Maybe my understanding of fibromyalgia isn't great being that I am a brand new nurse, but I have a silly question for everyone.
If you had fibromyalgia, and it was so bad that you tried claiming it as a disability - would you move your bedroom to the second floor of your home?
I know this sounds stupid and maybe it is just my lack of understanding the disorder, but I would think that would create more problems with having to walk the stairs all the time. Oh, and this isn't just something I came up with, know a person who just did this and it just didn't make sense to me.:uhoh21:
I've had fibro forever and a day....my own experience is that in terms of movement, its not the up and down on the stairs that gets me during my flare-ups. Its more getting up out of bed, or out of a chair. Stairs never have been an issue for me. I still work full time, raise the kids, keep the house....
i go to a rheumatologist about once a year to renew my amtriptyline 10mg i take before bed. i've been on amtriptyline for years. thats all i take with an occasional robaxin and i'm good. if i need advil i take 200mg. our kids keep us very busy and those 12 hour shifts exhaust me... but i am grateful every day i get out of bed and see 6 smiling faces (2 of them are identical ) and my hubby , and our cats.
we count our blessings.
i love reading all your posts and thank you for your insight.
Trust me, just let it go and never bring it up ever again.
This is not something that I dwell on, nor is it something that I worry about. And TRUST ME, I have A LOT of other things that are on my mind and keeping me up at night right now. And this is NOT one of them. It was something that I personally questioned and besides on allnurses I have only voiced this once to my husband. I just wanted views from others.
This is not something that I dwell on, nor is it something that I worry about. And TRUST ME, I have A LOT of other things that are on my mind and keeping me up at night right now. And this is NOT one of them. It was something that I personally questioned and besides on allnurses I have only voiced this once to my husband. I just wanted views from others.
Thanks everyone!
onyx it was a great question and i am happy to help you . i am sure you have alot of other things on your mind, not just this problem. you are ok in my book... i loved reading all the different views , thats why we are here to help each other.
Fibromyalgia is a basically a name given to generalized pain. The only way to actually diagnose it is by symptoms and treatments.
My understanding is they have found links to traumatic spinal injuries specifically a twisting and also to lack of sleep. I think the spinal injuries (or damage) make sense to me because it seems like nerve endings are irritable throughout the body. I walked around for years (don't know how many) wondering if people hurt like I did. If my man rubs me, it HURTS. You can't stay in one spot (on an arm or the back). I don't run to doctors for things so I dealt with it for years and just figured it was normal.
A few years ago I developed a case of "spontaneous whiplash." Just came on like a light switch. I went to work paralyzed in the neck. After days, weeks and months of treatments I finally got an MRI to find that my neck was bent 47% in the opposite direction and full of spurs. One spur looked like a fang coming out of my neck. It used to creep me out just thinking about the MRI (pictures).
A friend was in a roll over accident and definitely had spinal trauma. She was the one that told me about fibromyalgia. I heard of it, but never paid any attention to it.
Some doctors don't believe it exists. Yet there are some doctors out there that even have it. I have heard doctors blame it on lack of sleep. I believe lack of sleep exacerbates it. But lack of sleep causes a lot of problems. Some doctors think it is psychological. They have found over the years that anti-depressants help it. That would make you believe the second "theory." After seeing my spine and neck and feeling generalized pains over the years - especially to touch, I have to say that I believe it exists. The anti-depressants only help minimally. Most pain meds don't touch FM. I haven't tried strong meds - can't tolerate T#3, Vicodin or Percocet and haven't had any others. Lyrica has been impressive - it treats neuropathies.
The dilemma with FM. Some people are more emotional and therefore have more severe symptoms. If you look at their lifestyles they have all kinds of stressors. Some people are drug seekers. Some people love drama. Because of the various type of people that present with FM, you will get controversial feedback on it. Also, some FM people make the rest of us look bad so I don't speak of it much.
As far as a bedroom on the second floor????
I ride a motorcycle most of the summer.
I do nursing and lift patients - that's my most painful activity.
I ride horses. I broke two horses.
I pick up my grandchildren and play rough with them.
I play rough with my labrador retriever.
I used to shoot guns.
I grew up with sports, gymnastics and dirtbikes, snowmobiles, quads, etc.
I hurt regularly - but it hurts to wash dishes so I don't stop any activity.
As far as disability. Some people would rather be on disability than work.
I have worked for years with this and prefer to but because nursing is so unappreciative I am seriously thinking of disability myself. I prefer my nursing paycheck. There are people out there that hurt so bad that they miss too much work and lawyers have advertised that you can qualify for disability with FM. It's like any disability case. It's hard to understand when you see people doing normal things day to day. There are people that need disability.
All in all. Stairs don't hurt. People with FM just hurt period. Climbing stairs doesn't exacerbate the pain. They can hurt at rest. FM rarely responds to treatments and then people develop tolerances to the drugs. So that creates a problem because FM patients get sick of it - get tired of hurting.
And as always.....Everyone has different tolerances to pain.
I refuse to give in to the pain. It hurts to sit around so I keep doing things.
ohmeowzer RN, RN
2,306 Posts
i go to a rheumatologist about once a year to renew my amtriptyline 10mg i take before bed. i've been on amtriptyline for years. thats all i take with an occasional robaxin and i'm good. if i need advil i take 200mg. our kids keep us very busy and those 12 hour shifts exhaust me... but i am grateful every day i get out of bed and see 6 smiling faces (2 of them are identical ) and my hubby , and our cats.
we count our blessings.
i love reading all your posts and thank you for your insight.