srk

Not everyone has "imagined pain." We are taught as nurses that pain is subjective, in fact we are taught from the time we are children that when we get hurt we should just tell the truth. In my opinion, most individuals do not fabricate stories of pain and with my patients who have had fibromyalgia the normal methods of pain control are just not enough to relieve chonic pain with acute onset symptoms. If analgesics are not enough then please allow them the control of telling you what has worked for them in the past.On one occasion I had a pt who had hip replacement surgery and had been without her dentures for approximately 16 hours afterward. This was just enough to cause her FM to really take over. She wore her teeth at all times and because her jaws were aligned improperly (TMJ) after a prolonged period without the alignment she was used to her whole body started rebelling. It was more difficult to get her post-operative pain under control due to the fact that it took a whole day before her or her family mentioned that she had FM. The doctor who did her surgery was not even aware of it because he thought she was just not getting enough pain control from the narcotics. In reality all it took was getting her dentures back into her mouth and some repositioning and light massage on trigger points that were not unbearable. I learned more with the pt's description of her pain needs than any manual or computer program. I am always reminded to listen to pt needs and reply to them individually.