That's basically how they felt in the early 80's. Blame it on the opposite political party of your particular beliefs. That's what I do.

That would be bad news.. if only we could touch them and let them feel what we feel. even for 10minutes... think they would change their tune...

Insurance is a joke... we are mostly the only country without health care.... its so very sad... thanks for the post.. :)

I'm with Sprawling. The insurance companies hate paying out, and they also know most psych pros will not even take any insurers b/c for 20-30 years the insurers are so slow paying that the psychs won't take them. (See how that goes in a circle? Welcome to the world of mental health care in America. And people wonder why we have issues?) The insurers are trying this as an end run around the "no exmpetion for pre-existing" laws and the other laws that prevent them from dropping coverage entirely for people with chronic illnesses (like FM, diabetes, epilepsy, you name it). Lobbyists at work.

Time to write the letters that they never read...
BTW, Trish, I disagree. We have fabulous health care. We simply aren't allowed to get it b/c we can't PAY for it!

I don't pretend to understand this completely, but it sounds like it's all about this one doctor's belief that fibromyalgia be labeled as a mental disorder. Hopefully everybody else won't concur.

They used to believe that Diabetes was nothing but a mental disorder too. Patients years ago used to be put in an institution prior to someone discovering what diabetes truly was.

I don't get spooked by these kinds of posts anymore. Stupid truly is what stupid does.

What it's time to do is to take a good look into this one doctors credentials to see what they know about Fibromyalgia.
Just find it rather funny how this evolves after there is evidence from the scans that fibro does exist. Kinda hard to justify it being a mental condition when it shows up on scans?

First, remember that this is "just one guy." That doesn't mean it's not a concern - it is - but also read carefully the description in the DSM and pay attention to the phrase "...symptoms must be significantly distressing or disruptive to daily life and must be accompanied by excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors."

Excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors would be indicative of a psychiatric concern whether you had a physical illness or not. My concern is always "who gets to decide what's excessive?"

It's being discussed, it's being addressed. Doesn't mean it's not cause for concern, but it's not being ignored on the side of right.

Leo, whether the letters are read depends on where you send them. During the public comment period for the opioid issue, the FDA read every single comment, but there were so few I think they really believed most people didn't care. It's important to make sure you're sending those letters to the place where they count, and it's important just to send them, because most people don't. I can only assume that's because they think it doesn't matter. It does.

Bad news.drs already dismiss patients concerns far too often as anxiety or depression.another favorite of theirs is somatic disorder.Is easier for drs and insurance companies to label what they dont understand or havent been able to figure out yet as just one more crazy person.i thought we were past this in 2013.guess not.Already too many drs think of fibro as mental disorder or wont even acknowledge its real.

sorry also want to say ...of course fibromyalgia symptoms are distressing and significantly disrupt our daily activities.We are in PAIN and exhausted.how could they not.

He's a f*cking d*ck is all I can say. I apologize to those who oppose bad language but for me no other words are adequate enough to describe people like this.

I hope he gets aggressive FM. I know that's not very karmic peace on my part but really people like him get me mad.
They think having letters after their name makes them a "god".
I take it he took the Hypoccratic oath. Do no harm. And what he is suggesting IS harmful to us who are truly suffering and it's not in our heads. I so want to be running and biking and traveling and frigging doing things.

I hope that the majority rules and this "doctor's" proposals get dismissed and forgotten about.

Here's some more finding by this idiot that will make your blood boil:

The End of Fibromyalgia? A View from the Defense

By Della Welch

The term fibromyalgia was coined by the American Rheumatology Association in 1990. However, there have been many changes in the criteria since that time. Currently, Dr. Frederick Wolfe, the chair of the American Rheumatological Committee, has stated that he no longer thinks of fibromyalgia as a disease, but only as a "clinical term" (Wolfe 1997, pp.


1247-49). The following are some reasons a defense may use to question the validity of a fibromyalgia diagnosis:
1.The cat is out of the bag. The American Rheumatology Association's criteria of 11 out of 18 tender points has been published so that everyone can see where the tender points are and what symptoms one must have in order to have a "positive examination."
2.Fibromyalgia relies on self-reporting. The diagnosis is based on the applicant's self-reporting of symptoms. In other words, "I touch, you hurt." Applicants may tend to be very self-serving during the examination.
3.Fibromyalgia cannot occur as a result of trauma. The recommendation of the 1996 revision of the American Rheumatology Association excluded "reactive" and "posttraumatic fibromyalgia" as a cause of fibromyalgia (Wolfe 1996, p. 537). Based on the association's criteria, this would appear to exclude car accidents, falls and other traumatic incidents as acceptable causes of fibromyalgia.
4.Fibromyalgia treatment should not continue forever. Assuming that a judge would decide that there is a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, treatment should not go on forever and should be limited to item two of the 1996 Vancouver consensus report. This section states: "Therapies should not be continuous or indefinite. The goal of therapy is to make the patient independent." Accordingly, there should not be long periods of temporary disability or extensive future medical treatments for fibromyalgia patients.
5.Fibromyalgia is not disabling. Dr. Frederick Wolfe makes a clear statement that "people with fibromyalgia should not be considered disabled" (Wolfe 1997). Accordingly, people with fibromyalgia can work. In the 1996 case of Yeager v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company (88 F 3rd 376 [6th circuit]), the plaintiff with fibromyalgia was found by the doctor to be capable of performing 95% of his work functions and was not disabled (p. 382). The Yeager case is not a worker's compensation case, but is well-reasoned.
6.Fibromyalgia is resistant to treatment, and it is unknown exactly what the best treatment is. The treatment for fibromyalgia is unclear. Thus, applicants might not be able to address all issues in order to prove their case or to establish a need for continuing medical treatment for fibromyalgia.
7.Fibromyalgia has three elements. Experts often forget to describe all three elements in their diagnosis. The three elements are: (1) Pain in eleven out of 18 tender points; (2) widespread pain in three of four quadrants; and (3) pain for a minimum of three months. It is difficult to see how a doctor on one examination could diagnose widespread pain for three months. Further, when tender points "wax and wane," it is hard to know whether the tender points are waxing or waning on the date of the patient's examination. The skills of the examiner in applying pressure to the tender points often differ as well.
8.Fibromyalgia has a sleeping component. Often, the practitioner does not explore the sleeping conditions of the applicant. A practitioner may note that the applicant drinks six cups of coffee a day, then wonder why the applicant stays awake.
9.New case law may make fibromyalgia more difficult to prove. A major development from the United States Supreme Court may make it difficult for applicants with controversial conditions such as fibromyalgia to recover. The most recent U.S. Supreme Court case on the issue of expert testimony was Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael (March 23, 1999; 119 5 ct. 1167 [199]).

A man was injured when one of the company's tires failed. The plaintiff, Patrick Carmichael, had as an expert Dennis Carlson, a mechanical engineer, who testified that the failure could have been caused by a design or manufacturing defect, which he could neither specify nor identify. Kumho moved to exclude the evidence of this expert. As a result of this case, the court held that the trial judge is now the gatekeeper and determines the reliability and admissibility of expert evidence. The judge must make sure that the expert's opinions are based on "scientific principles."

The bottom line from the Kumho case is that "intellectual rigor" must be used in evaluating expert testimony. The defense may argue that Kumho means the following for factors should be cited in evaluating expert testimony (Kumho referred to a previously decided 1993 case, Daubert v. Merrill Dow, Inc.). The four factors are:
1.whether the expert's methodology can be tested;
2.whether it has been subjected to peer review and publications;
3.its potential rate of error; and
4.whether it has gained general acceptance in the relevant scientific community.

In conclusion, with all of the conflicts going on in the scientific community over whether fibromyalgia exists, it might appear that fibromyalgia cannot pass the rigors of the Kumho case. Furthermore, broader issues are created for the acupuncture community in reviewing Kumho and applying it to acupuncture in general. Much of acupuncture methodology has not been tested in peer review articles. Since Kumho is so new, we can only wait and see how this case will ultimately be applied in acupuncture cases.

As a defense attorney, the following might be a good recommended checklist for fibromyalgia cases:
1.Contend that the applicant does not have fibromyalgia and may have something else.
2.Contend that fibromyalgia was not caused, aggravated or exacerbated by work. If work did "light up fibromyalgia," for how long? Causation is difficult to establish due to Dr. Wolfe's denouncing the criteria, the differences among professionals on the tender points checked, and the conflicts on what causes or aggravates fibromyalgia.
3.Contend hat if the applicant does have fibromyalgia, it was a pre-existing condition and request apportionment.
4.Look to see if histories and current activity levels are accurate.

References
Wolfe F. Vancouver Fibromyalgia Consensus Group. The fibromyalgia syndrome: a consensus report on fibromyalgia and disability. Journal of Rheumatology 1996;23:534-9.
Wolfe F. The fibromyalgia problem. Journal of Rheumatology 1997;27(7):1247-49.

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This Dr. Wolfe is the one quoted at the end of every article about new blood tests and findings on fibro who poo-poos it by saying oh, I have a questionnaire that is cheaper or people with depression also have the bio marker. He is very influential and we have to hope the weight of research will discredit him.

Here is an article from the New York Times that gives me some hope. It seems to often forgotten that the brain is a part of the human body.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/health/psychiatrys-new-guide-falls-short-experts-say.html?_r=0

Several things jumped out at me - first, "somatic disorder" doesn't mean it's in our heads. The definition is "Somatization disorder is a long-term (chronic) condition in which a person has physical symptoms that involve more than one part of the body, but no physical cause can be found." That pretty much describes fibromyalgia at this point, but in no way suggests it's imaginary or a psychiatric disorder.

Second, Dr. Wolfe is quoted because he's one of those people who has made himself available to media. Most doctors have no desire to be celebrities, and the fact that his name is all over the place doesn't give him any more credibility in the medical community than any other individual.

Third, the Supreme Court decision referenced was many years ago, but the defenses are still a problem as I have experienced personally. I was in an auto accident that made my fibro symptoms much worse - they never returned to their pre-accident state - and there is absolutely no way to demonstrate or prove that. Shame on anyone in the medical community who advises defense attorneys on how to keep disabled people from prevailing when their pain is someone else's fault.

Last, yes the symptoms are distressing and disruptive - that's a given - but the full criteria also includes "...and must be accompanied by excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors." That's where the line is crossed into what might legitimately be a psychiatric issue. That doesn't mean fibromyalgia is a psychiatric issue, but there are those behaviors and thought patterns that some people develop that can actually make us worse. That's the real reason Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is suggested - to ensure that mental attitudes and thoughts are not hindering treatment or improvement.

What I think of Dr Wolfe wouldn't be polite to say :)

Peace
Do you think I covered it in my previous post #9.

Would that be close? Lol :)

Naturegirl you're right. I'll just second what you so eloquently didn't say LOL