I know hate is a really strong word and I don’t use it casually. I dislike lots of things but I don’t hate very many. This commercial, I hate.
It’s not that I object to a company trying to sell their product. In fact, I’m happy to have someone out there educating people on the reality of fibromyalgia and how it feels. I could have used that often over the past 40+ years, when people thought it was “in my head.” There are two reasons I can’t stand that commercial.
First of all, now all the people who know I have fibromyalgia think there’s a cure for it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Don’t they have a drug for that now?” Then I have to launch into explaining that it’s a drug for another condition that’s been approved for use in fibromyalgia. It doesn’t cure it. It only helps some people control the pain. I stress that “some people” is important. I remind them that the drug has potential side effects like weight gain (not the obvious choice for someone contemplating lap-band surgery!) and sleepiness (again, not a good choice for someone who has to take medication to stay awake). Then I have to deal with their disappointment. They thought they had found something that would be a miracle for me. They were wrong and there isn’t anything that will take it all away. I didn’t have that disappointment myself. Over the years I’ve heard of so many “miracle cure-alls” and seen so many doctors, I have developed a healthy scepticism. I take the time to research and think about things before I let them get me excited. Sorry – no cure yet.
The second, and most important, reason is that the woman (actress?) comes off like a whining baby!! Sure, everyone with fibromyalgia has days like that – but we don’t generally advertise them! “Oh, poor little me.” If I were a betting woman, I’d put money on the fact the majority of us who have fibromyalgia fight against it every day. Many of us have jobs, families, hobbies. When we can’t do something anymore due to the fibro, it really ticks us off. We don’t usually sit around feeling sorry for ourselves.
Okay, I can only speak for myself. I suppose there are some whiners among us. But I’m not one and it really annoys me to see fibro sufferers portrayed in that light. I’m a fighter. I do what I can and push myself to do more at times. I remember when I was a single mother, working 60 hours a weeks for about two and a half years because I wasn’t getting any child support. I still had pain. I never left home without ibuprofen. I had headaches that lasted for 10 days – there when I woke up in the morning, there in varying degrees all day, there when I went to bed. It’s exhausting and that’s just what fibro patients need – another reason to be tired.
But you would never find me whining for the world to see. There has to be a happy medium in this advertising. Educate, explain, whatever. But don’t make us seem like we’re hopeless and hapless without this “miracle drug.”
Okay – thanks for letting me vent.
I’m with you on that commercial. On one hand it’s great that it’s bringing Fibromyalgia out into the open, but the side effects are ones I can’t risk – weight gain and swelling of hands and feet. Just what I’ve worked so hard to get rid of!
Living with Fibromyalgia – http://linzworld.wordpress.com
letter on this web is worth printing out to hand to those who need to know!
To find the letter in question (I assume it was “A Letter From The Land of Fibromyalgia to The World of Normals “), look under Useful Articles on the left hand side.
Being in the UK, I haven’t seen the ad but it makes sense that Pfizer wouldn’t put on it that it only works for 30-40% of fibromites!
How to portray what it’s really like (as us fighters never look as sick as we feel) without looking whiney? I don’t know, that’s for sure.
I have had a bunch of people ask me why I don’t just try that treatment. But I did, and the thing about Lyrica is most fibro patients cant tolerate it at the effective dose because it just trades in one half the symptoms (pain related) by worsening the other half (fatigue related). Its silly, because with any other chronic illness people would feel pretty lame and insensitive saying “oh yeah i think theres a drug for that i saw it on tv.” I think the only reason they even suggest it is because it is the only time they have ever heard of fibromyalgia.
I’m glad the person on the commercial is whiney, though. Someone deserves to be able to whine about it and not have to worry about being seen a certain way, so at least the person on the commercial is doing that for me so I dont have to. At least when I do break down and complain people wont thing i am some kind of hopeless hypochondriac anymore because they know it exists.
I usually don’t sound off but… this commerical is degrading to not only to thoses of us who are suffering but there is that whining lady ( yes the the disease affects woman the most)w riting away in her journal. I can just hear that “whoa is me” voice from down the hall and I get the “I hate that commerical thought.” Makes me wonder who did the research for this ad. and why did they use this approach, I believe someone had mention the goal is to sell lyrica. I haven’t tried this yet, but do plan to discuss it with my doc.
a stupid ad with a whiny post-yuppie lady at her ‘art class’ journalizing?? about her achy hands and how cool it is that she can afford the yuppie insurance to buy the yuppie designer drug to treat it. Please take some ibuprofin and shut up already…. there are babies dying of AIDS in Africa!
I just got around to blooging about that commercial last week. I wrote to Pfizer to complain about the ad and got a couple of their automatic responses.
My main complaints are that the woman is so pathetic and that it really downplays the amount of pain that Fibro people deal with on a daily basis.
I’ve been on 75mg day for about a month and it really helps in the morning but by 5pm I am toast.
I hate how she says “fibromy-AL-gia” one time and fibromyalgia the other times. And I hate that long pause as she puts the book down. “Oh woe is me!!!”
Although I appreciate that the commercials have at least managed to make people aware of this condition, I absolutely hate that the lady is soooo old and looks like she is suffering from arthritis (because the focus is on her hands). And she’s in an Art Class and not working her butt off all day to support three children. I think that the ads need to be more realistic, like someone trying to be able to actually WORK and not just participate in Art Class or plant something in a clay pot (like in the newest one–but at least she is a little younger.) I’m 40 years old and I feel 80. I am also ticked off that this illness is keeping me from doing what I want to do and that I now have limitations. However–the Lyrica did take away the horrible nerve pain in my rear end and legs that made walking, sitting, and standing very difficult. I’m on 150 per day and haven’t gained any weight. It does make working difficult because it affects my mental focus and concentration. I also take 400mg of Provigil every day and am still sooo exhausted. It has not had any effect on my muscle pain, though. As far as whining…..I don’t. But I don’t pretend that everything is okay. If I am not having a good day and someone asks me if I am, I just say “I’m ok” not “I’m great!” because I’m not. If this affects you the people close to you need to know how it affects you. We have all heard it before “well you look great!” I wish I felt great!
I hate that commercial, too, but for different reasons than those mentioned by previous bloggers. I am so debilitated right now from the pain and depression of fibromyalgia, I wish I could look as good as that woman in the commercial. I tried Lyrica, and my pain got worse, so my rheumatologist put me back on neurontin which works much better. I want to work, but I can’t even play at this point. Yes, I am a whiner (sometimes). When I do have the energy to be around people, I try to put on my happy face and actually will feel better for awhile. I would never want them to see what I’m really like when I can’t get out of bed or off the couch. There are so many different degrees of fibro pain and fibro fog, etc.; I am trying to live with it and not let it get me down, but I have a long way to go. In my opinion, that woman in the commercial is too *%#@ perky. By the way, I am on a cocktail of drugs that do help a lot. I am taking a class presented by the author of a book on “unconditional love,” and am loving it. The only problem is that it is in the mornings, and I’ve only been able to attend half the time…..which is better than none of the time. I do agree that the commercial at least informs the public that there really is such a thing as “fibromyalgia.”
we could look at this commercial as an awakening of awareness on fibro. its not perfectect, yet if there wasn’t a annoucement as this ppl would be complaining. Seems a people we are never content
rev. kurt