I had it for years. It went away within 6 months after the Governing Body no longer had me under their thumbs.
fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome
by reneeisorym 27 Replies latest watchtower medical
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caligirl
Both my sister and I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. For me, it was earlier this year. There are good days and bad days - some days, I don't feel like I have the energy to do anything. Other times, I feel just fine. Lots of joint pain. Miserable crap, and I can't blame it on witnesses because I have been out for 10 years now.
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jukief
The last 10 years I was a dub I often faked illness to get out of meetings and service (but I was OK when it was time to do anything else--no one caught on to that). Fast forward 20 years. About five years ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia when I started having a lot of pain; they discovered that I had an extremely high antinuclear antibody count and they ruled out everything else (rhematoid arthritis, lupis, etc.). I'm still not so sure about the diagnosis, although I do have defnite flare-ups and my entire body is one giant tender point. I think CFS and FM can be bucket diagnoses, so I'm still skeptical, even though my doctors swear up and down that's what I have.
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Mary
there were tons of sisters all with the same set of mild depression and fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrom symptoms. I wonder if this was related to the hell JWs put you through or if it was just something one woman had to have because the other did. I haven't heard of hardly anyone having it outside of the dubs but in the congregation about 75% of the women had it! Did any of you experience seeing or experiencing any of this?
Sorry, but I am highly suspicious of fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome amongst Witnesses. There is a disproportionate number that seem to have it, yet they can pioneer? Give me a break. In my area, there's always some Witness who's trying to get diagnosed with one or the other so they can collect a disability cheque and never have to work again. The latest I found out last week was a Witness woman who was a bookkeeper who whined so much to her doctor about her "chronic fatigue syndrome" that she was finally granted a permanent disability cheque. She's thrilled to death and put her application in for pioneering although that'll have to wait till she's back from her vacation in Hawaii with her husband.
I'm not saying that these diseases aren't real, but when such a large amount of people in one area have it---like in Dubdumb Land, then I tend to think many of them are trying to milk the system.
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exjdub
After a severe fall about 15 years ago, my wife was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (we were JW's at the time, Ministerial Servant, etc.). As we were fading from the Org., and pretty much had exhausted all conventional medical options, my wife decided to try acupuncture. Interestingly the acupuncurist kept telling us he was treating her liver. When we heard that we just kind of shrugged our shoulders and were puzzled, in fact, I started wondering why he was not treating her joints, muscles, etc., but my wife started to show some improvement so we decided to stay with the treatment, however we did question why the doctor was treating her liver.
His explanation was fascinating: According to Chinese medicine the liver is the organ where anger is stored. This came as a surprise because my wife had always been very quiet and accomodating, even in the face of bad treatment that she and I were receiving from both of our families(JW's) and the Organization. Dr. Lee explained that my wife had a lot of stored anger, which was manifesting itself as Fibromyalgia, depression, and other symptoms. Interestingly, when my wife began confronting some family issues, along with us leaving the JW's, the symptoms began to fade. Previously she had been on Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, and Prozac, just to name a few. Today she is on nothing. Her Fibromyalgia symptoms have disappeared. Interestingly, she is now very outspoken and addresses her frustration and anger openly. Her personality has really blossomed and she has "found her voice" (her words). She equates her previous quiet manner with the suppression that occurs in the JW's, particularly with women.
Like all women in the Borg she had to suppress her feelings, words, and actions to "show proper headship" in the congregation. Women can't speak when seeing corruption in the congregation. Women are not privy to all of the back room meetings. Women are second class citizens that are not allowed to voice their frustration in the face of extremely demeaning treatment within the Borg...Is there any wonder that there is an epidemic of Fibromyalgia and Depression in the Organization, particularly with women in the JW's? Very tragic.
exjdub
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J-ex-W
Yep--I had my adult bout with CFS symptoms in the early 90's, too, and the high school exposure to Epstein-Barr (my h.s. boyfriend had it at the time we were dating). A doctor said I had almost all of the tender points associated with fibromyalgia by the mid/ late nineties. Interestingly, though, when my husband at the time left to work out of state for three months--and I no longer had to try to conform my body clock to his and to keep up with super-demanding schedule and expectations--in other words, when I finally started giving my body the restorative SLEEP it needs!!!--my immune system kicked into gear finally and those tender points went away. Once I noticed that, I refused to go back to my previous body-pummelling ways.
I honestly believe I was well on my way to developing a full-blown case of fibromyalgia, and that me getting stubborn (and listening to my body by saying, WHOA, I am not going to keep up this pace anymore, period!) is what prevented me from going over the brink. People forget that DEEP SLEEP is the restorative phase of sleep, critical to proper immune function. If you're getting too few hours, or too poor quality (waking up repeatedly, even for micro-seconds), you're not completing the necessary phases of the sleep cycle and immune function short circuits. Genetic predisposition + exposure to a particular virus + chronically shorted immune systems = Full-blown CFS and/ or fibromyalgia. Many people legitimately DO have the symptoms chronically, but hover just under the clinical radar for diagnosis. A full-blown case in waiting, as it were--just like untended reactive hypoglycemia is waiting to become type II diabetes. [Dietary changes is what's needed to stem the tide there.]
Keeping up the WTS meeting schedule plus ministry plus life will short circuit all but the hardiest immune systems. I say that's why so many JW's have symptoms if not full-blown cases. And BTW, I've known both JW and non-JW sufferers alike.
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ballistic
Jeeez, some of the people on this thread are showing the same kind of bigotry people had for "depression" sufferers a few years back.
Just rememeber some people are seriously ill with these disorders. And the coment about hypochondriasis shows ignorance to the fact that people can suffer hypochondriasis itself due to a mental disorder.
OK, there may be a lot of witnesses with ME type illnesses and my Doctor thought I had it at one stage, however there are many genuine illnesses triggered by stress and other factors. Remind me not to come here for sympathy guys...
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MsMcDucket
Just rememeber some people are seriously ill with these disorders. And the coment about hypochondriasis shows ignorance to the fact that people can suffer hypochondriasis itself due to a mental disorder.
Yep, it is a psychiatric disorder. It's listed in the DSM IV. Look under somatoform disorders.