Fibromyalgia

Specialties Emergency

Published

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. :eek:

Specializes in Case Management.
No matter what is said or done

you come to me in triage and tell me about Fibromyalgia, I will roll my eyes. Ive listened to this in ER for so long now and seen all its abuses.

Weren't you recently admitted to the hospital after having an MI? Hmmmm,

wonder where you would be today if the ER nurses caring for you had rolled their eyes and doubted your complaints.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of unkind and uncaring people in our profession who call themselves professionals.

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Weren't you recently admitted to the hospital after having an MI? Hmmmm,

wonder where you would be today if the ER nurses caring for you had rolled their eyes and doubted your complaints.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of unkind and uncaring people in our profession who call themselves professionals.

Exactly!!

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I love these "fashionable" diagnoses

Fibromyalgia

Chronic fatigue (Epstein Roseanne barr)

Hypoglycemia (not diabetes)

Mitral valve prolapse

I knew I was in trouble in the ER when a young woman came in and listed ALL of these as her past history.

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ummm I don't know if I would call those "fashoinable" diagnosis. I have MVP with regurg. and have some trouble with hypoglycemia. I am not diabetic but if I do not eat right my blood sugar crashes and I end up passed out somewhere on the floor or in the ER. This RARELY happenes now that I am an adult (like once in 5 years) but when I was a kid and didn't understand it happened a lot. Responses like yours are what stop people like me from seeking treatment when having a problem.

Pls. explain your feelings about MVP. I mean it is dx by an echo. do you not believe that it can cause problems or you just have trouble with the dx in general?? Do you have the same feelings with MVP with regurg.?

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You know,

I'm not sure that I would agree with "fashionable" diagnoses.

Like I said before, I think the auto-immunes are poorly misunderstood.

It wasn't all that long ago that people though HIV could be caught by breathing the same air. And women didn't have MIs.

I don't think anyone would doubt MVP-it does show up on an echo.

And those people who have arrythmias secondary to it...it's hard to "fake" SVT.

It is equally difficult to be "fashionably" hypoglycemic...blood sugar "is what it is"

I agree that some people seem to "have it all" and are "disabled" by it. But I think that is more a coping deficit rather than erroneous diagnoses. I do sympathize with people who are truly suffering with any of these disorders.

Thank you so much for that post!!!!!! LOL! I had to laugh about the SVT I just had a heart ablation to try and correct mine. It is kinda hard to fake it when you are wearing an even monitor that catches it. ;)

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I havent posted much on allnurses but this thread on Fibromyalgia caught my eye...Let me first say I was an er nurse and on my way home from work in nov 97 I was hit by a drunk driver...After a severe whip lash that herniated my c5-c6-c6c7 with cord compression and ultimate cervical fusion, 6 months after my accident I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia..

I was never sick a day in my life prior to my accident..Unless you have experienced fibro one should not :uhoh3: roll there eyes so to speak at people that have it...The pain, the fatigue, the memory problems and all the other symptoms that comes with fibro is no fun....Its no fun going from doctor to doctor trying to find out whats wrong with you when you know deep in your heart you really are in pain etc...I was not asked for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia it was given to me because of the symptoms I was having..One of the only diagnosing factors the tender points I had 16 of the 18. I was never depressed prior to having my accident.. Yes i became depressed afterwards because of living in pain everyday and not being able to work anymore. I lost about 9 yrs of my life thanks to a drunk driver..

Fibro must not be considered a waste basket diagnosis to social security disabilty.. I fought all the way thru there system and had to go in front of a judge who believed me, and I won my case...

Thankfully after many years of pain and frustrating and having cancer 2 years ago, I have reinstated my license and am looking for a job again. I am off all my meds feeling the best I have in years. I can't say my fibro is totally gone but I don't have near the pain and fatigue I used to have. Thats the strange thing about fibro they dont know exactly what causes it and out of the blue it can be gone.......So please:nono: don't judge a person because of a diagnosis they have, because you dont know how exactly they arrived at that diagnosis.....

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Specializes in Critical care/ER, SRNA.

My mother was rear ended in a car accident more than 15 years ago and has since then been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. While the diagnosis is based strictlly on subjective information, the diagnosis is real. We have all been taught, pain is exactly what the patient says it is. Who are we as nurses, to tell a patient they are not having pain. Whether their pain is real or imagined, it is very real to them. I have seen my mother in constant pain and prior to that she was never sick and fully functionally. We tend to get jaded because we are exposed to the persons we know are drug seekers. We need to remember the patient comes first, not our opinions of the patients and their complaints.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

But ER is still not the proper place for Alledged FM pts. They need a pain control doctor. ER is totally inappropiate for people with FM to go to to try to control their pain. We relieve pain. Chronic problems need a specialist. Not ER

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How many of you have FM or know someone that does. Truely nurses and doctors need to remember before the microscope the microbes were there we just didnt know it. Just because we have not found a cause does not mean it is not real. I have a close friend who began having restless leg and hip pain turned into leg tingling aching constantly yes she has a little disc stuff and probably some arthritis but the pain came before the crying. Ive litterally sat with her and cried with her because she hurts in bed when she wakes up she hurts during the day if she doesnt get enough rest its worse. shes been on pain meds neurontin is out she said that stuff is well forget it. she still leads a seminormal work life but changed to a sit down job. My boyfriend also has it. he has maj disc issues. I know fm also affects arms and fatigue is assoc. How can docs just say its in your head when theyve got so many in the office. Because they re to busy andprob dont care. I will say that both of these special people in my life have found massage and stretching to be fantastically helpful. When it hurts all night your exhausted in the morning and you just cant imagine making it through the day when you live with someone like that you know its real. I hope this has been humbling for some and you realize you should not judge. pain scale we all know varies per individual and that may not neccessarily be because they are a wimp and someone else isnt. maybe it truely does hurt worse than others. hope no one you know has this very troubling problem. Hope your compassion will grow.

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Oh about the drug seekers. Some of these patients make it through the day because of narcs no its not a end all, but if they have a better quality of life isnt that the point. yes we need other alternatives but if there arent any than what? let them suffer?

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Specializes in Emergency.

It seems to me that "fibro" is the catchall phrase given to the hypochondriac who is in the MD's office q2d for every ache, pain, and "I...I don't quite know what it is, I'm just not myself today."

The ADD/ADHD/ODD of the middle aged medical patient. What ever happend to the good ol' "theres nothing wrong with you, go outside and get soem fresh air." Instead they get a prescription for hydromorphone and a Duragesic patch.

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It seems to me that "fibro" is the catchall phrase given to the hypochondriac who is in the MD's office q2d for every ache, pain, and "I...I don't quite know what it is, I'm just not myself today."

The ADD/ADHD/ODD of the middle aged medical patient. What ever happend to the good ol' "theres nothing wrong with you, go outside and get soem fresh air." Instead they get a prescription for hydromorphone and a Duragesic patch.

Even after reading all of these emails from people who suffer from "fibro", or know someone who suffers from it, you can still claim that they are hypochondriacs? That's a little insensitive, in my humble opinion.

There are many illnesses that we now know to be diseases that years ago simply were not recognized by the medical community, let alone the public in general. I would think that depression would be a good example of this.

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The ADD/ADHD/ODD of the middle aged medical patient. What ever happend to the good ol' "theres nothing wrong with you, go outside and get soem fresh air." Instead they get a prescription for hydromorphone and a Duragesic patch.

I'm not sure I get what you are saying here, you do not believe in ADD/ADHD/ODD? Ever know someone personally that has been DX with any of those? I use to work with children with ADD/ADHD trust me they are real.

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