what a co-worker said about a friend with fibro

[Guest guest]

I have been talking to another nurse at work who USE to have a friend with

fibro. They are not friends anymore. Of course she states the " friend " just

wants someone to feel sorry for her all the time. (which may be true). She

said the woman is on oxycontin and is so out of it most of the time she can't

finish a sentence without falling asleep. Overmedicated???? maybe. Fibro

symptoms and fibro fog???/ maybe. Just yet another little hurtful thing for me

to think about. It is so rediculous that no one can understand anything about

this unless they have it. She just said something to the effect that she is

tired of hearing other people's problems. Well, I guess that is the way I felt

the day my boss was at work complaining about the " pain " with her 2 day virus.

I can see how this disease can make us cold eventually because I think I get

tired of caring about other people all the time who could care less about me.

(not this group.... I don't mean that).

Just fed up with the invisible evil disease that hides and lashes out at us at

random. Also a little ticked that a nurse... of all people.... could feel this

way. I just accept it. I don't know her " friend " .... so I cannot see that

particular situation. But from what I have learned here, I know that many of us

are cast aside and accused of being drug addicts and everything BUT a person

with a real illness.

Debra V.

---------------------------------

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

[Guest guest]

that just plain sucks... it always does when something like that

happens. One of my coworkers today was complaining that she just

couldn't continue working like this! she can't stand working while

having the flu (at least she thinks that is what she has, she hasn't

been to the doctor yet). I couldn't help but think " GET AWAY FROM

ME AND STAY AWAY UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN BETTER FOR A WEEK!! " , but of

course I didn't say that. Nobody at work felt sorry for me any of

the 3 times that I had the flu and still came into work (went in

several times, each time i had the flu, but had the flu 3 separate

times!), and they didn't feel sorry for me when i had the recurring

severe sinus infections that eventually turned into pneumonia... and

she's never once showed me the slightest bit of sympathy when it was

obvious that i was hurting so bad that a " normal " would have passed

out (eg: today while she was talking to me, and i could barely

breathe i was hurting that bad, and i was having trouble talking

with her, because of it...)... she just kept saying to me, " Can you

believe that they are making ME work when I feel like this? " and

then she said it... " At least you get to sit down! " ARGH!! At that

point, it was probably a good thing, for me keeping my job, that I

couldn't get up to slap her upside the head or muster enough energy

to be able to tell her off!!

I think we all, me included, need to realize that MOST people out

there will just never understand, and for A LOT of people, it will

never even occur for them to try to understand... I am SLOWLY

realizing this. I've just always tried to live by, " Treat others as

you would like to be treated... " the only problem is that not enough

other people live by that ideal.

It's REALLY sad that a NURSE said that though... I keep thinking

that at the very least, the people in the medical profession who

work the closest with the patient (in my mind, this would be nurses,

and others who you usually talk to and then they talk to the doc...)

would be just a bit more clued in, ya know?? If she knows that you

have fibro (definitely not something that you HAVE to tell her, but

if you've already told her), then maybe you will be able to change

her mind about fibro, just by being yourself. I don't know. Such

prejudices are hard to change though...

Hugs

>

> I have been talking to another nurse at work who USE to have a

friend with fibro. They are not friends anymore. Of course she

states the " friend " just wants someone to feel sorry for her all the

time. (which may be true). She said the woman is on oxycontin and

is so out of it most of the time she can't finish a sentence without

falling asleep. Overmedicated???? maybe. Fibro symptoms and fibro

fog???/ maybe. Just yet another little hurtful thing for me to

think about. It is so rediculous that no one can understand

anything about this unless they have it. She just said something to

the effect that she is tired of hearing other people's problems.

Well, I guess that is the way I felt the day my boss was at work

complaining about the " pain " with her 2 day virus. I can see how

this disease can make us cold eventually because I think I get tired

of caring about other people all the time who could care less about

me. (not this group.... I don't mean that).

> Just fed up with the invisible evil disease that hides and

lashes out at us at random. Also a little ticked that a nurse... of

all people.... could feel this way. I just accept it. I don't know

her " friend " .... so I cannot see that particular situation. But

from what I have learned here, I know that many of us are cast aside

and accused of being drug addicts and everything BUT a person with a

real illness.

>

> Debra V.

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo!

Mobile. Try it now.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Oh, how awful!! I would pay no credence at all to the remarks that woman made

about her 'ex friend'. I'm sure the friend simply expected the nurse to be able

to understand because she was A: Her (supposed) friend and B: a nurse. I doubt

she was simply looking for someone to 'feel sorry for her' any more than most of

us do. As for the remark about the oxycontin, I'm sure she just disapproves of

pain meds in general, as it seems most of the medical profession does. I would

be willing to bet my last dollar that what struck the nurse as her friend being

'out of it' WAS fatigue and fibro fog. I also reeled at the remark: " She just

said something to the effect that she is tired of hearing other people's

problems. " She's a nurse, for gosh sakes. That's what she's meant to do. I'd

say this is another case of someone being in the wrong job. I doubt she has much

compassion for her patients, either. I think you should have stood up for her ex

friend and explained the facts of 'fibro life' to her. Imagine someone talking

about you behind your back like that. It really " Pees " me off that people can

disrespect us so much. So many people DO, they just dis us on general

principles. Sorry for the rant, but this just started my day off wrong.

Peace and Love

Caroline

I have been talking to another nurse at work who USE to have a friend with

fibro. They

are not friends anymore. Of course she states the " friend " just wants someone

to feel

sorry for her all the time. (which may be true). She said the woman is on

oxycontin and

is so out of it most of the time she can't finish a sentence without falling

asleep.

Overmedicated???? maybe. Fibro symptoms and fibro fog???/ maybe. Just yet

another little

hurtful thing for me to think about. It is so rediculous that no one can

understand

anything about this unless they have it. She just said something to the effect

that she

is tired of hearing other people's problems. Well, I guess that is the way I

felt the day

my boss was at work complaining about the " pain " with her 2 day virus. I can

see how this

disease can make us cold eventually because I think I get tired of caring about

other

people all the time who could care less about me. (not this group.... I don't

mean that).

Just fed up with the invisible evil disease that hides and lashes out at us at

random.

Also a little ticked that a nurse... of all people.... could feel this way. I

just accept

it. I don't know her " friend " .... so I cannot see that particular situation.

But from

what I have learned here, I know that many of us are cast aside and accused of

being drug

addicts and everything BUT a person with a real illness.

Debra V.

____________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

>

.. As for the remark about the oxycontin, I'm sure she just

disapproves of pain meds in general, as it seems most of the medical

profession does. I would be willing to bet my last dollar that what

struck the nurse as her friend being 'out of it' WAS fatigue and

fibro fog. I also reeled at the remark: " She just said something to

the effect that she is tired of hearing other people's problems. "

She's a nurse, for gosh sakes. That's what she's meant to do. I'd say

this is another case of someone being in the wrong job. I doubt she

has much compassion for her patients, either. I think you should have

stood up for her ex friend and explained the facts of 'fibro life' to

her. Imagine someone talking about you behind your back like that.

It really " Pees " me off that people can disrespect us so much. So

many people DO, they just dis us on general principles. Sorry for the

rant, but this just started my day off wrong.

>

> Peace and Love

> Caroline

>

> In Caroline's posting, I realized something about SOME - not all

people in the medical field not believing in various meds! One of my

nephews is bi-polar and many of us in the family were exposed to some

of his behavior when he was in a manic state the weekend and days

following my mother's funeral. I won't go into details but the

police were called to the hotel where my sister's family were

staying. He had the choice of going to jail or to the hospital and

he wisely chose to go to the hospital. My sister had known of his

condition for several years at the time and as a nurse who is married

to man with panic disorder, I would have thought she might have seen

the signs prior to his behavior that evening and perhaps watched him

a bit more closely. I understand that as an adult, his mother can't

necessarily step in, but I also found out when I spoke to one of his

paternal aunts that he had left her a message asking for a ride to

the airport. L said had she known why he was going to the airport,

she might have made other arrangements as she knew that he was at the

beginning of a cycle.

Well, nephew was put on meds to help with the bi-polar disorder,

don't know which one(s), but as someone who has had friends, spouses

of friends who have bi-polar disorder, I know the importance of the

meds. My sister, the nurse, does not believe he needs the meds but

rather has researched and had conversations with a friend about him

taking vitamins and supplements. I know there can be advantage to

those things, but I also know that the prescription meds can target

his disease more specifically than supplements or vitamins.

So, yes, I do believe there are people who are nurses or other

medical related fields who do not believe in medicine!

And I do worry about my nephew -- I used to call him pretty often,

but I have gotten to the point that it is difficult to talk to him as

I don't know what to say to him. So from perhaps a call every few

months of calling him, now I seem to only call around his birthday

and Christmas. And I have also stopped calling his paternal aunts as

I know he has pushed them to the limit with his behavior. Oh, and I

should say that his mother is in a midwestern state and he lives in

California and does not see his mother that often.

But this is just one example of someone in the field who doesn't

believe in medicines.

I even sometimes wonder what she may think about the fact that I take

antidepressants among other drugs --- she's never really seen me when

I was in a major depression so she really has no way of knowing how

much I need the meds.

Perhaps this was off the topic of your co-worker, but I just find my

sister's attitude not so good --- oh, and her reason is that the

medicine's cause too many side effects.