[veetach]

What are your opinions, nurses? Is Fibromyalgia a justified condition or just a basket term ? I am interested in your feedback. It seems like we see a large number of patients (usually women) with "fibromyalgia" and the numbers are getting larger and larger.

I even had a patient tell me that fibromyalgia patients were predisposed to trigeminal neuralgia.

[teeituptom]

20 years ago we never saw that as a diagosis
now everyone it seems has it

The only steady fact about it is that there is a 99% correlation associated with clinical depression.

FM aka muscle fiber pain

another dx we see all the time in the ER that makes us

every single one of them are on anti depressants and anti anxiety agents.

Is there any single test that confirms it????

Why is it so common now ?????

Maybe its in the water??????

[kmchugh]

I agree, Tom. There is an incredibly high coorelation to depression. It makes most of us in anesthesia as well.

KM

[teeituptom]

OMG. He actually agreed with me once...


I wont let it go to my head, Probably will never happen again. Oh well such are the vagaries of life


Live long and prosper

[traumaRUs]

It does seem to be the diagnosis of the day. Here in central Illinois - we have the guru of fibromyalgia - an MD that "discovered it" and treats it agressively! I'm with the above posters - think it has more to do with depression than a true physical diagnosis.

[Nurse Ratched]

I gotta go along with these posters. I'm not saying that the symptoms aren't real, but that calling it this is a disservice to those who are experiencing them, and likely precludes them getting adequate treatment.

[Rena RN 2003]

i believe the symptoms are there. i believe the pain is real to the patient. afterall, who am i to say otherwise? but i believe that labeling the 'muscle fiber pain' as fibromyalgia and tossing some neurontin at the patient isn't the right approach to dealing with it.

after a 12 hour shift, my muscle fibers ache. happens after every shift and since i'm full time, that would mean that more than 50% of the time i have 'muscle fiber pain'. FM? no. lack of rest and excercise and improper diet.

but instead of having the patient start a regimen of proper exercise, sleep patterns, and improved diet it is easier to throw a pill at it and call it cured.

JMO.

[mattsmom81]

Originally Posted by kmchugh

I agree, Tom. There is an incredibly high coorelation to depression. It makes most of us in anesthesia as well.

KM

Well, guess if you hurt all over every day you might get depressed too.....

[veetach]

Originally Posted by mattsmom81

Well, guess if you hurt all over every day you might get depressed too.....

I am 46 years old, and have been a nurse for 10 years, I hurt all over frequently. Especially after a particularly horrible shift. I dont have fibromyalgia. hey! wait! Maybe I do!!


I cant believe we are ALL agreeing! YAY! I totally agree with Tom, our ER docs say it is a basket term, lots of docs use it to their advantage. I am now seeing many of these patients taking Oxycontin routinely. Scary. I have also noted the association with depression. Unfortunately many of these patients are in the 35-55 age group, and they arent working for a living.

We have a "pain clinic" in our area and they are virtually getting rich.

[BabyRN2Be]

Originally Posted by veetach

I am 46 years old, and have been a nurse for 10 years, I hurt all over frequently. Especially after a particularly horrible shift. I dont have fibromyalgia. hey! wait! Maybe I do!! .

Veetach, if that's the case, run, not walk to your nearest physician and join the gang of the rest of us who have muscle pain after working long hours. It seems as if a doc can't find another diagnosis, they tack "fibromyalgia" on the sheet in order to get reimbursed. I know that's a harsh thing to say, but that's what I see a lot.

I know that some people who have auto-immune disorders (SLE, RA, scleroderma) have fibromyalgia as one of the symptoms and in that case I don't feel that it's a "catch-all" dx. It's when someone comes in with some pains, who is a little down, and doc writes the whole dx as "fibromyalgia" instead of it being a symptom.

BTW, I do fall into the group with the auto-immune disorders who have fibromyalgia as a symptom; however, I don't have any problems with depression.