No such thing as Fibromyalgia???

[butterscotch23]

My brother-in-law claims that there is no such thing as fibromyalgia and that the "disease" or "syndrome" was created by the drug manufacturers only AFTER they created the drug Lyrica. Do any of you have any credible evidence that this absurd statement is true??? I was recently diagnosed with FMS and am pained by his unwillingness to believe that this horrible syndrome is a valid, medically-accepted diagnosis.

[PlateletGal]

In my opinion (and based off the research and facts), his opinion is nothing but that. Perhaps your brother-in-law should check out the latest fibromyalgia research at co-cure.org or my website (listed in my profile) and/or read Dr. Garth Nicholson's reports about mycoplasmas and fibromyalgia.

Best,

PlateletGal

[Ghilly]

To the best of my knowledge, the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Syndrome came about long before the development of the drug Lyrica.  I was diagnosed with FMS back in 1997, and had read articles about fibro years before that.  

Unfortunately, however, there are many who share your brother in law's opinion, not necessarily about it being because of the development of Lyrica, but about it not really being an actual thing.  The bad part about this is that many who share his opinion are doctors.  Granted, most of these doctors are the "old-timey" doctors who have been in practice for many, many decades, but they do exist, and they are numnerous.  It's unfortunate for their patients who have the symptoms of FMS, because it means they either have to find a new doctor (which is often next to impossible depending on which insurance you have) or else they have to deal with their doctor telling them that their pain is nothing, that it's all in their head.  It's very frustrating if your doctor is one of the ones who feels this way.

By the same token, I think there are many who claim to have fibromyalgia who have never actually been diagnosed, but who have diagnosed themselves based on reading an article in a magazine or on the internet.  The reason I say this is because when I read the statistics on how many people in this country have fibro, it's not a large number at all, but it seems that just about everyone I talk to says that they have fibromyalgia!  The numbers don't match up at all, so I think there might be quite a bit of self-diagnosing going on out there.

Disclaimer:  In saying the above, I am in no way saying that anyone HERE is self-diagnosing.  It just seems that I run into a staggering number of people in real life who claim to have fibromyalgia.  Some days it appears that at least 50% of the population is affected!

Ghilly

[kitonthemoon]

I agree with yu  ......your brother-in-law's statement is absurd.  

You will find bunches people like him who disbelief.  Don't give them the power to upset you.

Hugs,
Kit

[LLWB]

I was diagnosed by my rheumatologist in 1993 with fibro, LONG before Lyrica was developed.  There are a lot of nay-sayers who don't believe it, because they can't "see" it. It's not like a broken bone, or Polio, or MS., etc. Please don't let him upset you. If he is open to learn, you can point him in the right direction on the internet. If he's not, nothing you can say to him will change his mind. Some people are not willing to admit they are wrong. Sure wish I could trade bodies with him for a week. That would make a believer out of him real fast!  Take care, and gentle hugs.

Maggie

[luckydzack1]

Lyrica was not actually just discovered it was used for people who were having seizures. It help get the seizures under control. It was just recently discovered that it would help people with FM.
The reason I know this is because I asked my family doctor if he has ever heard of it & he told me that is what it was used for. He didn't even know that they were using it for FM. He told me if I wanted to try it I would have to ask my Rheumy as he would not perscribe it for me.
So tell your brother in law that one. Lyrica was not just discovered it was used for something else first.

[luckydzack1]

Also tell your brother in law to get out of the stone age that he is in & look up FM on the internet. There are plenty of sites about it, if it weren't real why are there so many sites about how to diagnose it. How to treat it and what doctor to see. And there are plenty of sites that also list the symptoms.

[Tink70]

Your Brother in Law is an idiot.  I suppose he probably doesn't believe depression or anxiety disorders or alcoholism exists either - yeah - one of THOSE kinds of people.  Oh, well - it takes all kinds.
Stay the heck away from him and take your meds and feel better!

[jlc5155]

I totally agree with all of these fine people--who suffer and who have suffered with this condition for ages including myself and I especially like Tink70's comment.  Stay away from this 'DOUBTING THOMAS".  I guess that sounds just as good as an IDIOT.  GTaz

[raerae0027]

Tell your brother in law to ask the millions who have this syndrome and have suffered pretty much all there lives with the debilitating pain.  There are so many ppl out there who think Fibro is made up and its all in our heads well I say if its in my head then :be gone: it would be that simple,,but its not.  Chronic pain has been dated back to the 17 and 1800's heres a good article about that,,"show your brother in law",,also it doesnt matter what he says if your feeling pain then your feeling pain,, wether it be in your head,,made up or not.  Good luck :)  
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chronic_pain/detail_chronic_pain.htm

[butterscotch23]

WOW! Thanks for coming to my rescue! I sincerely appreciate the support that you all give me - and the many others like us sufferering from FMS. Keep up the good work!

[idesofmarch]

people often deny what they are afraid of.

[droopy56]

Why is it that it only takes one or two negative messages do undo the work of dozens of positive ones? Don't listen to that moron!!! I guarantee you'll feel better.

[karen717]

I read a really good 'letter' on the net a long, long time ago that dealt with this issue. It was a letter to your family explaining FMS. Not to say this would help your brother-in-law since he seems to already have his mind made up. Anyway, I do not still have this 'letter', but it was powerful. There are lots of stuff like that out there that you may find if you search. I also was diagnosed long before lyrica was approved for the treatment of FMS by the FDA. I think the reason there are doubters out there is because we do not look like we feel, we have good days and bad days and even worse days, we have no energy (so we are lazy), and there is no test (blood, scan, etc) to diagnose it. Other stuff just has to be ruled out and your symtoms taken into consideration. Even drs. took a long time to come around (and from reading here some have not) to believe that it is real. Hang in there! It is real!!!!

[Jadore_]

I have heard that from many doctors ,and even my own shrink,,,saying "fibro is a big name for so many symptoms that doctors give because they don't know what else to tell their patients"! Well if you suffer from it you have a different opinon...same here was diagnosed with it many yrs before lyrica came out. My aunt who suffers from it in her 60's was diagnosed like 13 yrs ago during a workmans comp case and guess the courts agree it exsist as her doctors agreed it exsisted! she won over 300,00.00 for her lawsuit and her attorney specializes in fibro cases...so it must exsist.

[PlateletGal]

ME/CFS costs the US economy $25 billion dollars a year in economic losses and yet receives amongst the lowest amounts of research funding of any disease. There are politics involved with these illnesses... just like there were with Gulf War Syndrome (another "syndrome"... LOL!)

btw... I wanted to wish all of you a very HAPPY 4th of JULY !!! Thank you so much for your input. I like this board because we have so many different people, different views and everyone here is respectful of one another.

Thank you all !

~ PlateletGal

[Melissa70817]

I wish that for one month these people could walk....or lay...in our shoes,just for a month.  My family doesn't believe that this is an actual condition either.  I have been labeled "lazy" as someone said in one of the posts and also that I just want the pain