tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174025374821038087.post3895821734759503453..comments2024-01-29T17:51:55.608+00:00Comments on Nige's Diet & Nutrition Blog: Fibromyalgia: It's the food, again! (probably).Nigel Kinbrumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03368973941328529619noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174025374821038087.post-40910376094342989372014-11-09T12:39:01.061+00:002014-11-09T12:39:01.061+00:00Hi Raz,
If Einstein cited a quality study on ALS ...Hi Raz,<br /><br />If Einstein cited a quality study on ALS to support what he said about it, he could be more correct than a self-professed "expert" in ALS. I have no relevant qualifications in Diet, Nutrition & Fitness, so I present what I consider to be quality studies. I also expose what I consider to be poor studies posing as quality studies. I almost certainly get stuff wrong, which is why I like receiving comments.<br /><br />Facebook, Twitter, other blogs, personal enquiries & emails give me ideas for things to research on PubMed. Which reminds me...<br /><br />Cheers, NigeNigel Kinbrumhttp://nigeepoo.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174025374821038087.post-49440439344188313822014-11-07T19:41:53.066+00:002014-11-07T19:41:53.066+00:00If a GP/MD etc can't find anything wrong by do...If a GP/MD etc can't find anything wrong by doing blood tests, it's assumed that the patient is exaggerating the severity of their symptoms and that it's a mental issue. Cue the anti-D's. I was prescribed Fluoxetine in September 2001 when my GP couldn't understand my thyroid blood test results (TSH below RR, FT4 & FT3 low, but within RR) and I had to wait 'till November 2002 (I went private) to see an Endocrinologist. I had to discontinue anti-D's, as they made me feel even more weird than usual.<br /><br />I feel that Hadler is minimising patients' suffering as "You've got aches/pains/fatigue etc, 'cos you're getting old. Suck it up." However, <b>FM doesn't only afflict older people</b>. What if Hadler's wrong, and there <b>is</b> an underlying pathology, which current blood tests can't detect? That would majorly suck.Nigel Kinbrumhttp://nigeepoo.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174025374821038087.post-68728774156707536722014-11-06T13:50:39.505+00:002014-11-06T13:50:39.505+00:00"Medicalization of the "Worried Well.&qu..."Medicalization of the "Worried Well." implies that FM is in the patient's mind, as there are no obvious physical symptoms. I suspect that if Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers had painful joints but no swelling, they'd probably be prescribed http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amitriptyline , one of the medications used to treat FM.<br /><br />One FM sufferer is a nurse, who tells me that it's not just tender points, but intermittent cripplingly-severe fatigue, plus the things mentioned in the graphic at the top of my post.<br /><br />Another FM sufferer told me that she was fine until she had "a severe stomach upset", after which it started.<br /><br />"I suspect that few people suffering from persistent chronic pain suffer in silence."<br />I had no idea that so many of my Facebook friends (all female) had FM until I posted a link to the study & then the above post, as most of them <b>were</b> suffering in silence. Is it coincidence that the author of the book that you quoted from is male?Nigel Kinbrumhttp://nigeepoo.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9174025374821038087.post-55513681019225316242014-11-05T21:41:43.459+00:002014-11-05T21:41:43.459+00:00Fibromyalgia—a minority view:
"I suspect tha...<b>Fibromyalgia</b>—a minority view:<br /><i><br />"I suspect that few people suffering from persistent chronic pain suffer in silence. I further suspect that their narrative of distress depends on the listener...We have no data on how these unhappy people select a confidant, but their cultural setting is likely to influence this decision. If they are seduced by the blandishment of "scientific" or pseudo-scientific medicine, they will choose a physician or some other health practitioner.<br />As we have seen, the medical contract demands specific treatment for the cause of the pain, though the treatment provided, seemingly rational or not, is unlikely to have a scientific grounding. Such supposedly scientific treatment acts abound, generally predicated on a circularity of argument. The symptoms are ranked, a specific pathology is postulated, <b>and a neologic diagnostic label is applied that reiterates the presenting symptoms</b>...All the while, the treatment act is plying the patient with intimations about the pathophysiology of the painfulness,<br /><br />This sequence of events shows how individuals suffering persistent widespread pain learn to be patients with <b>"fibromyalgia."</b> The clinician can find no specific cause for the complaint of persistent widespread pain but feels compelled to discern that the patient dislikes being poked at particular body sites. <b>Since fibromyalgia is defined as a state of chronic widespread pain and tenderness at certain points, the clinician pronounces, "You have fibromyalgia."</b> Any clinician who applies the fibromyalgia label and promulgates a treatment act on that basis must disregard the observation that putatively diagnostic "tender points" are related to generalized pain and pain behavior. <b>Fibromyalgia denotes nothing more than persistent widespread pain. However, in the labelling, the patient is forever changed</b>. As the patient learns more about fibromyalgia, her narrative becomes laced with the new knowledge, which is then recited with an objectivity that approaches the dispassionate."<br /><br />[from Chapter 7: "Medicalization of the "Worried Well." in: Nortin M. Hadler, M.D. The Last Well Person. (2004) McGill-Queen's Univ. Pr.<br />p. 134-135] <br /><br />(note: Dr Hadler is Prof. of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology @ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,<br />and Attending Rheumatologist, UNC Hospitals)<br /></i>billy the knoreply@blogger.com