Comments on: Current Psychiatry "Gets" Fibromyalgia

By: Clarissa

Clarissa — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:36:11 +0000

You know, that was really nice to read your response because you are soo right. And sometimes, that is all what we just need to hear. And, I did. Sometimes, you do feel alone and it makes you nuts. hanks for taking the time to respond and for truly understanding what I was saying. I know, baby steps just like Bob Wiley. A great old movie me and my hubby can relate to. Maybe I will take a vacation from my problems too. Best

By: perpetualspiral

perpetualspiral — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:45:23 +0000

Clarissa, please see my (late) comment re: exercise – it doesn’t work for everyone, and pushing yourself only makes things worse.

By: perpetualspiral

perpetualspiral — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:43:34 +0000

I just want to say…hopefully Clarissa especially will see this, that exercise does not work for everybody. Because our sleeping is so poor, we often do not get enough delta sleep – the phase in which we repair our bodies of the micro damage caused by day to day living and especially exercise. Exercise works by tearing small fissures in muscle tissue, which a healthy body repairs and makes stronger during sleep – hence building stronger muscles. But unless we are getting enough of the right kind of sleep, we are not getting repaired. All we are doing is further damaging our bodies. I do not exercise as prescribed by doctors, even though I have Fibro. I believe that I also have CFS/ME, which explains the post-exertional fatigue that takes me 4 days to recover from a 20 minute session doing laps in the pool. I am tired of hearing “if you would exercise you would get better”. In my case it is bullshit. I only get worse. I take as many walks as I can, do some light yoga/stretches. But I am careful never to over do because I know I will never sleep well enough to repair the damage. We need to feel free to use whatever works for us, and feel free to NOT do what doesn’t.

By: E

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:46:24 +0000

What do you guys do about work? I am asking that question to the patients and the doctors of the patients. I am not getting cooperation at all from my doctors or my supervisors. I am in the military but don’t we have rights too? I am being marked low in employee reviews because I may be a few minutes late but there is no account for all the times I stay late to make up the time and beyond. What should I do? Shouldn’t my doctor write something to my supervisors and let them know that this person has sleep issues and may take a little longer to get going in the mornings? Responses that I have gotted about my sleep are “take your sleep meds earlier.” I do have a life, I do have to come home and fix my dinner and get ready for work the next day. Most days I don’t get home until 5 or 5:30pm. I take my sleeping pill at 9pm every night so that I am in the bed on my way to sleep by 10. I wake up between 6 and 6:30am. I am extremely fustrated at this point…Please help!

By: fibrohaven

fibrohaven — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:03:43 +0000

Clarissa you are entitled to your bad mood. Some days it just sucks! It is like for every step forward we take a step or two back. The whole thing is just illogical, especially when you are doing all of the “right things” and you still end up feeling like you’ve been run over by a truck and drugged with something that makes you tired and stupid.

I am with you. Feeling particularly frustrated with things myself lately. So what do we do? We keep moving forward and eventually we will make progress. Some days the progress will be easier to see than others. Some days it will feel like we can do nothing right. And then one day things will just be better. I am certain of it. We just have to hang on and keep taking our baby steps.

Baby steps my friend, baby steps.

By: fibrohaven

fibrohaven — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:56:34 +0000

Thank you Dr. Boydston. I appreciate your feedback.

I think more and more the medical community is beginning to open up to and understand the realities of Fibromyalgia. Articles like this help immensely. Your patients are fortunate to have a physician actively researching information on Fibromyalgia.

By: Clarissa

Clarissa — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:26:12 +0000

I understand all that was written in the article but I just get soo amazingly frustrated. I have changed my diet , I go to the gym and I have not overdone it and I am just totally beat tired. I am so exhausted that it has made me feel like I will never feel normal again despite all the changes I have made. I get all the emotion connection stuff but sometimes I feel like taking a break from all of that and just leaving it be. I have what I have, it is what it is and I accept it, even though I may not like it. I feel like I beat my head against the wall most the time, trying to figure out what is going to make me feel better, let alone trying to get people to understand it. I guess I’m just in a bad mood today. I am using my bad mood day up.

By: Dr. Robert Boydston

Dr. Robert Boydston — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:33:04 +0000

Fibrohaven,

I appreciate you posting this. It is an excellent article. Dr. Stanford’s approach, although drug based, is indeed straight forward.

Treating the WHOLE PERSON is the KEY to truly helping someone with this condition. As you know there are a lot of things that are simultaneously affecting the body of a patient with fibromyalgia.

I have found in my work with fibromyalgia patients that if I don’t take a step back and look at EVERYTHING, all at once, there is little chance for a big change.

Keep it up. I appreciate your work here. Thanks again for posting this article.

Dr. Robert Boydston