me to cuddle and weep over.

My issue with these FB memes is the attempt at shaming people into sharing something - often tacky and trite - with the suggestion you are uncaring if you don't. I'd rather people donated to a support group or fund-raiser for research or just, you know, did something in the real world for real people.

"Many of his patients have experienced significant emotional trauma (people who have had damaging childhood experiences are twice as likely to develop chronic pain)."

From what I've read, it's to do with the constant stress. I was sexually abused. I've had ME, I have IBS. I've suffered from anxiety and depression. Traumatic experiences can seriously fuck up your health.

I find it really sad that miscategorising fibro as a mental heal problem is seen as an insult.

The problem is that when illnesses are miscategorised, the treatments can be wrong or even downright harmful. Read what used to be done to young people with ME as it was thought it was 'all in their head'. Some were thrown face down into swimming pools to force them to swim and therefore show they weren't really ill. At the slightly less barbaric end look into the graded exercise treatment...

And of course it's always cheaper to throw some SSRI's at someone rather than actually deal with complex problems effectively.

I've had (and still have) problems with my mental health. I don't discriminate against people for being mentally ill, I don't believe it's made up, malingering or any of the other crap people come out with.

I believe ME is not a mental illness, although, like any chronic illness it's not exactly good for your mental health to have your life restricted by it and to be in pain and to have to live with the other symptoms. I don't know much about Fibro, but my understanding is that it also is not a mental illness.

Those memes are all shit so for that YABU.

It's tricky to separate the mind and body. I have ME. I feel better physically when I'm mentally well. I strongly believe my acute phase of poor health was caused by stress brought on by trying to keep up appearances in a teaching job and wanting to be made permanent whilst on a temporary contract, plus DH having a drink problem and not addressing it.

Through giving up work, resting and pacing my physical health has much improved but there are no options available to me, no meds, no therapy, no treatment. Just because I feel better doing very little, no job, with a cleaner and both kids in school, doesn't mean I'll be back in the classroom next week. I'd like that more than anything BTW.

Hopefully medical advances in the future will provide effective diagnosis and treatment for autoimmune and neurological conditions. Until then, we're all in the dark, feeling really unwell, in pain and unable to function properly.

I don't like spoony memes for what it's worth. I explain my fatigue to my DCs as mummy's battery is broken and I can't charge up properly. They have enough devices to understand 🙂

"Many of his patients have experienced significant emotional trauma (people who have had damaging childhood experiences are twice as likely to develop chronic pain)."

This may be true but not for me. My ME was likely caused by my DCs having chicken pox (symptoms began at that time) or an unexplained virus. I think in the future ME will be subcategorised into various strains of the disease or renamed. It's a dustbin diagnosis at the moment. Normal blood tests plus no Addisons disease means a diagnosis of ME but there are so many different clinical stories. The symptoms vary widely.

I suffer form fibro and also bipolar. They are two different things, one is neurological and the other psychological. One is not a mental health condition and the other is. If it was a mental health condition we would have psychiatrists treating us and not rheumatologists. We would be taking medication that works on the brain and not on nerve pathways.
I can understand why they are upset.

Brain, nervous system, hormones, heart, lungs, stress and resulting chemicals in the blood such as cortisol, adrenalin etc. are all connected, that is how the body works. I hope in the future, there will be no distinction between mental and physical health.

I don't like spoony memes for what it's worth. I explain my fatigue to my DCs as mummy's battery is broken and I can't charge up properly. They have enough devices to understand

This is the same analogy I use. It’s much more accurate.

With ongoing chronic illness, such as fibromyalgia it can cause a cycle of depression which is why, I guess added to that list.
What makes me angry, is people who don't have mental health issues claiming they support world mental health day. It's easy to claim someone supports it, but if you had to support a friend with low mood day in day out, is another story.
However, I'm sorry your friends reacted badly to you. I hope you can sort it out.

I’ve also got psoriasis which obviously is autoimmune along with endometriosis. Funnily enough, no-ones ever said either of those were in my head

I got told to go away and smile more often, finally got diagnosed about 25 years later with endometriosis. Gave up on doctors after that and managed it myself, found out as they were doing investigations for something else.

I think the issue with fibromyalgia is that it is largely a scientific mystery-a collection of symptoms rather than a condition in itself, with an unknown cause. It can’t be proven and is a diagnosis of exclusion. I know that it is largely thought of as having a neurological basis but it’s actual cause is not known and the whole thing poorly understood.

Western medicine doesn’t really know what to do with it-and because of the lack of ‘holistic’ care in modern medicine and the separation of the whole body, it seems to fall between the cracks of different specialities-is it rheumatology or neurology etc etc. It seems to me that no speciality wants it and individuals are left frustrated, misunderstood and let down with inadequate care, when their symptoms are very real and often very debilitating.

Because it can’t be proven, i can imagine individuals often feel disbelieved and maybe that’s why some of those affected take issue with it being classed as a mental health issue as it contributes to the fallacy that it’s somehow all in the head.

It's massively evidence based. No one can see my thoughts echoing round my head, the short term memory loss, pins and needles creeping everywhere, migraines, loss of vision, burning pain and stiffness in my joints. But it's still there.

It's massively evidence based. No one can see my thoughts echoing round my head, the short term memory loss, pins and needles creeping everywhere, migraines, loss of vision, burning pain and stiffness in my joints. But it's still there.

But that's the thing - There is no evidence. One of the contributing factors for it being so hard to claim PIP for is due to no real medical evidence other than the effects

I haven't RTFT but actually I do think your friends are right. I've recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I am REALLY struggling to accept that diagnosis because of people who think 'it's all in your head'.
It's a really shitty thing to be stuck with and it's not helped by people who think it's not real!!