What do you mean, Randy...? Your brother... it was after FM attacked?

@Narey - Yes it was my fellow family member (aka brother) who was attacking me. Some people think this is all because of the way you think. I even have questions about it as well. However I KNOW that it is more than just the way you think. I will say though by my experience a bad attitude or bad thinking will make things even worse.

so he was saying that the way you think caused it? He was blaming YOU for your fm? That's what I'm trying to get.

There is no easy one size fits all answer. There's not exact cause/effect. It's an interplay. Our emotions and thinking processes can affect our physical welfare, but also our physical sensations impact on how we respond! We can work on both, without any true expectation of a full and complete changearound of either!

Yes Narey, extremely well said! One side rocks the other side. Oh how true

I should have clarified this post better than I did. I just cant stand being attacked by someone else who has no idea what these FM / CFS symptoms are like and what they will do to you and your life. I now see why I have had such an obsession with getting a certain other member of DS who put up that video expelled. Ive started taking it as a personal attack and really it wasnt. I should just let it go. However, I still believe that the link on his about me page should be removed because it is all about selling a book.

I am sensitive when my family (who love me dearly and mean no harm) makes a joke if I say something that didn't quite come out correctly and then they, for example say..."must be the drugs!"
I should state that my boys are in their 20s, and they really are not trying to be insensitive, just funny (I have a bunch of jokesters here). When that happened and I let them know that I did not appreciate it, the one who said it apologized and stated, "come on, Mom, you know I'm only joking. Aren't you being a bit sensitive?" And I told him, YES, of course I am a sensitive! And IMHO, rightly so!

Randy, in your case, it doesn't sound as though your brother was good humorly joking with you. To have it said to you like the way you described, had to hurt and annoy you. It would have me. It sounds like he just doesn't get it, but that is no excuse for his behavior. I actually had to walk out on an RA doctor about a year ago for almost the same opinion.

Randy, as I said on another posting, I completely missed what happened, though I sort of 'get it'. And I can see how it may have also stirred up in you resentments and hurts from before, too... understandable. Happens to all of us from time to time. We're human.

Sunsetzzs, I have big kids too who tease and I tease along with , however there are times when I am more sensitive and I let them know it also. We are educating our children for compassion. There's a fine line and it's sort of wiggly. lol

Randy - I would guess you're doing the same thing I tend to do. There's so much anger, so much unfairness, and frankly, so much damned pain every day in my life that I am almost gleeful when I can focus on what I perceive to be an injustice. Whether I be right or wrong (in this case I'd say you're right, FYI).
Now, if you'll NOT allow yourself to go back there, and set your screen to ignore this salesperson and, if you have to, block his name in your subject area in your e-mail (I had to once - I've been here under other names before), you will be amazed at how that fibro fog can help you forget after about a week. And when you do think back, you won't be so upset, you'll be rather proud of your adult self for the way you handled it.

I've learned. Why do you think I have had other past screen names? :)

Gentle Hugs, Deep Breaths.

I think alot of us are very sensitive about this illness. We've had to deal with so many non-believers and then there are the ones that want to help us and don't know how. My brother did you try this did you see that commercail, there's a tv show about the power of the brain to heal. He means well but it gets old sometimes.

My question is how can we expect others to understand when we don't always understand, it's very frustrating.

Hey Randy,
I'm sorry you've been on the recieving end of this from your brother. Unfortunately, when there are still some docs that believe fibro is all in our heads and/or caused by depression it's hard for the average person to know different. The next time he, or anybody, tries to talk like this you might suggest they get educated about a subject before trying to discuss it. There are many studies now showing that many people with fibro have no mental health issues, or have only gotten depressed since living with the chronic pain of fibro. Thus proving it more likely that fibro causes depression and not the other way around. Hang in there, Randy. Ignorant people are annoying but they annoying but they are not the be all end all. You know, I know, we all know the horrible truth of fibro pain. One day everyone else will to. Hugs

Positive thinking is great, but it's not a cure-all, and it can't fix physical illnesses---it can help you deal with them, that's all. Wish people would understand that, but until it happens to them, it's usually a no-go. I'm currently fighting off a minister who thinks my thyroid cyst "embodies negative self-talk" and is because I eat dairy. Huh? I just laugh and shrug such folks off. They usually maen well, after all, and it isn't really their fault they come off so... hmm... clueless, I guess is the kind word.

Sorry your bro was so unhelpful.

As I said in my introduction letter here on this post over a week ago, if someone attacks me over FM / CFS symptoms I respond like a cat having it's tail stepped on. I respond instantly with out even having to think. I just will not tolerate it. Woe to the person who does this to me for I don't back down regardless of who are what they are. A person who doesn't care anymore cannot be intimidated and I am that person.