A dor crônica: experiência de pacientes em tratamento de fibromialgia.

Abstract

From centuries past to the present, pain and its symbolic value have not lost their vigor in scientific discussions. Chronic pain, here represented by fibromyalgia, is characterized by the prolongation of painful sensation in the body for more than six months. Fibromyalgia is known for the sensation of pain, without there being an organic substrate to back up its clinical / biomedical diagnosis. In the scientific literature, the tendency to approach fibromyalgia within positivist parameters is perceived in the scientific literature, which, in this case, has as main objective to attenuate the symptom aiming at the control of pain. What are the possible effects of this tendency that supposedly pervades the subject of pain, about what refers to their meanings and their relations? This research aimed to understand the experience of pain, from the perspective of patients in the treatment of fibromyalgia, based on the Systemic Theory reference. Specifically, we sought to understand conceptions and feelings about pain in patients diagnosed and treated with fibromyalgia; to understand the conditions of possibility to the experience with the pain, in the reconstruction of the process of discovery and diagnosis; to identify the perception of the subjects about the ways in which pain has been approached by health professionals; to analyze the ways in which the family is organizing in the face of pain, based on the understanding of family structure and its interrelation with pain and treatment. In this qualitative research, five women were diagnosed with fibromyalgia for at least one year. The in-depth interview was used as the main technique, contextualized by field diary, aiming at records of intersubjective aspects arising from interviews. The content analysis of Minayo in its thematic aspect aided in the understanding of the material constructed in the field. In the first theme emotional components related to / influencing the experience of pain were perceived; the presence of traumatic events (with regard to losses, for example) in the first manifestations of pain; adopted behaviors of suppression to the pain, at the same time that occurred movement of resistance to the change and a search to the homeostasis. In the second theme, it was observed the maintenance of beliefs that the disease manifests itself in an exclusively emotional and / or physical instance; medication as the main therapy offered to silence the pain; difficulty in dealing with subjective issues; little demand for space that aims at a treatment beyond physical pain. None of the participants showed interest in a psychotherapeutic space. Finally, in the third theme it was observed that, in general, women occupy a central position in their families; they feel little understood. It was also observed family relations that were negatively feedbacks, facilitating the maintenance of the symptom, the families adopt behaviors that reverberate in a maintenance of dysfunctional homeostasis. This dysfunctional pattern is characterized as a movement of continuous rigidity, with few opportunities for change and consequently few transitions within the systems, leaving the conditions of possibility to the true experience. With this research it is estimated to contribute to an integral assistance, reflecting on the nuances involved in the complexity of the pain experience and family relationships that permeate the context of fibromyalgia and its treatment.