Join Trudy Flynn in discussing One Thing she wants pain researchers or clinicians to know. Trudy challenges clinicians and researchers to consider whether using broad terms impacts progress. She suggests specific studies focused on fibromyalgia may lead to better outcomes.
About Trudy
Trudy Flynn is a medically retired Nurse from Nova Scotia. She was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia over 31 years ago. In 2021 Trudy helped establish Fibromyalgia Association Canada (FAC), a nationwide organization led by people with fibromyalgia for people with fibromyalgia. Trudy is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors at FAC.
Transcript
David Kennedy: What’s one thing you want clinicians or researchers to know about people challenged by pain?
Trudy: One thing I would like researchers and clinicians to know is that not all people with pain conditions fall under the heading of ‘chronic pain’. So we do have chronic pain. So I have fibromyalgia, and I don’t fall under the condition chronic pain as well as people think we do, or as well as researchers do. So there’s so much more to fibromyalgia than just the chronic pain, and our pain is different than someone who has an injury. So our pain is so widespread that this morning it could be in my back, and by this evening it could be in my legs. So that’s important, because we lose out on research dollars when all the money goes to just chronic pain. And we also, people also forget, our doctors forget, and researchers forget that we have many, many other symptoms besides chronic pain, which could be more debilitating than the actual pain is. So that’s the one thing I really would like people to know, not every diagnosis fits nicely into the chronic pain package.
I was on workman’s compensation, and when I was applying for it, because of a workplace injury, when I was applying for it, I was told straight up, “Apply for chronic pain, do not apply for fibromyalgia”. And it was true, as soon as I mentioned fibromyalgia, it was like I totally got shut down so it’s it shouldn’t be that way. It shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have to justify your condition and so that to me indicates chronic pain is acceptable to have but a condition like fibromyalgia is not acceptable to have. So it’s difficult to live with conditions, and when they get umbrella’d underneath another condition, then they get ignored even more.
David Kennedy: Yeah. And so that’s an important message to get out there. So really, thank you for that.
Trudy: You’re welcome.