Peoples thoughts on this. 'I'm a DR with Fibromyalgia! Here's what I wish people understood about it'

[Hypo101]

medicalhealthinfo.com/im-a-...

A lot of us here and some doctors believe fibromylagia us undtreated/undertreated thyroid disease/hashimotos. I'm one of them. What are your guys thoughts?

[Clutter]

Hypo101,

I believe fibromyalgia is also caused by things other than low thyroid levels. Many fibro patients continue to suffer long after thyroid levels are euthyroid.

[fibrolinda in reply to Clutter]

Yup, me 😩 the journey continues

[greygoose]

Still sounds like thyroid to me.

1. "This changed in 2002, when a ground-breaking study showed abnormalities in how the brain processes pain in fibromyalgia." (the hyphen is mine)

Has anybody ever studied how the brain processes pain in hypothyroidism? I guess not.

2. Stress. Adrenals? Has anybody considered adrenal fatigue in fibro sufferers and thought that maybe low thyroid hormone might be stressing the adrenals?

3. Having low thyroid hormones deprives you of sleep. So many hypos complain of insomnia (adrenals again?) and suffer from sleep apnea, etc.

4. Most doctors know nothing about thyroid. Is that their fault? Who knows!

5. There's no cure for thyroid problems, either, but they can be managed. Maybe fibro would be better managed is they took a little thyroid hormone.

The problem with Fibromyalgia is that it's a good excuse. Because there are no tests for it, doctors can hand out 'diagnoses' of fibro like handing out sweets, brochures or antidepressants. That doesn't mean that you've actually got a disease called Fibromyalgia. It just means that they aren't going to look any further for the cause of your illness.

When I say fibro doesn't exist, I don't mean the pain and suffering doesn't exist. I'm quite sure it does. But, something must be causing that pain and suffering, and I very much doubt it is a new mystery 'disease' called Fibromyalgia - which just means 'pain in the muscles' - blinding you with scientific names, comes to mind.

It might not be due to thyroid/Hashi's, it could be adrenals, or nutritional deficiencies, or some other hormonal imbalance, or something else entirely. But do doctors search for any of these? No, they don't. They are content to hand you down their 'diagnosis', like the Pope handing down an edict, and a packet of pain killers and send you on your not-so-merry way. Next, please!

[Marz]

I read recently that Fibro is caused by something to do with the hands Big Pharma are currently researching a pill that could sort this hand problem. Of course it will earn them a princely sum. Will see if I can find the article

healthline.com/health-news/...

I see the article was back in 2013 ....

[Coastwalker in reply to Marz]

I recall this hand/Fibro thing Marz, thought the same too, yet another pill.

Also isn't Fibro is a symptom of B12 Deficiency. ?

I saw a petition on another HU forum just recently asking for Fibromyalgia to be now classed as neurological. (or similar)

[Marz in reply to Coastwalker]

There are many reasons people suffer from painful muscles - Low VitD - Low Thyroid - Low cortisol - Low B12 - lots of thing need to be checked and excluded.

[Coastwalker in reply to Marz]

I love it when you remind me, forgot about the low cortisol, Oh! and not forgetting Hubby's hurting muscles was down to too much steroid in his asthma inhaler.

[Lulu_65]

Totally agree. My timeline of anecdotal evidence:

2006 - treated for an overactive thyroid which 'cleared up' in a few months

2008 - diagnosed with fibromyalgia after loads of tests ruled out other causes

2016 - diagnosed with hashimoto hypo

In between times had lots of episodes of sudden unexplained weight loss and weight gain, tiredness, depression, aches and pains, over activity etc etc etc

So absolutely agree that the above is all linked, I'm certain if I'd had the test for antibodies 10 years ago they'd have been raised

Hey ho.

Now, after years of going to gym and Pilates to ensure I stay fit and well, at the age of 50 I can't walk up the stairs without taking a break. My 72 year old mother can run rings round me

[Arab in reply to Lulu_65]

I'm right there with you on this Lulu_65. Same symptoms but no diagnosis as although my antibodies are raised, my TSH is in range, so no further blood tests at the doctors.

Muscles and tendons screaming at the moment. Don't quite know how to tackle this.

Arab. 🙂

[fibrolinda]

As someone diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2001, finally, I am trying to find out if hypothyroidism is the cause or just part of. So far Jury is still out. Started NDT last September, all supplements I take are as per info from this great forum. My b12 was low as was iron now good, well b12 got a little high 😊 As I seem to be going backwards, well I am with symptoms returning with bloods saying otherwise and even after increasing so T3 is slightly over range. I have ordered t3 and will try t3 only for a few months as think I have peripheral tissue resistance. So... we will see😃 fingers painfully crossed

[shaws Administrator in reply to fibrolinda]

See my links on this post

[fibrolinda in reply to shaws]

Thanks Shaws 😊 have so much info on/from Dr Lowe's work but never enough. Over £800 for his book just a wee bit out of my price range 😩 Trying to use all I can find (huge amount from your links over the past year... thank you so much☺) best my foggy brain will allow

[shaws Administrator in reply to fibrolinda]

I believe his book is an academic one and might be way out of our (mine anyway) depth. That's why it has become so expensive and rare nowadays and it was tragic that an accident caused his early demise. The fact too that he gave up his 'affiliations' so he could continue on the path he chose to help patients against the 'rules' of the day and the 'authorities' couldn't chase him like they did Dr S and Dr P. for doing as they were taught as students.

[lc1973]

I was diagnosed with hashimotos before being diagnosed as having fibromyalgia, and i believe the diagnosis came about when i was quite naive with my thyroid treatment in trusting that i was being adequately medicated which i clearly was not because when my medication was increased a lot of the fibro symptoms went away, however i am a little sceptical and i still think that the fibro is undertreated thyroid and certainly some doctors i have seen are of a similar opinion; but in saying that i still feel pretty rotten and my thyroid medication is getting optimal so maybe it is the low nutrients like the B12, Vit D, Folate, Ferritin etc causing the problem. It is my personal opinion that i have never been happy with the fibro label most probably because there are no scientific tests to prove it...sure i have had the pressure test at the rheumotologists which confirmed fibro and im sure if i was prodded in the same way everything still hurts but my argument is that the thyroid has caused this in my case my being less active due to lack of energy etc. I wonder though if i would feel differently if i was not diagnosed with low thyroid and had all of these symptoms and needed to have a name for the group of symptoms i was feeling? or is fibro pre low thyroid or undertreated low thyroid or adrenal even? I know there are quite a few folk on here who have low thyroid and fibro the same as me and there are probably a number of folk trying to get a diagnosis who have fibro who may later get a diagnosis of low thyroid? Would be interesting to know...i feel a survey coming on. But please dont think for one minute that im suggesting that fibro symptoms are not real.

[shaws Administrator]

Dr Lowe believed it was caused by Thyroid Hormone Resistance after 25 years of research i.e. person required large doses of T3 in order to recover.

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