ok, don't flame me. what exactly is fibro?
the people who are fibromyalgic would be best to describe it to me, rather than wikipedia and other internet sources.

i am under the impression that it is almost an unbearable pain (be it in the abdomenal area or throughout the body.)

ok, the real reason i ask is that some days all i feel like doing is smoking and staying in bed to avoid the agony of movement.

i don't think that i suffer from this relatively new diagnosis, but i have never been able to find consistent information on this subject.

again, don't flame me--i am only looking for answers. did kcob suffer from fibro? it at least seems that the pain he talked about was indeed chronic and severe.

-bones

btw, i am just absolutely interested in this subject.

...in no way do i intend to pursue medicine for this by pretending to have it or by having an episode of hypochondriasis.

so, how do you live with pain every second unless you treat it medically?
i know it must be pretty unbearable, at times that vary in degrees.
that is incredible!

Its very hard to explain because it's different for a lot of people. Some days I feel bruised around my torso, like I got beat up. Some days I have the real bad body aches - you know, the kind you get when you have a real high fever. Sometimes I will have my keys in my hand and spend 10 minutes looking for them. Your body aches. You feel like [censored]. And if you over-do it, you take longer than the normal person to recouperate from it. I honestly think mine is not exactly Fibro, but PTSD from a near-fatal car accident I was in. I really think that and the severe panic I face go hand in hand. Just no one wants to treat it - PTSD is for guys who come back from war. God bless them, and I would hate to have that happen to me, but other things can trigger it to. I just don't know.

Some days are good. Others not so good. Like I said, it varies from person to person. A healthy lifestyle and being gentle to yourself and in tune with yourself makes all the difference.

Try to checkout http://www.medscorp.com and http://www.medscorpvip.com, they have loads of drugs, used them since 2001, now they send mail with tracking, the coolest by far I tried.

I was first diagnosed during a time that I was being treated for Endometriosis. My best understanding is that because I feel pain in multiple areas at most times, and I
feel pain more intensly than I should, apparently, I have this disorder. I also run a fever quite frequently, but that doesn't seem to be a part of this disorder. I have a constant throbbing headache, I have TMJ and as a result of all of this, I have depression and anxiety, the anxiety has gotten much worse in the last year. I don't know if it is related, but I also have arthritis, and tendonitis, in my
right ankle as a result of breaking it years ago. I have come to expect pain daily, I just try to keep it at a bearable level, it's rough as I am a single mom, and have to
keep going if at all possible.

Despite the fact that there are no real objective tests for fibro, I think it would be a very hard disorder to "fake" nor do I think that it would be one that a hypochondriac would be likely to mimic. The signs and symptoms, though varied from person to person do have a number of constants. The tender points are pretty universal and believe it or not, I think would be extremely difficult to "fake" a reaction to a tender point. My guess is that many doctors have received a kick in the knee, face or other area by being unprepared for the reaction from a patient if they push on a tender point
BTW....IMO, a supposed hypochondriac is not one who is "faking" it anyway. They do believe everything they tell their doctors.

Also, I think that one of your posts implied that people with fibro tend to feel their pain more than others and I don't think that there is any evidence of that. It is flat out just a very painful condition.

There is research on that about normal sensations feeling painful to Fibro patients. I have the details somewhere, I will look it up. This is also true of several other conditions that seem to occur in those with Fibro, such as IBS, migraines, etc.

It does not state the pain is not real, just that sensations that should not be painful, are. It also showed increased signs of pain in Fibro vs non-Fibro patients under the same circumstances.