Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
Avatar universal

What do you do when nobody believes in fibro?

I have suffered for years with all the symptoms of fibro but had no idea it existed.
Then after months of tests and questions I was finally diagnosed which frankly did not make me any better!
As I was letting friends and family know my results I was staggered by how many people where telling me either they had it or they know someone who has it.
The biggest hurdle I have at the moment is that the vast majority of people in my neck of the woods simply do not believe fibro even exists, in fact most think it is a made up illness and just something to fob off people when they can't find anything wrong.
It has gotten so bad that I have stopped telling people about my fibro and just say something like "oh you wouldn't believe me if I told you".
Personally I don't care what it is called and I don't care what it is. All I know is my pain is very real and there is no treatment up to no that has helped in any real way.
I am so very down about all of this and even told my doctor about it who immediately put a control on my drugs and put me on a watch list, very constructive and just made things worse!
So please tell me what do I do and how do I convince people that it is real?
3 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
363281 tn?1643235611
Hello~Unfortunately, when a person is diagnosed with fibro, folks just believe it is all in their head, it is sad, I go through it all the time, I finally just don't tell others how I feel or just say I hurt all over. If they don't believe me, I just think the heck with them, they are not worth my time anyway, true friends will believe you. It seems like if you have any other illness like a sore throat, heart issues, etc, people take you serious, but things that really don't have a clear-cut diagnosis or cover a wide range of symptoms, people think you are lying.

I am sorry your doctor put you on a control list, that is not right, wasn't he the one that told you that you had fibro in the first place?

I wish I had an answer as to how to convince people, but sadly, if they are not going to believe you, nothing you can say will change their minds, maybe one day if they are diagnosed with it, they will understand.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Yo0u tell them "I have Fibro- Fibro can best be explained this way... Picture a battery- when the battery gets drained, you recharge it- people sleep at night and recharge to 100% by morning. People with Fibro only get to recharge to about 1/2 or even 1/4 by morning because of a defect- and by noone they are so drained they need to recharge again to make it through the rest of the day', and we never get to over 1/2 charge- so everything is much more effort for us because our bodies are running low on energy all the time... Oh, and our muscles and joints hurt all the time- we don't get breaks from that like a normal person does- Our muscles can't keep up with our normal every day lifestyles- and it's tough!"
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Thank you very much for this description. That will hopefully help people!  
Avatar universal
I've given up trying to convince anyone of anything these days. I've suffered the most horrible pain ever,
along with many otr symptoms. I received the same response when diagnosed with ADHD, which I didn't believe myself....along with fibro too! Recently I saw an orthopedic doctor. who quickly dismissed the DX
despite 3 previous specialists gave same diagnosis....one nurse ? forgot term/rheumatologist, and  pain specialist. The bone dr. didn't even examine
me regarding the fibro DX.....I was offended that he
had contempt prior to investigation.
Trouble with suggestions of  going to dr. after dr. to get the proper diagnosis that can rack up the billing beyond our means. My insurance is limited, so that's
not really not a solution. All the dr.' s I've seen have
simply threw me in a corner, doled out a prescription, and hoped I didn't show up again.
No one pays attention to us "crabby, complaining farts and we are ignored. It' s  called shoving us onto the death panel.  This is reality. I've detected the switch since I hit my 60's,
What does work is doing my own research, keeping an open mind to alternative medicines including homeopathy, and being willing to keep plugging. I
know this is old hat advice, but it's worth  attention.
It took me 9 years before I could get any dr. to investigate all the pain I lived with (from several sources) Not until a few weeks, did I get an appt.to
have the condition checked out.( attitude us we are
looking for pain pills. Yuck...doesn' t work,and causes more problems) A major portion of pain is from:
Adult spinal deformity, which, being ignored, has
been allowed to create turn me into a major mess.

Don't allow that to happen to you. Keep the faith.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Fibromyalgia Community

Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.