Tuesday 15 September 2015

The Fibromyalgianess Concept

There are few things in life that make me mad! One is how the only TV commercials with anyone even remotely close to my own age are those where they’re either selling some medication like Viagra or life insurance. Another is how the word ‘phonetics’ isn’t spelled phonetically.

A third thing that upsets me even more than these things is the concept of ‘fibromyalgianess’, a term coined by Dr. Fred Wolfe a couple of years ago that, in a recently-published report called “The Role of Opioids in the Treatment of Chronic Pain”, was defined as the tendency to respond to illness and psychosocial stress with fatigue, widespread pain, a general increase in symptoms, and similar factors.

Besides the fact that it’s hard to pronounce and even harder to spell, there are many things I dislike about this term. In fact, there are so many things I find distasteful about it, it’s hard to know where to start.

So let’s start by talking about lupusness. 

Say what?

I say let’s start with lupusness because, when Wolfe first coined the term fibromyalgianess, he justified it by characterizing fibromyalgia as a poorly-defined condition with a wide range of symptoms that are inadequately explained. But what about lupus? It, like fibromyalgia, is poorly defined. It, like fibromyalgia is a collection of symptoms that can be so varied, it has been called the “disease of a thousand faces.” It, like fibromyalgia, has symptoms like pain, fatigue, and problems with cognition, all of which are subjective. In fact, up to one half of patients with lupus meet the criteria for fibromyalgia. Finally, it, like fibromyalgia, is diagnosed not on the basis of a confirmatory blood test or X-ray, or any other test, but by seeing whether patients meet enough criteria to make it likely. In other words, doctors look at a list and check the ones the patient has. If they have two, the patient has possible lupus; three means they have probable lupus; and four or more means they almost certainly have lupus.

So why don’t we talk about lupusness, since lupus is so much like fibro? The answer to this question is two-barbed — ignorance and prejudice — and each one feeds the other.

The ignorance lies in the belief that there continues to be no objective evidence of physical disease in patients with fibromyalgia; in fact, that it is primarily a psychological illness. To see that this belief is prevalent even among physicians, you need look no further than the definition of fibromyalgianess itself, which equates the symptoms of fibromyalgia to a response to illness and psychological stress. You aren’t sick; you just aren’t responding right.

But evidence of this rampant disbelief also comes in research form, with recent surveys conducted in Canada and the United States revealing more than one third of family physicians believe that fibromyalgia patients are ‘malingering’, which is med-speak for ‘faking’; that one in six pain specialists agree with them; that more than one third of rheumatologists feel that it is ‘primarily psychological’ and more than two in three feel that they no longer need to see fibromyalgia patients; this is despite the fact that rheumatologists like Dr. Hugh Smythe and Mohammad Yunus were instrumental in gaining recognition of fibromyalgia as a distinct illness in the first place, back in the nineteen seventies and eighties, and that rheumatologists have generally been the primary specialists diagnosing and treating this condition over more than two decades.

But is there really no physical evidence of physical disease?  This is where the prejudice creeps in, as so many with their own agendas purposely choose to ignore a rapidly rising mountain of research evidence demonstrating numerous physiological and anatomical abnormalities in those with fibromyalgia, ranging from objectively-measured alterations in various central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system functions; abnormal brain activity during sleep; abnormal levels and responses to various stimuli of a wide range of hormones that include cortisol, thyroid hormone, parathyroid hormone, growth hormone and others; physically-measureable alterations in skin temperature and its responses to various stimuli; and abnormalities in several different immune functions. The list goes on... and on... and on. In fact, there is far more evidence of physical disease for fibromyalgia than there is for several other well-recognized and universally-accepted conditions like post-concussion syndrome. But who would ever question any of the multi-millionaire professional athletes who have needed (and been granted, without question) time off from their profession until their dizziness, their headaches, their sensitivity to light and sound, their nausea, and their general inability to function (all totally subjective and non-measurable symptoms) have resolved?

So shall we speak of post-concussion syndromeness then? And if not, why not?

The answer again comes down to those same two things: ignorance and prejudice.

Lest physicians and researchers forget, history is filled with examples of conditions that used to be presumed ‘primarily psychological’ until research proved otherwise. Only about three decades ago, stomach ulcers were often attributed to stress, until two physicians in Australia identified a bacteria that causes them. Of course, many disbelieved their research for years. Why? Because this explanation for ulcers did not fit with what they had learned in medical school three decades earlier.

Thyroid disease in the absence of goiter used to be attributed to depression, before the technology was developed to measure various thyroid hormone levels. And anyone over age 65 is old enough to have potentially heard multiple sclerosis called ‘psychogenic paralysis’; it was as late as 1950 that a huge symposium was held in New York City at which a consensus was reached that multiple sclerosis was a legitimate physical disease, and that these patients weren’t just ‘malingering’.

The concept of fibromyalgianess is therefore not only ignorant of current research, it is totally ignorant of the past sometimes sordid history of medicine. How many more times will we need to learn the lesson that we physicians don’t know everything yet? And how ignorant, self-serving, and downright mean-spirited it therefore is to totally ignore all the research that has been painstakingly compiled on fibromyalgia over the past three plus decades.

There is no fibromyalgianess... no more than there is lupusness or diabetesness or multiple sclerosisness or post-concussion syndromeness.

But there is definitely mean-spiritedness.

And that’s what really makes me mad about all this!



·           Kevin White, MD, PhD is a world-recognized expert in fibromyalgia research and staunch fibro advocate who has won multiple awards for his research, teaching and books. His most recent book –            BREAKING THRU THE FIBRO FOG: SCIENTIFIC PROOF FIBROMYALGIA IS REAL – has just won a Reader’s Favorite Book Award and is already selling on 6 continents. It is available through the publisher at http://wortleyroadbooks.com, through his website at http://www.thefibrofog.com/, through my webpage at amazon, and at all major book chains. 


15 comments:

  1. Very nice article. Impressive and informative.You have explained the concept of Fibromyalgia very well.At Dr. Park Acupuncture we not only treat the symptoms, of chronic pain, fibromyalgia, allergies, or the myriad of other diseases, but also work with you to identify and treat the root cause of the symptoms with Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.
    Acupuncture in Columbia MD

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  2. ALL THANKS TO DR WILLIAMS FOR THE GREAT DEED HE HAVE DONE FOR MY DAUGHTER?
    My daughter suffered from fibromyalgia for more than 12 years which we started experiencing in her when she turned 8 year and 5 months we all thought it will end but got even worse as days went by. We tried all several treatments and therapy prescribed by various doctors we met but to no avail, she always complain of joint stiffness, and have difficulty falling asleep. She usually tells me she feeling tired. This were steady disorder that disrupted her entire life, even at night she slept less because of this.It was during a casual conversation with a friend that i learned about Dr Williams herbal medicine I was able to contact him on his email address. and give him all the necessary information that he needed,few day later he sent me the herbal portion and his medicine was able to restore her back to normal and she is very okay now without any side effects whatsoever. If you have fibromyalgia, do not hesitate to contact him on drwilliams098765@gmail.com for advice and for his product. I hope this also helps someone out there

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  3. I am Sophie from Canada, I once suffered from a terrible and Chronic fibromhyalgia,since i was bone , the doctor told me there was no permanent cure i was given medications to slow down its progress, i constantly felt my health was deteriorating as i constantly had Painful menstrual periods,this ailment was really terrible especially when am going out with my friends, i have this constant disorder for about 31 years, this was really a terrible ailment ,on thin one day that i was going through the internet,and i came across a post of Mrs jessica on how his daughter was been cured from fibromhyalgia through the help of Dr Williams herbal product, I contacted this herbal doctor via his email and explain everything to him and make purchase of his product,few days later he sent me the herbal medicine through courier service, when i received the herbal medicine, i used it for 1 months and two weeks as prescribed by dr williams and i was totally cured within those week of usage,on thin now i have not experience any sign or characteristics again . for more information you can email him on drwilliams098675@gmail.com for help

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  4. "With Dr Williams,herbal medicine I felt very empowered after i started his medication and the results came very quickly I might add. Contrary to what my doctor had recommended for my health, (that fibromyalgia have no permanent cure) I have succeeded in less than 4 weeks to treat all the symptoms associated with my fibromyalgia (including the abdomen, back and neck pain ) and within 4 weeks, i was completely cured from fibromyalgia . Thank you so much for this terrific publication. and also i have recently experienced a symptom-free of irritability and join stiffness, which was nothing short of remarkable, considering the awful state i was in before I was introduced to dr williams life changing medication,for more information on how to get his medicine you can email him in drwilliam098675@gmail.com

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  5. "With Dr Williams,herbal medicine I felt very empowered after i started his medication and the results came very quickly I might add. Contrary to what my doctor had recommended for my health, (that fibromyalgia have no permanent cure) I have succeeded in less than 4 weeks to treat all the symptoms associated with my fibromyalgia (including the abdomen, back and neck pain ) and within 4 weeks, i was completely cured from fibromyalgia . Thank you so much for this terrific publication. and also i have recently experienced a symptom-free of irritability and join stiffness, which was nothing short of remarkable, considering the awful state i was in before I was introduced to dr williams life changing medication,for more information on how to get his medicine you can email him in drwilliam098675@gmail.com

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  6. As a sign of gratitude for how my son was saved from fibromyalgia , i decided to reach out to those still suffering from this.
    My son suffered fibromyalgia in the year 2013 and it was really tough and heartbreaking for me because he was my all and the symptoms were terrible, he always complain of joint stiffness, and he always have difficulty falling asleep . we tried various therapies prescribed by our neurologist but none could cure him. I searched for a cure and i saw a testimony by someone who was cured and so many other with similar body problem, and he left the contact of the doctor who had the cure to fibromyalgia . I never imagined fibromyalgia has a natural cure not until i contacted him and he assured me my son will be fine. I got the herbal medication he recommended and my son used it and in one months time he was fully okay even up till this moment he is so full of life. fibromyalgia has a cure and it is a herbal cure contact the doctor for more info on drwilliams098675@gmail.com on how to get the medication. Thanks for reading my story

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  7. CURE TO FIBROMYALGIA WITHOUT ANY SIDE EFFECT: My husband was diagnosed with fibromyalgia . My husbad fibromyalgia was something i don't understand he cry so bad that he was usually in bed for about 8 hours and soreness killers (even prescription strength) don't stop the weakness of the joint, even if he take triple the dosage. my husband symptoms was really so terrible,that we have to make hospital our home, and all the doctors would do is monitor it, prescribe him countless of control pills and pain medication with no positive result. until recently I contacted a Doctor who put an end to this problem. If you are having same problem with fibromyalgia contact Dr. William for advice and possible solution without any side effect (drwilliams098675@gmail.com

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  8. I am bold enough among many others to state that there is now a potent cure to this sickness but many are unaware of it. I discovered that I was infected with the virus 3 months ago, after a medical check-up. My doctor told me and I was shocked, confused and felt like my world has crumbled. I was dying slowly due to the announcement of my medical practitioner but he assured me that I could leave a normal life if I took my medications (as there was no medically known cure to Herpes). I went from churches to churches but soon found that my case needed urgent attention as I was growing lean due to fear of dying anytime soon. In a bid to look for a lasting solution to my predicament, I sought for solutions from the herbal world. I went online and searched for every powerful trado-medical practitioner that I could severe, cos I heard that the African Herbs had a cure to the Herpes syndrome. It was after a little time searching the web that I came across one Dr Itua(A powerful African Herbal Doctor), who offered to help me at a monetary fee. I had to comply as this was my final bus-stop to receiving a perfect healing. My last resolve was to take my life by myself, should this plan fail. At last it worked out well. He gave me some steps to follow and I meticulously carried out all his instructions. Last month, to be precise, I went back to the hospital to conduct another test and to my amazement, the results showed that negative,Dr Itua Can As Well Cure The Following Desease…Cancer,Hiv,Herpes, Hepatitis B,Liver Inflammatory,Diabetis,Fribroid, Dercum,Get Your Ex Back, You can free yourself of this Herpes virus by consulting this great African Herbal Doctor via this e-mail: drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com or call and whatsapp him on +2348149277967 He will help you and his herb medication is sure. he has the cure on all disease .You can talk to me on INSTAGRAM..tashamoore219....

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  9. Dr Williams,his medicine was extremely helpful to my daughter. I have had a daughter with fibromyalgia for 21 years now , and my doctor have prescribe me with different kinds of western drugs without no improvement in my daughter symptoms . I am so glad I have found Dr Williams medicine (as I was surfing the net for a solution and saw a recommendation for it on a women's health forum early this year). I have felt so empowered by the knowledge you have given me and I quickly self diagnosed the individual cause of my daughter fibromyalgia and armed with his clear instructions, I was finally able to beat this monster, in less than 4 weeks of using dr Williams medication on my daughter. she went for a checkup and it was clear that my daughter fibromyalgia were gone,you can also email him on drwilliams098675@gmail.com for help.

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  10. Hiv disease for the last 3 years and had pain hard to eat and cough are nightmares,especially the first year At this stage, the immune system is severely weakened, and the risk of contracting opportunistic infections is much greater. However, not everyone with HIV will go on to develop AIDS. The earlier you receive treatment, the better your outcome will be.I started taking ARV to avoid early death but I had faith in God that i would be healed someday.As a Hiv patent we are advise to be taking antiretroviral treatments to reduce our chance of transmitting the virus to others , few weeks ago i came on search on the internet if i could get any information on Hiv treatment with herbal medicine, on my search i saw a testimony of someone who has been healed from Hiv her name was Achima Abelard and other Herpes Virus patent Tasha Moore also giving testimony about this same man,Called Dr Itua Herbal Center.I was moved by the testimony and i contacted him by his Email.drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com We chatted and he send me a bottle of herbal medicine I drank it as he instructed me to.After drinking it he ask me to go for a test that how i ended my suffering life of Hiv patent,I'm cured and free of Arv Pills.I'm forever grateful to him Drituaherbalcenter.Here his contact Number +2348149277967...He assure me he can cure the following disease..Hiv,Cancer,Herpes Virus,Lyme Disease,Epilepsy, ,Bladder Cancer,Colorectal Cancer,Breast Cancer,Kidney Cancer,Leukemia,Lung Cancer,Non Hodgkin Lymphoma,Skin Cancer,Lupus,Uterine Cancer,Prostate Cancer, fibromyalgia ,ALS,Hepatitis,Copd,Parkinson disease.Genetic disease,Fibrodysplasia disease,Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome,Liver/Kidney Inflammatory,infertility, bowel disease ,Huntington's disease ,Diabetes,Fibroid...

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  11. GOD has certainly lead me here this hour because before sharing this I prayed he lead me to site where my testimony will become blessing to people lives. I found out 4years ago that I was infected with HIV because I was engaged to a man that i knew I should have never had in my life. Like most of us here the HOLY SPIRIT was warning me but I decided to do what I wanted . He never came out to tell me he had it I just happened to go through some old stuff he left at my house and there some antiviral meds appeared . I got checked and was diagnosed. It instantly felt like agony!!! The enemy tempt me with suicide,depression and all kinds of unhealthy emotion. I was looking for love in all the wrong places and people. The enemy kept speaking to me that my life was over.. But one day I quickly with tears in my eyes prayed to GOD for healing. And GOD showed me a vision that my cure is in nature I woke up prayed over it, gradually I started having passion for herbs then gradually I started using for treatment. One evening I think early February this year after my evening prayer I was on a site on herbal remedies for STD and a page was telling possible cure for herpes, then on peoples comments I saw testimonies of people telling how same DR yakubu have successfully cured them of herpes and he cured all manner of STD including HIV. I copied his contact.. .... That same night in my dream I was in the doctor office and the doctor telling me there’s been a mistake THAT I’M FREE FROM ANY DISEASE in my body. I woke up the next morning and prayed over it then contacted DR YAKUBU who immediately responded to me he talked to me and assured me of permanent cure if I finish taking certain quantity of his meds of which I ordered for immediately and started use. Within few weeks of use I noticed total relieved in my body system then went for a test and was confirmed negative and another test and the result was same. Glory be to GOD who cured me as he promised. God is real and he still saves humans through fellow humans. Reach DR YAKUBU through his e-mail;dryakubuherbalhealingclinic@gmail.com

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  12. Irrespective of receiving daily oral or future injectable depot therapies, these require health care visits for medication and monitoring of safety and response. If patients are treated early enough, before a lot of immune system damage has occurred, life expectancy is close to normal, as long as they remain on successful treatment. However, when patients stop therapy, virus rebounds to high levels in most patients, sometimes associated with severe illness because i have gone through this and even an increased risk of death. The aim of “cure”is ongoing but i still do believe my government made millions of ARV drugs instead of finding a cure. for ongoing therapy and monitoring. ARV alone cannot cure HIV as among the cells that are infected are very long-living CD4 memory cells and possibly other cells that act as long-term reservoirs. HIV can hide in these cells without being detected by the body’s immune system. Therefore even when ART completely blocks subsequent rounds of infection of cells, reservoirs that have been infected before therapy initiation persist and from these reservoirs HIV rebounds if therapy is stopped. “Cure” could either mean an eradication cure, which means to completely rid the body of reservoir virus or a functional HIV cure, where HIV may remain in reservoir cells but rebound to high levels is prevented after therapy interruption.Dr Itua Herbal Medicine makes me believes there is a hope for people suffering from,Parkinson's disease,Schizophrenia,Cancer,Scoliosis,Fibromyalgia,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity
    Syndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva.Fatal Familial Insomnia Factor V Leiden Mutation ,Epilepsy Dupuytren's disease,Desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor Diabetes ,Coeliac disease,Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic diseases.Hiv_ Aids,Herpe ,Copd,Diabetes,Hepatitis,I read about him online how he cure Tasha and Tara so i contacted him on drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com even talked on whatsapps +2348149277967 believe me it was easy i drank his herbal medicine for two weeks and i was cured just like that isn't Dr Itua a wonder man? Yes he is! I thank him so much so i will advise if you are suffering from one of those diseases Pls do contact him he's a nice man.

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  13. Hiv disease for the last 3 years and had pain hard to eat and cough are nightmares,especially the first year At this stage, the immune system is severely weakened, and the risk of contracting opportunistic infections is much greater. However, not everyone with HIV will go on to develop AIDS. The earlier you receive treatment, the better your outcome will be.I started taking ARV to avoid early death but I had faith in God that i would be healed someday.As a Hiv patent we are advise to be taking antiretroviral treatments to reduce our chance of transmitting the virus to others , few weeks ago i came on search on the internet if i could get any information on Hiv treatment with herbal medicine, on my search i saw a testimony of someone who has been healed from Hiv her name was Achima Abelard and other Herpes Virus patent Tasha Moore also giving testimony about this same man,Called Dr Itua Herbal Center.I was moved by the testimony and i contacted him by his Email.drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com We chatted and he send me a bottle of herbal medicine I drank it as he instructed me to.After drinking it he ask me to go for a test that how i ended my suffering life of Hiv patent,I'm cured and free of Arv Pills.I'm forever grateful to him Drituaherbalcenter.Here his contact Number +2348149277967...He assure me he can cure the following disease..Hiv,Cancer,Herpes Virus,Lyme Disease,Epilepsy, ,Bladder Cancer,Colorectal Cancer,Breast Cancer,Kidney Cancer,Leukemia,Lung Cancer,Non Hodgkin Lymphoma,Skin Cancer,Lupus,Uterine Cancer,Prostate Cancer, fibromyalgia ,ALS,Hepatitis,Copd,Parkinson disease.Genetic disease,Fibrodysplasia disease,Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome,Liver/Kidney Inflammatory,Men/Woman infertility, bowel disease ,Huntington's disease ,Diabetes,Fibroid...

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  14. It is no secret that I have a very deep and personal relationship with God. I have pushed and resisted that relationship this past year through all the bullshit I have had to go through living with Herpes but once again, God is bigger than my stubbornness and broke through that outbreak cold sore and all I had Genital Herpes. For me personally, hearing over and over how I am not good enough has really invaded my mind in the worst way possible. I completely shut down and I was just waking up like is this how life going to end this temporary herpes outbreak “fuck everybody with herpes if you know what I mean” but let's be honest here...It is a cowardly to say no to herbal medicine. It is fear based. And it is dishonest to what my heart wants. Don't build a wall around yourself because you are afraid of herbals made or taking a bold step especially when it's come to health issues and getting cure. So many young men/ women tell me over and over that Dr Itua is going to scam me but I give him a try to today I feel like no one will ever convince me about herbal medicine I accept Dr Itua herbal medicine because it's cure my herpes just two weeks of drinking it and i have been living for a year and months now I experience outbreak no more, You can contact him if you need his herbal medicine for any such diseases like, Herpes, Hepatitis, HIV,Epilepsy Infertility,Schizophrenia,Cancer,Scoliosis,Fibromyalgia,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva.Fatal Familial Insomnia Factor V Leiden Mutation ,Epilepsy Dupuytren's disease,Desmoplastic,Diabetes ,Coeliac disease,Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic, Love Spell,. Email..drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com then what's app.+2348149277967.... My advice to any sick men/women out there is simple... Be Always an open book. Be gut wrenching honest about yourself, your situation, and what you are all about. Don't hold anything back. Holding back will get you nowhere...maybe a one way ticket to lonelyville and that is NOT somewhere you want to be. So my final truth...and I'm just starting to grasp this one..

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  15. Natural herbs have cured so many illnesses that drugs and injections can't cure. I've seen the great importance of natural herbs and the wonderful work they have done in people's lives. I read people's testimonies online on how they were cured of Herpes, HPV, Diabetics , Hepatitis, Stomach bug , Chronic pains Fibro pains. etc. by herbal natural medicine, so I decided to contact the doctor because I know nature has the power to heal anything. I was diagnosed with Hsv for the past years but Dr Chike cured me with his natural herbs. Believe it or not. I am a living testimony. There is no harm trying natural herbs. Contact Dr on Whats-App . +233502715551. text/call via: +1 (719) 629 0982 , or you can also contact through his Facebook Page @ Dr Chike Herbal Remedy.

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