Guardian goes BPS on Fibromyalgia (Lady Gaga)

[Demepivo]

Guardian Science Editor Sarah Bosely has decided to earn the wrath of Fibromyalgia patients by getting psychologist NIck Fallon of Liverpool University to write about Lady Gaga & the illness

https://www.theguardian.com/science...myalgia-the-pain-behind-lady-gagas-poker-face

He uses the words "not all in the mind" but like Suzanne O' Sullivan goes onto to show what he really thinks.

The most popular theory as to why this might be proposes that it could be due to a sensitisation for pain processing in the brain, which may lie dormant or unnoticed until the triggering incident leads to the full-blown syndrome.

The link goes through to a piece by Daniel Clauw (a chum of Peter White who has endorsed his work)

Understanding what might cause such sensitisation is the focus of current research, and work to date points to structural and functional brain alterations.

Structural & functional!

There is some evidence for a genetic component as well as support for the influence of environmental factors, particularly psychological trauma during formative years. Lady Gaga, like many patients, has experienced past sexual abuse, and severe emotional trauma in adolescence or young adulthood could impact the development of brain mechanisms that might provide resilience and protect against the development of chronic pain.

How very psychosocial & so Esther Crawley

 

[Demepivo]

Dr Nick Fallon is a Research Fellow in Psychology at the University of Liverpool. His research uses neuroimaging to investigate the mechanisms of chronic pain and interactions with psychological factors. He is on twitter @nick_fallon.

 

[ChrisD]

''It doesn’t mean that the pain is ‘all in your head’, or any less real or debilitating. It simply means that, even when the pain affects the whole of Gaga’s five foot two frame, the mysterious mass occupying the uppermost 6 inches will always play a pivotal role.''

I've been thinking a lot lately about whether psychology affects other illnesses and diseases like Arthritis, MS etc. in the same way it would Fibromyalgia. I.e. is it entirely normal for a period of stress to exacerbate symptoms in any illness involving pain/fatigue/coordination/inflammation etc. In which case, this needs to be reiterated to quell the kind of ideas we are seeing in this Guardian article.

 

[Marco]

Frankly I don't have any real problem with the notion that psychological issues can exacerbate symptoms. I know that psychological/cognitive/emotional stressors can exacerbate my symptoms to the point of PEM and I can think of several plausible mechanisms to account for this. Does this mean that I believe my symptoms are 'psychological'? - not at all.

If these people believe that the symptoms in 'X' illness have a psychological origin; are exacerbated/perpetuated by psychological issues; can be treated using psychological therapies etc then they need to provide ROBUST evidence using OBJECTIVE measures. If they can then fine - I doubt anyone sensible would complain. Otherwise it's just speculative waffle.

 

[chipmunk1]

the childhood trauma story is an oldie but goodie. I wonder if anyone has ever been cured by these ideas?

I mean really cured not 'it helped me so much to understand more about myself "cured" '

 

[SueJohnPat]

If I take valtrex 500mg with Celebrex 200 mg twice a day my “ fibromyalgia “ pain gets 90% better. This is a modification of the Pridgen Protochol. I had high igg titer to Epstein Barr virus and pushed my doctor to give me this combination. I am still ill with chronic fatigue syndrome but I am much more active and am able to lead a more active lhappier life. I was / am a pharmacist. Fibromyalgia has distinct physical signs example tender points.

I believe the psychological aspect is pushed so we can’t get our disability insurance to pay out. Mine refused to pay saying it was “ psychological” which saved them a ton of money, I finally settled for a paltry sum. The ERISA laws are designed to protect insurance companies ex Cigna. The Cigna ceo David Cordani made 42 million last year. It pays to keep us as “ psyche “ patients.

Prior to this I had to go to pain management and was on fentanyl patches.

I think fibromyalgia is. ( in my case anyway) a symptom . I still need to take 1-2 tramadol 50mg a day but this is nothing compared to what I went through.

I had childhood trauma . So what I was 46 and had a great career and was very happily married and had a great life. It is outrageous that this is not being addressed and more real research given to this.

 

[chipmunk1]

BPS = British Psych Scam

 

[nettle_tea]

''It doesn’t mean that the pain is ‘all in your head’, or any less real or debilitating. It simply means that, even when the pain affects the whole of Gaga’s five foot two frame, the mysterious mass occupying the uppermost 6 inches will always play a pivotal role.''

I've been thinking a lot lately about whether psychology affects other illnesses and diseases like Arthritis, MS etc. in the same way it would Fibromyalgia. I.e. is it entirely normal for a period of stress to exacerbate symptoms in any illness involving pain/fatigue/coordination/inflammation etc. In which case, this needs to be reiterated to quell the kind of ideas we are seeing in this Guardian article.

Agreed! And yes, stress is a well known trigger for MS flares.

I don't doubt that years and years of severe depression/anxiety in my formative years probably did long-term damage to my body. It affected my sleep, diet, exercise habits, and vulnerability to viruses (I always got sick during finals in college). Not to mention the medication side effects. The brain is a part of the body, so there's no clear separation between "mental" and "physical" illness anyway. But none of this means my symptoms are "psychosomatic" - not any more than a heart attack is "psychosomatic" when it is triggered by stress.

 

[Large Donner]

It doesn’t mean that the pain is ‘all in your head’, or any less real or debilitating. It simply means that, even when the pain affects the whole of Gaga’s five foot two frame, the mysterious mass occupying the uppermost 6 inches will always play a pivotal role.''

So basically if you have a brain it will experience things otherwise you would be dead.

 

[Martin aka paused||M.E.]

The most popular theory as to why this might be proposes that it could be due to a sensitisation for pain processing in the brain, which may lie dormant or unnoticed until the triggering incident leads to the full-blown syndrome.

That is absolute nonsense and shows the arrogance of these psycho folks. He isn't well informed! There is a study (I think from 2013) that shows nerve damages in fibers in the skin. I think it's okay that he thinks that patients with fibro have a sensitisation in the brain. But this is ONLY a theory (the same goes with the "sexual abuse theory" where causality and correlation are messed up) while there is real EVIDENCE for the nerve damages. He talks to the guardian, to the public and should mention this!

These theories of psychology are often very ridiculous ... when I read those modern theories I find it as funny as reading Freud or C.G.Jung. If you want to be a good scientist in psychiatry you always have to mess up correlation and causality. And then you have to be very creative and BAM: New "evidence" of a psychological illness.

 

[nettle_tea]

That is absolute nonsense and shows the arrogance of these psycho folks. He isn't well informed!

Is the CNS sensitization model a psychological model, then? I didn't think it was, but I'm new to the research.

 

[humanrising]

I think some of the "psych" issues related to fibro with lady gaga is the fact that she declared that she got fibro as a punishment for selling her soul to the illuminati to become a "star".

I was heart broken when I heard this very talented performance artist was dealing with our terrible illness.

I also admit I thought well at least this outspoken young woman might bring some good awareness to ME and Fibro. then I read the article where she declares this crazy Hollywood cliché of selling ones soul for stardom . My was heart broken a second time, we sure didn't need is this type of publicity.