Fibromyalgia

nicki2 · Apr 10, 2004

i agree whole heartedly that the er is not the place for chronic pain sufferers or the minor colds, flu's, etc.. but with today's society and our economy it is difficult for people to find a pmd that will accept a patient with no insurance, on medical cards, medicaid etc... our hospital tried to start a clinic for those minor injuries, colds, flus etc but it didn't last very long. probably about a year. the difficulty was finding physicians to staff it. so we are back to having a very busy er. it is sad that with all the technologies that are now available that people can't afford health care but that is the way things are. so our er's will continue to get abused.

boy do i know what you mean!! i have been reluctant to tell others i have fm. when i was first diagnosed, i did not believe it. i went to another doctor and then to the university of fl's rheumatology department. i never mentioned fm and low and behold...that is what they said. when i brought my results back to a new neurologist...he said he did not believe it and would have to reexamine me....guess what...he too said i had fm....thought i was one of a few that truly had it. and was surprised i was not a depressed fm patient. one can get depressed with it considering all the pain and other symptoms. the migraines, ibs, photosensitivity, aching like you have the flu all the time, bruising so easily, dizziness with balance issues, fatigue, numbness, ....i could go on and on...but who cares....not many of the er nurses on this thread.

littleun · Apr 10, 2004

IF exercise and "doing something about it" FAIL US (and they do for some of us), what do you suggest then??????
Just "get over it" perhaps, right? Forget it cause it's bogus?
Whatever--- but do NOT get medical tx, cause someone might roll their eyes at such people? Just drug-seeking depressive hypochondriac types, after all, clogging up the health care system.
Puuuhleeze, depression varies in severity and so does FM. I will willingly concur, some people use their illnesses and/or afflictions for secondary gain and this is reprehensible. It only screws it up for people like me, who only go to the doctor when all other options to deal with it run out and we want to HELP OURSELVES get better.
It's not a "disease du jour" or "fashionable" to me....it SUCKS to live with and makes life miserable at times. But til you walk in my shoes, please don't judge or generalize me. I think that is fair and really should not have to even be argued on a board of supposedly caring health-care professionals.
Good day everyone!

Thank-you Deb!

I was recently diagnosed with FMS myself and the rheumatologist that gave me that diagnosis was not in the least supportive or informative about it. She actually got angry with me because I refused to take any narcotics or hypnotics and was quite aggressive with finding the tender points. I could not believe the pressure that she applied and was actually in tears by the end of the exam. I remain very active in daily life despite the pain and fatigue and follow a very strict dietary regimen every day. This has not alleviated the pain and fatigue completely but does help. No, I am no longer able to function as a nurse in the way I would like to, but I miss that calling terribly and I hate to see other professionals bash people who are truly in desparate pain the way I see them doing in this thread. :crying2:

veetach · Apr 10, 2004

What is discussed here is all that it is, discussed here.
You tell me you hurt in the ER, I will med you with whatever the doctor orders. And not even think anything about it. And I will recheck your vitals and your rsponse to it in 15 to 30 minutes and document it. Im a firm believer in keeping everything simple at work.
ER nurses are a proud and pompous lot, you have to be to work ER. But is ER the proper place for all the FFers with Chronic pain of anykind. Is ER turning into an Extended Pain Care Clinic. Isnt chronic pain, whatever the source best handled by a Primary Care Physician. Isnt that better than frequently hopping from one ER to another.
I mean no disrespect to anyone with FM, who truly has it. But there are those who abuse it as a Dx along with all the other chronic pain syndromes.
Answer this
Is the ER the best place to handle these problems.

amen, Tom. Thank you. :)

Now, I would like to thank many of you who have responded in a civil manner to this thread. You have really given me some insight into this illness. I am very sorry that there are so many people who are suffering here....

As a dedicated ED RN, I am committed as a patient advocate to make sure that my patients get the medications prescribed for them by the docs. I would never EVER be rude or judgemental to a patient. It is not my style.

It is also not my job to judge them, even though we all know how frustrating it is in a very very busy ER, to see patients attempting to use us as a pain management setting. In situations like this, we go to the break room, ***** and whine and complain, then put on the ER RN face and go back out and take care of our patients.

I have learned some interesting stuff on this thread that I did not know. Thanks to all!

spiritus · Apr 10, 2004

i could go on and on...but who cares....not many of the er nurses on this thread.

nicki, *i* care!! i'm a niurse to be, eithe rin community or a&e which is er

to my fellow americans!! the economy is crap, the government is crap,

the president is a real piece of work and i want bill back!!! but since some ]

irate republican may damn well tar and feather me, i'll shut up now, me, the wide mouthed frog!! i have 'fm. had cfs, also diagnosed as me...and every morning is a struggle, but i am blessed...for i'm that rare idiot(and this is no

slur on rare people or idjits so puh-leeze don't hit me)that the rest of you would call an optimist...why, i''ll never know...how? i was never a really

happy or sunny kid, until i died at the age of thirteen....then things got, and i mean, really got, my attention... :eek: i realised that it was my choice that i got up in the morning, and i won't go on here, cause you all have heard the "i can do it, so you can too!" speech...for me, getting up in the morning has never had the clarity and resolution that my mother's death has brought, until now...i am more peaceful(although i dread the funeral!), serene, and commonsensical, than i have ever been in my entire life...but my fight with

fms( i **hate**, as both a nurse, and a patient, the word, "syndrome"!)

centers on one thing...getting up in the morning and choosing to make a difference in somebody's life...that day. yeah, sure, there are days i really hurt, somedays so badly that i cannot bear to have my believed touch my skin, and he has the most tender touch of any man i have ever know, biblically or otherwise!!!

nicki, don't give up crying, screaming,k shouting, and getting pissed off about this disease...the people who call you a frequent flier and a wastebasket diagnosis don't deserve the chance to lick your slippers, kid!!!

vehemently, spiritus

veetach · Apr 10, 2004

Geez, take some Ativan, Spiritus.

Enfermera7a · Apr 10, 2004

Everyone I know with fibromyalgia is A. A hypochondriac B. Clinically depressed or C. a drug seeker. I dont believe in this diagnosis. Throwing oxycontin at aches and pains is like killing mosquitos with a sledgehammer. I am not against appropriate pain meds, especially in the terminal patient....dose 'em up, I say, but not for people who are just not facing life square on...I hurt too after lifting obese geriatrics all night, but Im not going to
w:balloons: I am really disappointed in the replies I have just read about fibromyalgia.
I guess you guys are many of the nurses who looked at me "funny" because I
was having overwhelming fatigue ("she must be lazy"), muscle pain ("drug
seeker"). Then came the bilateral papilledema which was not a brain tumor
and so......6 years later they finally decide I have MS.
Those who fight monsters must be careful that they do not become one.

Mazzi · Apr 10, 2004

If you know anything about Fibromyalgia----Oxycontin does not help. So why do you all feel that that is why people go to the ED to get. Good ol' Ibuprofin is the best. I have had Fibro (dx) four years ago. Yes I am on an antidepressant but for the pain so I can sleep, NOT for depression. Yes by the time I was dx and went to SEVEN doc before I myself found what it was. I was depressed. Also sleep deprived. After two nights of taking amitriptyline I slept for the first time in six years a full eight hours. My husband came to check on me thinking I was dead. Fibro has gotten a bad name d/t MD's using it as a catch all when they don't know what else to tell patients. So I understand were most of you are getting the idea about ALL fibro dx persons. I just ask you to keep an open mind that in some people ALL their muscle groups hurt some of the time. It is caused by work, stress,(good and bad),diet, and exercise. But it can be controlled when you learn to do all the things needed to keep it controlled.

veetach · Apr 11, 2004

If you know anything about Fibromyalgia----Oxycontin does not help. So why do you all feel that that is why people go to the ED to get. Good ol' Ibuprofin is the best. I have had Fibro (dx) four years ago. Yes I am on an antidepressant but for the pain so I can sleep, NOT for depression. Yes by the time I was dx and went to SEVEN doc before I myself found what it was. I was depressed. Also sleep deprived. After two nights of taking amitriptyline I slept for the first time in six years a full eight hours. My husband came to check on me thinking I was dead. Fibro has gotten a bad name d/t MD's using it as a catch all when they don't know what else to tell patients. So I understand were most of you are getting the idea about ALL fibro dx persons. I just ask you to keep an open mind that in some people ALL their muscle groups hurt some of the time. It is caused by work, stress,(good and bad),diet, and exercise. But it can be controlled when you learn to do all the things needed to keep it controlled.

Thank you so much for an educated, civil reply, Mazzi. I have gained much insight into FM from reading posts to this thread, and I hope I have opened my eyes a little.

I totally agree that some MD's are using FM as a catchall, and by doing so, they are causing their patients to become narcotic dependant, unfortunately.

jelrtLPN · Apr 11, 2004

:angryfire I'm so mad at these posts i could spit, i too have FM, as well as spinal stenosis,3 herniated disks, 2 mild disk bulges, thats at c 3-4,c 4-5,c 5-6 small herniation, this is all compounded by the FM, a back spasm can lay me out for 2 days straight, but i have to work. How sad for other- wise intelligent ,successful nurses, to just blow off a condition they havent reaserched, i take percocet and flexaril to ease those spasms that could land me in the ED, just to make it through the day some times, i have 3 children a husband and more stress in my life than i'd like to admit, so when some one comes to my snf and thier dx is one of many including FM, im particularly aware of the pain and suffering that can and does go on. A day with spasms and pain is a day from H*ll, Please take a look at the patient and the sorounding circumstsances before you pass any judgement. Untill you walk a day in my shoes, or thier shoes, thank GOD, you are blessed by not having too!!

RNin92 · Apr 11, 2004

I thought the original poster was asking for input?!!

That doesn't sound judgmental...

Many of these posts talk about the behavior of people...not the diagnosis.

Everyone needs to step back a little...

nursesherry · Apr 11, 2004

I have several family members who say they have been diagnosed with FM. It seems they were diagnosed after the docs couldn't find anything else medically wrong with them. As a nurse I have seen an increasing number of FM patients also diagnosed with Lupus. Has anyone else seen this?:uhoh21:

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.

nursesherry · Apr 11, 2004