Gaga has fibromyalgia

[Teal Ambition 47,805]

8 hours ago, GypsyBabe said:

Yeah, it's terrible. My whole body feels bruised all the time. Between the fibromyalgia and the RA, it can really be quite terrible. The fibromyalgia also makes it difficult to eat. I wish people knew more about it. 

My grandfather has RA, and my mom is showing signs of it and it's really worrying me 😭 I see him struggling all the time. One morning he is fine, the next he is in excruciating pain.

Truly sorry you have to go through this  I wouldn't wish it on anyone!

[Teal Ambition 47,805]

5 hours ago, GypsyBabe said:

Thats why I love being on here and watching the concerts with all of you because it can be really hard to sleep sometimes. So thank you to you, @DawnNutella @babs @Teal Ambition @not asher613 @aaron l @KleinGa  @Miracle @MrA + everyone else. 

Its unfortunate that some members feel like they can have an opinion without doing actual research (Wikipedia doesn't count folks). 

Love every single one of you. I've said this many times but it's the highlight of my day to spend time with all of you and just watch Gaga 

[Erlenmeyer 443]

Fibromyalgia has specific diagnostic criteria, but it's a diagnosis of exclusion. "We don't know why you hurt, but you hurt all over, so here's our conclusion of fibromyalgia". Patients with the condition that are seen in the ED are perceived as hypochondriacs or just as people who live with chronic pain that has a serious psych component attached to it. And given the abysmal treatment of mental health patients in the US, I'm not surprised many people think this is "for attention". I do think fibromyalgia is one of those conditions we use when physicians haven't found another way to explain your pain. I think what many in medicine are moving towards is more holistic treatment (that is: treating the mind AND the body). I hope that's where she's headed on her upcoming rest: 

[FinnishGypsy 899]

1. Lupus and Fibromyalgia not only share significant overlap in symptomatology, but the two conditions are actually frequently comorbid in nature:

"Many people with lupus have fibromyalgia; in fact, much of the pain that people with lupus feel is due to this condition." Source: https://www.hopkinslupus.org/lupus-info/lupus-affects-body/lupus-nervous-system/

2. Both conditions are thought, at least in part, to have onset and/or exacerbation of symptoms due to extreme stress or trauma (e.g., PTSD). Gaga has spoken of her PTSD at length.

3. Of individuals diagnosed with Lupus, 90% are women of child-bearing age (I.e., Gaga).

4. Familial/hereditary link: As Gaga has stated, her aunt Joanne suffered from Lupus. According to the aforementioned source:

"When patients first present signs of lupus, they are often asked whether they have a family member—a mother, aunt, sister, or other relative—with lupus or another autoimmune condition." (E.g., RA).

Overall, it is common medical knowledge that there is a link between "all the mental/physical conditions" Gaga has reported suffering from. So, if you don't believe her account of PTSD for whatever reason, then I suppose it makes "sense" to doubt both her Lupus/RA/FM diagnoses as well. Otherwise, you just need to do some research, and think twice before questioning the veracity of someone's suffering.

ETA: Chronic pain disorders, and autoimmune disorders, are very difficult to diagnose (and sometimes essentially impossible to prove). But that doesn't change the fact that millions suffer from these very real disorders; science merely has yet to catch up. 

ETA x2: For those unaware, the information I've sourced is from John Hopkins. As in, the #1 hospital in the US for 22 years (currently #3 nationwide), and currently the #1 hospital in the nation for its speciality in Rheumatology. 

[Isla Rose 15]

11 hours ago, OBEY said:

Yep totally faking it.  

She's going to doctors and getting fake injections for her fake injury.  

She's fake crying in the documentary/in real life when there's no cameras.  

Yep she's faking it all for attention cause she doesn't already have the world's attention as one of the biggest pop stars.

She also faked her hip being broke, fake being illed for the Montreal show all for attention cause that's how she is.  

 what the **** are y'all smoking tbh  

i am disgusted by some of you all. congrats for getting attention tho i guess that succeeded.

hahahaha THIS i dont know who u are but i love u

[Killa 14,403]

Oh this makes all the sense, poor Gaga. This makes me so uncomfortable, the struggle she goes by is just too much.

[Guest]

WHAT THE FK ARE YOU ALL THINKING SHE'S FAKING ALL THIS STUFF WHAT THE ****

[Sailor 3,321]

This really explains a lot. Wishing her all the best as always.

[gagasgirl 395]

The reason so many people don't speak out about mental illness/other struggles (such as chronic pain) is due to the negative responses in this thread. None of us are Gaga so we should not be judging her, nor claiming her experiences didn't happen or aren't valid. 

[Katie14 4,828]

Its amazing to me that she is able to tour and perform at such a high level while living with debilitating pain. What is she supposed to do if she has a flare up right before or during a performance? I just hope that she gets some relief and isn't in pain 24/7.

A few people mentioned ra and Gaga does not have that. I sent an email to the publisher of arthritis magazine and the women who responded said that they just took quotes from Gaga talking about chronic pain, not ra. Gaga also doesn't have lupus. She was tested borderline positive, which probably means she has a positive result on her Ana test but no, or not enough physical symptoms for a diagnosis. (Gaga may have these disorders but based on all the available info about her, we cannot come to this conclusion)

[NCgaga 4,137]

Some of you are disgusting. Like keep your ****ing rude ass comments to yourself. 

[Ada 1,665]

31 minutes ago, Katie14 said:

Its amazing to me that she is able to tour and perform at such a high level while living with debilitating pain. What is she supposed to do if she has a flare up right before or during a performance? I just hope that she gets some relief and isn't in pain 24/7.

A few people mentioned ra and Gaga does not have that. I sent an email to the publisher of arthritis magazine and the women who responded said that they just took quotes from Gaga talking about chronic pain, not ra. Gaga also doesn't have lupus. She was tested borderline positive, which probably means she has a positive result on her Ana test but no, or not enough physical symptoms for a diagnosis. (Gaga may have these disorders but based on all the available info about her, we cannot come to this conclusion)

Thank you. I'm sure she wouldn't compromise her health after all the stuff she went through some years ago, don't worry 

[Applause 650]

14 hours ago, gordo said:

 I love that she's trying to raise awareness but idk. Celebrities come up with so many illnesses for attention. Hope this is not the case  Nonetheless I love you Gaga 

You deserve all your Excuse Me No's. 

Anyways.. get better Gags. 

[xKorix 156]

Some of these comments in here are so abhorrent and it makes me believe the people making them are merely incapable of understanding just how revolting their views are. It's like concepts of empathetic or compassionate behaviour are alien to them and all that matters is "my opinion". You can try calling them "alternative" or "unpopular" viewpoints all you like, but as you can see to any normal person with a bit of humanity or empathy, it's disgusting.

I'm a bit tired of the current climate we live in. I feel like we're constantly being told by so many directions that our normal responses of anger or disgust to poor or abhorrent behaviour are wrong or misguided, and we should be rewarding or supporting behaviour that makes us cringe.

[Lana Winters 729]

6 hours ago, Katie14 said:

@Lana Winters @GypsyBabe Do you mind describing your experience with fibromyalgia? (What kind of pain is it, are you in pain 100% of the time, how you cope with it) feel free not to respond if its too personal, I'm just wondering. And I am so sorry you have to deal with people not believing you on top of thr fibromyalgia symptoms. You guys are so strong 

Oh man, I'm not even sure where to start because I'm sure this is going to be one long rambling mess. I apologize in advance.  

I'm 22 and I'll be 23 in December. Both my parents have Fibromyalgia along with other health problems and while growing up I just knew that they were in pain but never really thought much about it, that was just normal life. I've had health problems since I was little and would constantly be sick and at the doctors for pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, seizures, etc (this'll come into play later) and was being treated by a neurologist since the age of five until I was about... 12, I believe? So being sick was nothing really new. When I was the age of 13 and started experience symptoms of widespread pain all over, I never really thought much of it because at that point it was already practically normal for me and my parents and I just knew I already Fibro because both of them had it, and the only real test at the time was pressing on 18 trigger point spots and having pain there which... yeah, I was crying from even the simplest test anywhere in those spots. When I went to my pediatrician they shrugged it off because hey, I'm young right, it's just growing pains! So I suffered in school a lot and anxiety / depression got really bad and I was home schooled on / off all the way from 6th grade to when I graduated high school because some days I physically could not get out of bed and would have panic attacks.

It wasn't until last year that things got so, so, bad that I finally had enough and went to a rheumatologist who was horrible and just confirmed Fibro but ignored every thing else (I thought I had lupus at the time). We got a second opinion and waited 3 months to go see an amazing rheumatologist that my father used to go to at the age of 21. She's a sweetheart who actually took her time to listen (almost 2 hours!) along with a full exam and the moment she put her hands on my jaw and I opened, hyper extended, she got freaked out so bad and said, "Did anyone tell you you're hyper mobile?" Nope. She examed me more and turns out I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Type 3 (http://ohtwist.com/2015/05/24/when-else-to-suspect-ehlers-danlos-syndrome/) which is a genetic connective tissue disease that causes chronic pain, migraines, stomach issues, dislocations / subluxations on a daily basis, etc and basically all the symptoms I've been experiencing for the past few years. But hey, just growing pains, right? Or that I've been faking for all these years.

It took her 0.03 seconds to confirm I had Fibromyalgia too which really wasn't any surprise. Got sent to the lab with 13 vials of blood, referrals to tons of other doctors, and told there was basically nothing they could do since I've already tried all the other medicines for the exception of Lyrica which insurance doesn't cover and costs around $430 a month and isn't even guaranteed to work, because some of my pain is related to EDS as well.

And remember how I said I would get sick all the time as a child? With those tests, I was sent to an immunologist and it was discovered I have an iGm defiency (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/137693-overview) and  may/may not have CVID which basically means I'm prone to more infections and when I do get sick, it takes weeks/months for me to recover, hence why I've been sick as a dog since I was a child as well. But again, what if I'm just faking?

I'm 22. I used to dance from the age of 15-18 and absolutely fell in love, it made me so happy. I had to stop because of the pain. I worked for 4 years because I physically could not do that anymore because the pain got to be too much and it kills me. My life is full of doctors appointments. Off the top of my head I have my primary doctor, rheumatologist, gastroenterologist, immunologist, physiotherapist, orthopedist (for bracing), cardiologist (I'm in the process of being diagnosed with POTS) and not to mention pain management doctor who refuses to give out any sort of medicine whatsoever, but I'll be getting a hip injection and trigger points on Monday.
Want to know what my schedule is like? On the 18th I have those injections. The 19th I have to drive 30 minutes away to see my physiotherapist. On 25th I have to see immunology. On the 28th I have to see the cardiologist and on November 1st I have to see gastro. This repeats every. single. month. My world revolves around doctors appointments.

It's a dull-aching pain that you have all over your body. My main pain point that finally sent me over the edge was my shoulders, they're in constant pain and I have such tight knots that they added myofascial pain syndrome to the mix, too. You can't touch me. If i bump into a doorway and my arm rubs up against the wooden frame? I'll be on the floor in tears because of the pain signals being so, so strong. It'll hurt for hours afterwards. The best way I can describe what Fibromyalgia feels like is when you go walking around Disney world for an entire day, or going to a concert, you know that sore feeling you get afterwards? That's what it feels like 24/7 but 5x worse. 

Ehlers-Danlos kills me, too. I'll be sitting down and my hip will partially dislocate. My joints constantly pop out of socket and you can hear me from the other room popping and cracking even when I'm simply walking slow. On top of the dull aching pain of Fibro, I have to deal with the physical pain of my joints being so loose in their sockets from faulty collagen that I can't even sleep at night, I'll be up until 8, 9, 10 in the morning and will only fall asleep after pure exhaustion takes over. Even going to the grocery store takes a lot out of me with the two conditions, I'll have to come home and take a nap.

It scares the hell out of me, you know? I went to see Gaga on Sunday and physically had to sit down in the GA pit (there were other people sitting so I didn't feel as bad  ) while waiting for her to come on because my hip was giving me so much trouble. I know I shouldn't be going to those concerts like that, but with Fibromyalgia and EDS taking away so much from me already, I can't even fathom it taking away the one experience that means so much to me whenever she comes around on tour. I'm in even more pain and I'll be in bed for the next week, but it was worth it.

Again, I apologize this is so long and it's not even the tip of the iceberg with people assuming I'm fine because they can't see it, suggesting yoga and snake oil scams, diet changes, etc. It's even more exhausting to deal with that **** when you're already sick and people are waving magical cures/remedies in your face that don't work—don't you think we would have tried all that already, since we've tried everything else? It makes me, and the rest of us, feel like we're the cause of our illness for not trying this and that and yet they all they do is wave those suggestions around without even realizing what we deal with. It sucks.

I think I'm done now.  Sorry for the novel!