Is fibromyalgia fake? 5 fibro myths debunked

 You may have landed on this page because you googled “Is fibromyalgia fake” looking to confirm that someone in your life is a lazy hypochondriac. Well unfortunately for you ( but fortunate for them) fibromyalgia is real. Now don’t get me wrong, Fibromyalgia is overdiagnosed. Many people who have chronic pain issues end up getting thrown a fibro diagnosis because their doctor is too lazy to figure out what is really wrong. Still, you’re here because somebody in your life is experiencing pain and illness and is facing a fibromyalgia diagnosis.  You’re in the right place because here are 5 Fibromyalgia myths I’m debunking.

1. Fibromyalgia Myths: People with fibromyalgia are just drug addicts.

All fibromyalgia patients are high on painkillers making them druggies of the worst sort. These drugs are just handed out by doctors like candy, right? Not exactly.

I have addressed this more times than I can count, you can read more at any of the articles below:

Why people with chronic pain take opioids

Chronic pain and the opioid crisis: How a myth defines treatment for pain patients

The real opioid crisis is what’s happening to people with chronic pain

How is Fibromyalgia so painful and what does the pain feel like?

And finally, read here about the high suicide risk for people with chronic pain. Sounds like a picnic huh?

2. People with Fibromyalgia can’t be in that much pain

There’s a lot we don’t know about fibromyalgia, but researchers have recently been learning more. In people who have fibromyalgia, the brain, and spinal cord process pain signals differently resulting in sensory overload, That’s why FIbromyalgia patients react strongly to touch and pressure, with a heightened sensitivity to pain. It is a real physiological and neurochemical problem. We can’t even shower without pain.

People with Fibromyalgia often report trouble with:

  • chronic pain and tenderness
  • sensitivity to sounds
  • sensitivity to smells
  • sensitivity to temperature changes
  • sensitivity to touch

Everyone’s bodies react to all kinds of noise, flashing or bright lights, loud people, strong smells, and chaos. But with Fibromyalgia our bodies can have a hard time processing all of this at once. We’re unable to tune things out and our senses are bombarding our brains with information that our brains can’t handle.

3. It’s easy to get disability benefits for Fibromyalgia.

Many patients have to wait years in order to receive disability payments. They are turned down two or three times and in the meantime, they are unable to work and are living on nothing. Even if they win eventually, they aren’t generally living high on the disability hog, the most money I’ve ever heard of somebody receiving was $800. Good luck paying rent and medical bills on that. And if you go even 50 cents over the income line, you lose all assistance. That is why the United States still doesn’t have marriage equality. Disabled people can’t get married without losing benefits and putting themselves in a potentially abusive situation.

To learn more look at this article about how disability testing for fibromyalgia is often misleading and leads to inaccurate results and denial of benefits. Read here about all the things that fibromyalgia patients have to take into account and figure out when they can no longer work.

4. Fibromyalgia only affects women

While 75-95 % of people with Fibromyalgia are women, men can also be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Out of the 10 million adults affected in the U.S., men make up approximately 1 million.

5. Fibromyalgia Myths: People with Fibromyalgia are just lazy

Despite what most people think it’s actually not fun to be in pain all the time. It’s also not fun to be forced into resting a lot resulting in you missing out on all the fun that other people are having. I don’t know about you but I absolutely love staying home while everyone else gets to go out and do things! I love that every time I walk for any period of time I end up in horrible pain! It is so freakin fun, you should try it too!

Fibromyalgia is not a fake disease. It is however a syndrome that causes pain and fatigue

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7 thoughts on “Is fibromyalgia fake? 5 fibro myths debunked

    1. Hi, I live in the UK and can say fibro is definitely real , not all sufferers live off tax payers money , I have fibro and work two jobs , one of which is elderly care , yes I do live in pain , get extremely tired and can no longer cycle ,go for long walks or always able to even lift up my grandbabies, but lazy I am not

  1. Fibromyalgia is absolutely fake. They needed a diagnosis to throw on those who desire to mooch for a living. What better way to get their disability when they don’t have a real disability… constant, unidentifiable pain.. how convenient.

    1. Yeah me as a 16 year old laying awake at night crying my eyes out from the sheer pain burning throughout my body that nobody but I can see. Me not even being able to eat without throwing it up and in the process becoming weaker and weaker, feeling like I would literally take a bullet to the head than feel this, knowing that it could be lifelong? Yeah, fuck off, retard.

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