surgeonstone

Now this is an example of precisely the type of health care worker you want to avoid. FM is real all right, the ones who say it is phony are the ones that are too lazy to read up on it and spend the time necessary to work with the patients suffering from it.

Focuspokus

I am well versed in the controversy surrounding FM. I can post hundreds of articles. If you are a surgeon, then you are well aware of why FM has its critics.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_165045.html

surgeonstone

Well, unlike you apparently, I listen to my patients and resort to peer reviewed journals and not the Huffington post. Did it ever occur to you that FM patients are overweight because of their inability to work out from the disabling pain? Or that they were addicted to pain meds
because of this pain. Did it ever occur to you that because it is largely a mystery, that like many medical mysteries it is shoved aside by practioners as a "phony" disease because some just do not want to think. I know many, many hardworking, formerly active noncomplaining patients laid low by this mysterious malady. Your dismissive post reveals just the kind of mindset that ends up perpetuating the suffering is those afflicted.

Tom Stormcrowe

Good post SS. It shows you think outside your surgical specialty into other areas of medicine. So many surgeons see only surgical perspectives. You're a rare one, in my book, and that's a good thing.

surgeonstone

Thanks Tom.

Focuspokus

Your use of the words "mysterious malady" speaks volumes to me implying there is a lot of room for error in diagnosing and differential diagnosis. It is the "go to" diagnosis when nothing concrete is found. You know this as a physician. No test for FM, just the process of ruling out other legitimate causes.

surgeonstone

That we lack the understanding of it now does not make it any less real for those that suffer from it nor does it mean that understanding is not forthcoming. One hundred and fifty years ago doctors spread death through obstetric wards world wide. A man willing to think and consider the impossible, that it was the doctors themselves that were the vehicle of death, was met with derision by the learned. I believe in the miasma theory they said. The man, I. P. Semmelviez (sp?), went insane trying to convince the medical establishment that simply washing hands between patient visits would lower the mortality rate from 50% to less than 5%. The point is obvious, that we know not should not be confused there being nothing to know.

Focuspokus

Yes, valid point but we are way more advanced nowadays and when you factor in obesity and the pharmaceutical companies etc, I question some of the modern day maladies. FM is a controversial diagnosis. We are not talking about a concrete disease with an obvious etiology.

toddbiker

Fibromyalgia can masquerade or mimic other health anomalies. Wilson's temperature syndrome, CFS(chronic fatigue syndrome),
Endocrine issues...[Hypothyroidism(low metabolic function), progesterone hormone imbalance, etc.], ATP not being produced by the Mitochondria, Myelin Sheath issues around the nerves like in MS, Cushing’s Syndrome, Systemic Candida Albicans Overgrowth, Rheumatoid Arthritis...and others.

rapnjoe

focuspokus-for the record I'm far from obese,and uphill101 stated he has no problem with weight.My diagnosis was about 20yrs ago and there was not 1 fda approved medicine for fms -the 3 med I know of are all pretty recent.
fms is only controversial,if you don't have it. I have to chuckle on how advanced we are!We as a country can't even balance a check book!
Back to fm my rheumatoid factor has always been pos.but sed rate is always normal.There is probably some underlying things that exasperate the symptons. Current methods of testing I'm pretty healthy, but trust me as jacked up as I can get-there something very real going on.

Focuspokus

Nobody is denying you the pain you feel, but FM is the easy diagnosis that physicians give when they cannot find anything else. As toddbiker stated above, there are many other diagnoses that mimic FM and vice versa. At my facility, most of the FM patients are obese middle aged women who are addicted to pain killers which is consistent with the patient profile across the country diagnosed with FM.

Makes me wonder if many of the ailments that we have here in the USA are legitimate. I doubt people in Darfur suffer from Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Every other kid in this country has Autism or ADHD. Sign of the medical times. I'm sure there are a lot of people who agree but are afraid to speak up.

You cannot even be shy without the drug companies pushing Paxil on you for "social anxiety disorder".

toddbiker

The above mentioned health issues can be linked to Dysbiosis.
Myself frequently visiting health chat rooms, noticed the most
asked about health problem was Fibro. Most people that had been diagnosed in the past
with Fibro by a doctor(s) found they had limited solutions for them(anti-depressants, pain meds.)
What I found was people that were considered to have Fibro, had 14 or
more of the following issues that would affect their lives.

They include: Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma, Attention Deficit, Autism, Brain Fog, Carpal tunnel, Colds, Flu,
Constipation, Diarrhea, Colitis, Crohn's, Depression, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Food Allergies, Hives, Eczema, Hypoglycemia, Hypothyroidism, Insomnia, Interstitial Cystitis, Leaky
Gut, Migraines, Mitral Valve Prolapse, PMS, Prostatitis, Sinus infections, Ear Infections

They would all usually score over 400+(very elevated) on the candida test(long form) by Dr. W. Crook M.D.
Most were female, 35 and older and in many cases the stress trigger was thought to be physical in nature, prior to their diagnosis.

DScott

Please. Just stop.

You're giving people with real problems a bad name. Even patients with somatoform disorder think you're nuts.

DScott

What is this facility? That'd make a difference...

Focuspokus

The authors reported that consistent with previous studies, obesity is common among those with fibromyalgia. Half the study sample was obese and an additional thirty percent were overweight. Also consistent with previous findings, obese patients in this study showed increased pain sensitivity, which was more pronounced in lower body areas. The obese patients also had impaired flexibility in the lower body and reduced strength.
The study concluded that obesity is a common comorbidity of fibromyalgia that may compromise clinical outcomes. The adverse impact of obesity is evidenced by hyperalgesia, disability, impaired quality of life and sleep problems. The authors also noted that recent evidence suggests weight loss improves fibromyalgia symptoms, perhaps resulting from patients adopting healthier lifestyles and taking more positive attitudes toward symptom management, and overall quality of life.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1230113253.htm

RUOkie

You have not answered the question Focuspokus

DScott

This is your facility? You're one of the authors of the study?

Or did you have some other point?

Notice that there's no question whether the diagnosis of FMS is "real" or not, or whether it's caused by yeast, bacterial overgrowth, bad humours, "the vapours", or phases of the moon. I can't access the whole article right now, but I'm sure they had some diagnostic criteria for the syndrome, given that it's all science-y and stuff.

And, "correlation is not causation". Right?

Focuspokus

You're right that correlation in not causation, but the way I see it, a disease has more legitimacy if it affects people across a spectrum (ie. cancer, AIDS etc). If young, active and incredibly fit people suffered from Fibromyalgia at same rate, I'd concede more legitimacy of diagnosis. But the fact that 75% are overweight to obese should tell you something. C'mon, broaden your interpretations a bit and just don't accept what physicians and drug companies are selling you.

DScott

Seriously? That's your definition of a "legitimate" disease? That healthy people get it?

Maybe they're overwight because they are inactive, or depressed because their life has gone to ****, or that they self-medicate their pain with food? Or maybe there's an intermediate variable that causes both conditions, like an immune-mediated disorder or a metabolic condition?

Wonder how fat you'd get if you couldn't exercise?

I'm beginning to believe your role in health care is an administrative one.

Focuspokus

Yep, but my contacts with the majority of the doctors on staff generally agree with my view about Fibromyalgia patients and how they are often difficult patients to treat because they seek too many narcotics and complicate their situation with being obese. Is this a generalization, yes to a degree, but the typical FM paitent we see is consistent with that of everywhere else (40+ obese female). Sorry, but this is the hard truth.

I realize that what I am saying is not politically correct and lacks sensitivity and empathy, but I don't see any difference between abusing your body with food and suffering the medical repercussions and the chronic smoker who after 35 years of smoking complains about their emphysema.

Are you surprised of Obesity and Fibromyalgia increase in this country over past 20 years or so?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaAt8...eature=related

10 Wheels

We need to get back to the original post.

"The point of this is post is not my story but for help/advice.
I was wondering if there is any cyclists who race and train hard out there, who control their symptoms.
I just want to control my muscle cramp/pain.
Please let me know, thank you."


OR thread will be moved to FOO>

Focuspokus

To the OP, are you really a college aged student (18-22) who was diagnosed by a physician with Fibromyalgia???
Get another opinion becuase you got a long life ahead and you should not be given a diagnosis that will become a self fulfilling prophecy. This IMO is the most helpful advice so far in this thread.

surgeonstone

You need to stop typing, the hole you are digging is just getting deeper.
So we are to assume scleroderma, fibromyalgia, gallbladder disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis , etc. etc. etc. are all "illegitimate " diseases because they occur in female's. Are you even a doctor?

UpHill101

Yes they thought it was a autoimmune diease so they tested me for that, and that came up all neg. so my doc. thought it was depression, then after she ruled that out she figured it was FM.

Im a college student (22)who is 6-1.5 and 158 lb. I use to be able to climb like a goat ha and now when I ride hard or long I get a cramp like pain in my legs. I usually get really bad morning aches and pains when I awake everyday. Poor sleep as well...working on that.
Honestly I hope it is something else than FM becasue I want/will find a way to ride competitively again...
I love to ride

DScott

Seriously. What he's saying is that these people are sick because they're fat, and they're fat because they choose to be. Don't you see? It's their fault.

Forget about the contradiction in saying that people shouldn't believe in FMS because the "physicians and drug companies" get something out of pushing this "illegitimate" condition as "real", and then bases that on the opinions of phsyicians he knows.

I'm guessing he works in admissions, research assistant/data entry, or clerical job in a staff office somewhere in the hospital.

On topic: see my original post for suggestions for dealing with the problems.