One thing I learned from going to see the rheumatism nurse, and that is that I mustn't think that fibromyalgia is something that is a psychological problem, yet she then proceeded to tell me that the major part of treating it, is to tackle it psychologically, so I am very confused. It is assumed that the one thing that aggravates (or maybe even causes it) is stress, and therefor that must be reduced. It seems to me to be a very odd way to treat a physical disability. It is putting the responsibility of having the disorder in the hands of the patient, just as if having any kind of disease is the fault of the person herself for having it.
She then proceeded to tell me all the ways that the stress manifested itself and could be reduced and I interrupted her and told her that this just did not hold up for me, and she was somewhat taken aback. She was describing a very ambitious and perfectionist, overextended person who had no time for herself and who couldn't say no. Someone who didn't have enough hours in the day to do all the things she had committed herself to doing and who was running ragged. I really don't think that applies to me. If there is one thing I do, it is make a lot of time for myself to do as I please.
I think because the cause of fibromyalgia is still a mystery, and there is still no lab test to detect it, they fabricate this story around it, just like they did around rheumatic arthritis 20 some years ago. I think they are actually operating in the dark and are just as confused as anybody else is. Blame it on the patient until that time.
She showed me a chart with major pressure points on the body which cause the most pain, and when I said that they did not correspond with mine, she quickly said that of course there were many others. But they are talking about pain in the soft tissues, and I am talking about pain in the joints. You can tell that I am now full of skepticism and that I am not going to go along with the treatment with blinders on. I will be a cynic until I am proven wrong.
2 comments:
Sorry the diagnosis is confusing you so much. It obviously doesn't help that there's no direct test for fibro and that there's so much mystery surrounding it.
I can say this about stress, though ~ what I've found for myself, especially since I stopped working 2+ years ago and made a bunch of other changes that subsequently removed 95% of the stress from my life, is that I still get stressed out by things like disagreements with people, things that I worry about, things that I ruminate about in my head...and the stress does show up in my body. It's the kind of internal psychic discomfort that doesn't seem like it would be considered stress, and I usually don't even realize it's happening until my body starts to react.
So I'm just saying, perhaps the internal stress you've been under with your sister and your daughter, even though it might not seem so, it's probably causing physical reactions in your body.
Even without any outside stressors impinging on us, we might be under a lot of internally-caused stress. So think about that.
xoxo
I actually just read up about FM on the web because I had no idea what it is.
Stress and psychological causes are mentioned for sure. But the condition doesn’t hit every sufferer the same way, the symptoms vary from patient to patient.
I would let the professionals take care of me for the time being. Once you know more about your own body and mind and how FM specifically affects you, you will be better able to guide them as to your own best treatment.
Kopf hoch. Wird schon wieder werden.
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