Might be getting a service dog...

[Evil Queen]

Lewis, just as long as you travel with that little card that says it's a service animal, I'm happy. You have no idea how many people have tried to pawn off their pets as service animals.

(And yes, I've argued that, according to the ADA (American Disabilities Act) therapy dogs are not considered service dogs, now get out of my pet free hotel.)

please, no debates on if fibro exists, suffice to say I have a friend with problems with bright lights/loud noises and chronic pain, whether or not it's in her head

....Fibro doesn't exist? Since when? Whoever's telling you that is an idiot.


@Draggar; DAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW! Zorro's so handsome and all grown up and respectable and smart and reliable..... why can't I met a man with those qualities!?!?

[LewisLegion]

Quote:
Quoth Magpie
please, no debates on if fibro exists, suffice to say I have a friend with problems with bright lights/loud noises and chronic pain, whether or not it's in her head

....Fibro doesn't exist? Since when? Whoever's telling you that is an idiot.

Evil Queen, Magpie was right. There are a great deal of people, a lot of whom are even medical doctors, who believe that fibro doesn't exist. This is just to clarify, not to start any debates. People have been turned away from the emergency room for 'pain' if they have a diagnoses of 'fibromyalgia' on their record. There have been those who have had doctors laugh at them (I am one of them) or drop them or dismiss them because of their symptoms or even mentioning the fibro word. Fibromites get accused of being hypochondriacs, attention seekers, drug seekers, or just plain lazy.

And yes, they are idiots...or just uneducated ignoramuses.

[Evil Queen]

Weird! But I know so many people with it! If it's not a "real" disease, how do you even get diagnosed with it?

Anyhoo! Congrats on your chances of getting a service critter! We recently had one in the hotel. His name is Jimmy and he's a Bomb Sniffing Dog. Yes, they count. (He was here for bomb training with the rest of the guys at NMTECH)

[LewisLegion]

The average person with it takes five years and as many doctors to finally get diagnosed. Partly because of the disbelief of the medical professionals, partly because it is a disease mostly of elimination. You get diagnosed by the symptoms, ruling out whatever else could be causing them (lupus, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis, etc),and then passing a ‘touch’ test. If you experience pain in at least 11 of 18 specific pressure points on your body, if you suffer pain in all four quadrants of your body (right and left side, above and below the waist), if you have had chronic pain in all four quadrants for at least 3 months, and if they’ve ruled out the above diseases, then you are diagnosed with Fibro.

There are MRI tests that will show deformities and damage in certain parts of the brain’s pain receptors, they are now finding. And a lumbar puncture will usually show high amounts of substance P (the substance that transmits pain signals from nerve endings…the more substance P the higher the pain sensation is that reaches the brain stem)…but most doctors rely on the elimination and touch test to finalize a diagnoses.

[draggar]

Mom is getting a newfoundland for her mobility issues. I'll show her your wife's videos as well

One of my wife's best friends has MS and uses a newfie (Lancier (sp?)) as a service dog. They're always extremely sweet and very strong but traditionally don't live very long and get "old" young.

Lewis, just as long as you travel with that little card that says it's a service animal, I'm happy. You have no idea how many people have tried to pawn off their pets as service animals.

Actually, there is no official card that states the dog is a service dog nor does any establishment have the right to ask. All they can ask is "is that your service dog" and "what service does it provide". BUT - if the dog is considered a nuisance the establishment can ask them to leave (or even remove them if it is a serious disturbance).

(And yes, I've argued that, according to the ADA (American Disabilities Act) therapy dogs are not considered service dogs, now get out of my pet free hotel.)

Correct, therapy dogs are not service dogs (and neither are "companion" dogs) but someone with a true therapy dog wouldn't push it in a no-pet hotel. I see far more people trying to pass off companion dogs as service dogs than therapy dogs.

@Draggar; DAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW! Zorro's so handsome and all grown up and respectable and smart and reliable..... why can't I met a man with those qualities!?!?

He is single but you might have some cross-species issues, physically and legally.

[Magpie]

Frankly, I admit to being a little skeptical about Fibro myself. I personally think that because we don't understand it very well (it's got frickin' weird characteristics) we may later discover that there's more than one condition which gets diagnosed as Fibro. It might also be a different manifestation of other conditions.

[LewisLegion]

Absolutely. But that kind of attitude is far different than the kind that says 'you're making it up', or 'you just want drugs'. At least it's acknowledging that the people so diagnosed HAVE a problem with real, life impacting and in a lot of cases debilitating symptoms that aren't 'all in their head'.

[Seshat]

I have no problem with 'fibro may be more than one illness' or 'there has to be a better way to diagnose fibro' or 'people may be being misdiagnosed'.

What I have a problem with is 'you can't be experiencing those symptoms' or 'you're just making it up for attention' or 'you're just lazy'.

I went into an emergency room with a breast that was bright red, very hard and very hot to the touch. Clearly infected. The infection plus the fibro meant that I was exhausted, barely able to walk, barely able to speak.
Triage nurse scoffed at me and told me to stop making a fuss. It wasn't possible that a bit of an infection would leave me feeling like that.

THAT is what fibro patients experience, and worry about. ER triage nurses have peoples' lives in their hands - and I just got dismissed out of hand.

[LewisLegion]

Agreed. Years ago my mother was having a particularly bad attack. She was in so much pain she was confused, disoriented. This is a woman who has a high pain tolerance and has been in chronic pain since she was sixteen years old…so if she’s in that much pain it’s something big. Her regular pain meds and muscle relaxers weren’t helping. So at three in the morning I took her to the emergency room. Mind, I was a teenager and just wanted to get my mother help.

They left us waiting for three hours and then all that happened was the doctor came up and gave her a lecture about being a drug addict, gave her some drug addiction literature, and then pulled me aside and lectured ME about enabling her addiction. I tried to explain she wasn’t an addict and get them to call her regula r doctor but he wouldn’t listen…just kept telling me I was wrong, she was an addict, I was horrible for enabling her and she was horrible for being an addict, and then discharged her.

Very shortly after that she needed surgery for a knee replacement because the bone had been so eaten away by arthritis that she was basically fracturing it with every step she took…the cause of her pain. That the ER doc dismissed as simply drug-seeking behavior because she had ‘fibromyalgia’ listed on her medical records.

[RetailWorkhorse]

(please, no debates on if fibro exists, suffice to say I have a friend with problems with bright lights/loud noises and chronic pain, whether or not it's in her head).

Fibro exists just like Chronic Fatigue exists (Flea-Bit has a REALLY cute friend that suffers from it, which explains why he's not in our little circle).

Seeing all the commercials for Fibro has sent Mom and I into an on-going conversation about what could possibly be causing it (she thinks that inflammation causes a LOT of the problems we as humans seem to suffer from). She won't let me experiment on anybody, though (nuts).

@EQ:
So...after training and passing her tests what would Copenhagen/Havana or Kully be considered? Service Animals or Therapy Animals? Mom's not around to ask.

[LewisLegion]

Inflammation is rarely ever seen in fibro sufferers, however (in my understanding)…unless they have a secondary issue, like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. However, most fibro sufferers have things in common. Most are women, for example, most suffer from PTSD (I do), most have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Irritable Bladder and Restless Leg Syndrome. Most have suffered some kind of physical trauma that causes the onset of the full fibro (car accidents, injuries, traumatic experiences, body changes. Mine was having my thyroid killed). Most suffer some kind of endocrine problem such as hypothyroidism, most have had either scarlet fever as a child or mononucleosis (I had mono) and 95 percent have a positive test for XMRV, which is a retrovirus.

[RetailWorkhorse]

*Watches all those words flutter right over his head*

Now I remember why I didn't go Pre-Med. I don't have the memory for it.

IT'S NEVER LUPUS! *Is kicked* OW! Okay, okay, I'll switch from House to Criminal Minds. Yeesh.

[LewisLegion]

*teehee* I love House

[RetailWorkhorse]

If ever I got bad sick and no one could....fix me....I'd want House to diagnose me.

Of course I'll lie about my health history. Come on, he expects that.

Somehow through-out all the episodes I've ever seen (Must get a job so I can get the whole bloody series, I missed seeing him in the Nut House) I've always seen the "children" SUGGEST Lupus but it's never actually BEEN Lupus.

That's gotta be wrong on some sorta level. I mean, at some point it's gonna be Lupus.

....I need to go rant at someone about this and leave the Boards alone...HEY MOM!

[LewisLegion]

The service organization has set up a donation page for me, to help offset the cost of the dog. Please PM me if you want the link or more info.