Abortion is NOT related to FMS!

I detest ignorant bigots. And I absolutely consider the following hate speech:

So like an HPV diagnosis in someone would almost guarantee that others would know the person’s potential morals or lack there of, and HIV almost always denotes a gay man, a diagnosis of fibromyalgia could potentially indicate a woman who has aborted a child. Just a thought.

Gosh - so all those males who have fibromyalgia were actually born as women, and had abortions before they had sex changes and developed FMS? Everybody who is HIV+ because of blood transfusions or other issues is a gay man?

I’ve never even considered having an abortion. My child certainly hasn’t had one, and she developed FMS when she was nine years old!

I did comment at the blogger’s site, giving her information on all the proof that FMS does exist and that our pain is real. I don’t believe she’ll ever approve the comment, because she doesn’t care about the truth — she just wants to spread her nasty propaganda.

June 3, 2008 Tags: abortion, bigots, Fibromyalgia, hate speech Posted in: Fibromyalgia One Comment

Review: Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease

I read Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease by Rosalind Joffe and Joan Friedlander a few months back, but for some reason my review on Amazon never showed up, and I didn’t think to keep a copy for myself. It seems to finally be there now, so I’ll put it here, too (slightly expanded).

This book is one the best I’ve ever found for those of us who have chronic illnesses, but want to continue working. It goes beyond the standard “coping tips” to talk bluntly about pacing yourself, searching for a job, keeping a job, negotiating with your employer for accommodations, and being self-employed. Topics like “when do I disclose a disability/illness?” are covered by authors who have extensive personal experience building their careers despite chronic illnesses.

The title does refer specifically to women, but I think the book can also be very useful for men. Likewise, there’s no reason to limit readership to people with autoimmune diseases.

I’ll be buying copies to send to some of my friends. I don’t plan to let mine out of my sight! I hope to get a copy of the accompanying workbook soon, as well.

Joffe’s blog, Working With Chronic Illness, is also good reading.

May 29, 2008 Tags: autoimmune disease, chronic illness, Joan Friedlander, Rosalind Joffee, working Posted in: Resources, disability, employment One Comment

Oxygen for CFS?

A research abstract from Dr. Paul Cheney offers an interesting conclusion.
Oxygen Toxicity as a Locus of Control for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
“We conclude that CFS is an oxygen toxic state and that oxygen toxicity status appears to determine outcome in therapeutic trials and is therefore, a locus of control in chronic fatigue syndrome.”

The possibility of an efficacious treatment for CFS is exciting. I’ll be watching the news for more information on this angle.

May 27, 2008 Tags: CFS, chronic+fatigue+syndrome, ME, oxygen, Paul+Cheney Posted in: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome One Comment

Fibromyalgia or Depression?

There are many people, especially doctors, who claim that fibromyalgia is just a symptom of depression. I’ve had both, and I know the difference quite well. They are very, very different.

Being in pain all the time can certainly lead to depression. That’s just logical. There are, however, people who have fibromyalgia who are not clinically depressed. Depression can also manifest as physical pain, but it is does not meet the criteria for fibromyalgia.

I was treated for depression for years before I developed FMS, though, and I truly believe that if I’d gotten proper treatment for mental health issues in my childhood (post-traumatic stress disorder and all the complications it brought, including major depressive disorder) I probably wouldn’t have developed FMS.

I never have trouble distinguishing between the two, or between either of them and CFS/ME, which I also have. They’re all quite different.

With FMS, the pain causes fatigue, and together they can (but don’t always) have an affect on your emotions. You may feel like doing something, but your body absolutely will not cooperate. There have been times when I’ve been feeling great, gone out to do something I was SO looking forward to — and nearly collapsed in the middle of everything when my body said, “All right, that’s it, no more. Done. Where’s the bed?” (We’ve joked that if I ever manage to get a scooter or electric wheelchair, it will have to have a remote control feature so that Sam can steer me on home when I’ve passed out.)

But serious clinical depression…it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got the physical energy or not. Logic doesn’t matter. Knowing that you’d feel better for having a nice, hot shower is utterly irrelevant. The fact that the telephone ringing is contributing to your headache, and you could make it stop by merely lifting up your arm up pushing a button, is irrelevant, because lifting your arm would take too much damned effort. Yes, somewhere, on some level, you may know that you’ll lose yet more function for not getting up and doing your exercises, but it’s less important than staring at the ceiling, or the pillow, or whatever is in front of your face right now. Not that you really make any kind of conscious value judgment or anything, but the staring has inertia going for it. Even if nothing IS hurting, even if you have all the energy in the world and you could do anything you just don’t care.

Remember that, the next time you hear someone claiming that FMS and depression are the same.

May 24, 2008 Tags: depression, Fibromyalgia, FMS, psychology Posted in: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Pain 4 Comments