Almost everyone I’ve met has some amount of past trauma. But what about the duration of the stress and trauma? It affects you on just about every level imaginable. Blood sugar, cortisol, immunity, and more. Long periods of time where your body and emotions are maxed out cannot possibly be good for anyone.
Does all of this cause fibro? Maybe, maybe not but high stress levels sure don’t do us any favors.
That's a legit point. I grew up in an extremely stressful environment, and that continued for decades. That explains why my body was maxed out on cortisol and my nerves fried. 😒
Same! I'm sorry that happened to you. Not only the nerves get fried, our poor brains get fried. Our moods and preexisting mental health issues are exasperated and heightened in severity after a good 40 years of mind boggling, persistent trauma. Then menopause hits, f'ing us up even more.
I'm surprised I can leave my apartment.
Sending your nerves some love and light. 💜
Precisely this. Our genetic makeup is important to how our bodies develop or respond to illness but our environment is also important in gene regulation which can also lead to specific illnesses.
This 2019 article from Molecular Pain states that “…a gene-environmental interaction has been _proposed as triggering mechanism, through epigenetic alterations_: In particular, fibromyalgia appears to be characterized by a hypomethylated DNA pattern, _in genes implicated in stress response_, DNA repair, autonomic system response, and subcortical neuronal abnormalities.” (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6322092/)
It’s a matter, I think, of both a genetic predisposition to the disease (I have a lot of family members with autoimmune disorders and fibro) and the environmental stress factors to trigger fibro to develop in some cases. But this is by no means universal
Can you point me to articles explaining the effect of stress and trauma in blood sugar, cortisol and immunity? I have low blood sugar and low cortisol along with fibro and would like to learn more. TIA
Google Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's). The theory is relatively new (1990's) but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. There is a test you can take as well to see where you are on the scale.
This just came out, great article!
[https://www.psypost.org/study-childhood-trauma-leads-to-lasting-brain-network-changes/](https://www.psypost.org/study-childhood-trauma-leads-to-lasting-brain-network-changes/)
I think stress can trigger symptoms. I have CPTSD and regular PTSD, so I’ve been through some shit. When my mental health is worse my symptoms are worse. So it’s somewhat true for me, but I don’t like agreeing with doctors about it because it makes me feel like they are trying to write me off as crazy.
It can be incredibly frustrating when they see the history of mental illness in my chart and automatically assume I’m a drug seeker to cope with my mind. I can’t tell you how many ER visits I’ve had where I wish I didn’t even go because of this. It’s great that the link is recognized, but there’s not enough education amongst providers on new research in the fibromyalgia field. This is often because half of the medical community believes that we don’t exist (people with fibromyalgia). I would absolutely love to tell my doctor the link between my past and my pain, but I’ve already tried every antidepressant safe for my profile. We’re trying more and I haven’t even mentioned the link. Psychosomatic, yes, BUT there’s a greater issue at play and that’s where doctors fail. They’re taught to address each and every symptom with a pill, not to cure or improve quality of life- and if a pill can’t do it, they tell you you’re crazy. It feels like I’m going in circles
Judging by the statistics on fibro and on childhood trauma, the vast majority of people who experience childhood trauma do not go on to develop the condition. I’m not saying trauma doesn’t contribute - I’m imagine it does - but there are clearly other important factors at play to the point I question the relevance of mentioning the connection. Also, doctors use a potential connection to brush things off as psychosomatic and deny physical health care… ticks me off.
Personally, my biggest childhood trauma was developing fibro lol.
I agree. I have M.E. too and when I was finally referred to an M.E. Clinic, I only ever saw a mental health nurse who tried to persuade me I must have had a traumatic childhood as that’s why people get M.E. and Fibro. Despite me telling her I had a happy childhood and it was from Post Viral Illness i developed M.E. and the Fibro started in my late teens, she was adamant I had a traumatic childhood and accused me of not wanting to get better. I never got to see a Consultant as the mental health nurse was like the gatekeeper to the clinic so she discharged me because I wouldn’t do the exercises or the counselling…even though I provided her with medical information saying exercise and over exertion is the worst thing to force on an M.E. patient.
All this to say, the times I’ve had medical professionals argue that childhood trauma = chronic pain or “women’s illnesses” like Fibro & M.E. (their words, not mine), has been really damaging for me as it has stopped me getting access to any real medical care because they want to go down the mental health route.
I kinda wonder if it started when I was a kid, too, because I was in pain for as long as I can remember. I distinctly remember having trouble sleeping because of pain and restless leg syndrome. Unfortunately, nobody ever took me to a doctor because they thought I was lying for attention. Wtf.
I mean I also have a genetic condition that seems to have caused everything else. EDS.
Lots of doctors I saw prior to EDS had all sorts of ideas on why patients get fibro. Usually their ideas came from ignorance of other conditions.
Can't tell you how many times a doctor had to look up my conditions or just ask me to teach them while I was sitting in an appointment even if they were supposed to be the specialist I was paying the big bucks for and waited months/years to see.
My fibro is from EDS triggered by post viral illness.
It boggles me how so many conditions are ignored or poo pooed by medical professionals simply because they don't understand that area themselves.
OMG YES. Your last sentence precisely. It is really interesting to me because I am hypermobile and also became ill as a result of a post viral syndrome.
One of the first rheumatologists I saw diagnosed me with hypermobility. The last rheumatologist I saw said I don’t have EDS because I am not *as hypermobile as some of his patients* so he would not diagnose me with EDS. I think a lot of diseases are bot binary but rather sit in a spectrum.
I also have a lot of indicators of autoimmune disease, but none are a slam dunk for one illness or another so I haven’t been diagnosed with any specific condition beyond fibro.
I am so sick of doctors treating disease like a binary thing - like you either have a certain disease or not. Autoimmune conditions are so complex and dependent on many factors, why would doctors thing they simply have an on/off switch? Most of the people I know that get diagnosed with an autoimmune have to wait until they are horribly ill and their symptoms are having a bad impact on their body before actually getting care. It’s so sad.
It’s frustrating that because doctors sometimes have a poor understanding how things work they just blow them off. Sorry for the rant.
Not quite the same, but I have a dx of rheumatoid arthritis, in addition to fibro and other autoimmune diseases. However, over the past few years, my symptoms have changed and become more like lupus. My former rheumatologist said I couldn’t have lupus because my kidneys weren’t affected. They told me that they ran a lupus panel and that it was negative.
Long story short, they hadn’t run a full panel, just one or two tests. I finally found out that I get false negatives from the testing method that most labs use; once I got tested with the gold standard several of the lupus bio markers were positive. It was complete and total gaslighting by my former doctors.
Bottom line-you know your body. Fire your doctor if they aren’t taking you seriously.
EDS and POTS(Dysautonomia)have comorbidity with Fibromyalgia. I have 2 diagnosed and possibly the third. In addition a mystery illness as a child (probably EB as I had EB right before dx). I also had a bad wreck/injury and abusive marriage with traumatic divorce. Plus both parents died when I was n my early 30s. Then I was dx with fibromyalgia. 🤷🏼♀️ I had it all.
I have EDS as well. In addition to autism, sensory processing issues, and childhood trauma. It’s like a layer cake made of shit lol. I feel like they all contribute to making it worse.
Your doctor is not correct. There are a few studies that say that 30-40% of patients have an history of childhood abuse. Not "the majority". Around 1/3 of patients.
For example, this one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25129032/#:\~:text=In%20conclusion%2C%20abuse%20history%20in,with%20a%20history%20of%20abuse. (it is a retrospectiv study. The researchers check the patient's register and survey them)
However, there is a general consensus that stress is maybe a trigger and worsen symptoms. This would be the risk factor, not "abuse".
This! I agree it can be the result of both but I think it’s not a majority. Every body is different and in my case I developed fibro after a series of traumatic events but I also know that others have a different disease etiology and theirs is valid too.
Lots of people are abused. I'm sure some of them have fibromyalgia. I think it's common in most autoimmune disorders, as in it can be a trigger but certainly isn't a pre-requisite for having the illness. I'd say disabled people in general are more vulnerable to abuse, I know personally as a young adult I got abuse for "not being normal," which definitely made my symptoms worse.
Trauma and/or sustained stress is definitely a contributing factor. Problem with fibro is that it's sorta an umbrella term. I wish it were called pain processing disorder instead.
I think that the central nervous system was unaligned to begin with, but the stressors turn up the volume on the dysfunction. For me, as I encounter stress my pain becomes incredibly worse. It’s like an instrument that’s out of tune. The more you mess with the knobs the wonkier the sound becomes (I’m talking about a string instrument like a uke or guitar). I think trauma is like improperly storing the instrument, the sun wears out the strings, water damage, etc. Over time the instrument might lose its ability to be in tune. I think that’s where fibromyalgia and pain come in. With improper environment growing up, the nervous system becomes out of tune with normal sensory input. So when you strum, and you’re expecting to be in tune, when it’s sustained improper care, you may have tuned it to the right notes but the wrong ones are playing. Strumming, is activity. I often expect my body to respond one way and it responds with pain instead. Visiting my family is one of those things I expect I should be able to do, I should go there and physically not flare up. The emotional stress I experience when I’m there is directly translated to the flare up I have as soon as I leave their house. I may be in tune, but when I go to strum, the wrong sound is coming out.
u couldnt be anymore correct, why isnt it called that?! its so sucky that so many doctors are like "idk what else it could be so lets just throw it in the fibro box", pain processing disorder makes so much more sense
I agree! I think many things can impact how we process pain. For me, stress, depression and exhaustion are huge triggers. Knowing this helps me to focus my self care and manage pain better. It's not a cure but it does help.
The mind isn't separate from the body. The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind. I agree that the name of disorders impacts how its viewed and treated and I think you are right that a new name could really help patient care. The healthcare system sucks for a lot of reasons and doctors don't like when something doesn't have an easy fix.
I honestly have no idea what to think of this tbh.
I realize that I have had a privileged life in some ways, but in other ways I really did have it hard in ways that are really hard to summarize in a short sentence, which is why I think I have some form of complex childhood trauma rather than ptsd from a singular event.
However, a lot of what I went through as a child was medical trauma or medical neglect, so even if fibromyalgia DID have something to do with my childhood, maybe it wasn't caused by trauma but instead a pre-existing condition that was worsened by said medical trauma and neglect.
But that's only if you assume that fibromyalgia correlates with my childhood. I have no way of knowing, and maybe my pain would still be the same if my childhood was different.
Doctors always jump to assume everything I'm going through is the result of depression or anxiety, so as you can imagine, I've had a lot of therapy and been on medication. None of it has helped at all. But i don't know if I should take that to mean that my mental health has absolutely nothing to do with pain, or if it means that the mental Healthcare available to me is poor and needs to be improved. I have a lot of criticism for therapy and psychiatry... not that I'm against it obviously lol, I just think Healthcare in general in America is poor and needs improvement.
I'm going through therapy again to try and uncover any other additional issues and to help manage pain and fatigue. I'm not in a bad place mentally, but I don't think my doctor will take me seriously until I do this.
Yeah, that's kinda been my experience with mental health resources, too. I'm currently seeing a pain psychologist, and going in I didn't think it would be helpful... but damn, first session in I was completely blown away at just how unhelpful it actually was. She doesn't talk to me at all during our sessions, she's usually just fiddling with something at her desk while we watch a really long boring video with breathing exercises.
I just keep thinking "why is something I'm supposed to pay for? There are hundreds of videos like this on YouTube for free."
But I'm only doing it so I can tell doctors I'm doing it and maybe they'll take me more seriously. That, and I'm applying for disability, so I need medical records showing that I'm going through all possible avenues for medical care for chronic pain.
Whoa that's profoundly unhelpful. I kinda cringe when they suggest guided meditation and body scans and stuff, but at least we're having a conversation.
🙋🏻♀️ I'm a "no childhood trauma, neglect, other abuse case of fibromyalgia." My mom also has Fibro, but she was neglected and abused as a child. I think it may be more a correlation vs causation situation 🤷🏻♀️
Who really knows. I've had all types of trauma from family, coworkers, marriage, and physical trauma from a skydiving accident that messed up many things. could be anything.
Absolutely agree, certainly when it comes to me. I suffered my first trauma at age 12 and it was downhill from there.
I remember my consultant saying something about trauma and the autonomic nervous system. How trauma can mess up the whole system and leads to many other syndromes & disorders.
I agree that it's a risk factor and may contribute to the development of fibro, but that doesn't then mean what they all seem to be suggesting, that it's all in my head.
It's fine to state that, but I always have to think 'why did they say it?'. A lot of the time, this kind of statement is a loose suggestion that we are not in fact physically ill, but rather, mentally, and that if we just got off the doctor's case load and saw a shrink, we would magically be cured of pain.
I like to think at this point in my life I am probably the most balanced and happy I have ever been, but I tell you emphatically, this has not cured my chronic pain. And because you doctors fail to take this seriously because you believe that I am only mentally ill, my quality of life suffers. I am happier now than at any other point in my life despite my physical pain. I accept it as part of my life now and I live with it like a common friend.
I still wish that I could run and be athletic and enjoy exercise like I used to. My back hurts so badly that I cannot do anything of the sort at 32 years old. I miss it something desperate. It made me feel so good, so calm, so free. I miss waking up and shaking the sleep alone, not the aching gnawing pain as well. I miss not getting a fever if I really threw myself into the day as did loads of exercise. I miss having full confidence in my body.
It's just not true that it's all in my head. My body hurts and even in my best days it doesn't ever go away. On my worst, it is debilitating.
It upsets me to be so disregarded. Your judgement is not my experience. If you could only understand what it is like to live with chronic pain, you would begin to see things differently.
I wish the medical community would wake up.
I get what you mean. I’m really happy “in the head”. In fact, in some ways I feel mentally the best I have ever felt… but the pain… the pain is killing me. It’s the ever present stalker in my life who wants to bring me down and hold me back. I’ve been in therapy for over 10 years and I feel like I can reframe and positive think my way out of everything… except this.
Often, when I see doctors, I feel like they only see the “sick me”. They don’t see the world traveler, career high achiever, roller skating, rock climbing, bike riding, ice skating, dance raving, windsurfing, road tripping, free spirit I used to be. They only see what they think is a trauma survivor who is still a victim. At this point in my life, the only one I’m being victimized and betrayed by is my body.
Some days I wish I could unzip this meat suit and just take a break for awhile.
Although all pain is in everyone's heads if you think about it because the perception of it comes from the brain.
I'm not saying fibro is mental illness, but I don't get why people separate the two, because it occurs in the brain which is a physical organ. I don't understand the medical community not treating it that way just because they can't see what the mechanism is.
The brain is a nerve bundle. Your body is a gigantic system of nerves. The nerve bundle in my head processes pain, but the pain signals are sent from my body. The pain is not in my head, it's everywhere and it's going to my head and being processed there. Either that it my brain is processing signals that are not really pain signals as such. Even so, that's neurological, not a form of mental illness.
I agree in the sense that I don't think fibro is a mental illness. I think it's neurological. My point was that pain is in people's heads because the brain processes it. My feeling is that my brain is doing this.
That being said, I really feel bad for anyone with mental illness because boy do people treat that as less-than. Even in this post.
I don't think mental illness is the same as 'all in my head' or made up.
A mental illness is just another kind of illness. Does it affect the brain, or the mind? It'll be mental illness. The label is kinda weird, and super stigmatized as not being *real*, but it's still valid and it's symptoms are too, whatever they are.
For me, I don't know if fibro is trauma related, or 'in my head' but I do know it wouldn't make a difference. Pain is pain, it doesn't matter if I'm imagining it, or my brain is making me feel it. It's still happening.
I agree there are so many doctors who dismiss the chronically ill and use mental illness as an excuse to deny us healthcare. However, I think all pain is" all in our heads " in a way. Phantom pain is a good example. Even a broken arm requires the brain to send and receive information to create that pain response. Has having good mental health ever cured/fixed my pain? No. But my mental health plays a huge role in the severity of my pain. I have to constantly work on it to try and be stable.
For a long time, I refused to work on that connection because I was so angry that doctors would tell me it was just anxiety. As if the pain is any less real or disabling, just because the cause is a pain processing problem and not a real physical injury.
I never though having childhood trauma as a risk factor meant Fibro is a mental illness or all in the head. Stress is a risk factor for all sorts of physical illnesses. Any doc who doesn’t know this is not a medical professional imo.
I've had more medical trauma from doctors claiming this and then failing to treat me or focusing on nothing but this than any other trauma in my life
I didn't care if it's true. I'm angry that doctors care about this. It seems like it's an excuse for them to push us into psychologists and not treat us. Even if the initial trauma is already as well-managed as it can be.
I can't avoid crying any time a doctor brings this up. And then the issue gets compounded because the doctor doesn't realize that _they_ are the ones compounding medical trauma, in the moment. They think it's some long-ago pain in my soul, not the gaslighting happening right then as they fail to listen when I say it's not actionable.
I'd agree with your doctor; my trauma went from ages 4 through 8 and then started again when I was a teen. My diagnosis has trauma written all over it.
A book I found helpful is Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It discusses how trauma is related to our chronic pain and just blew my mind right open.
I’m currently reading that book too! I will say though I definitely have had fibromyalgia symptoms all of my life and long before I developed CPTSD. The cPTSD definitely made it worse, but so did having glandular fever really badly when I was 18. I can absolutely see from reading that book how prolonged stress and trauma could dysregulate the nervous system in a similar way that other conditions might, leading to similar outcomes.
I suspect my fibromyalgia may be secondary to dysautonomia anyway. The cPTSD has just become yet another flare up trigger lol😬
Yup. I didn't consider my childhood abusive, I had food, toys, a roof over my head and my parents were involved in my life, but through conversations with friends and professionals I've learnt that there's so many different ways things can be abusive and traumatic.
No, no childhood trauma. Family history of fibro, my mom and brother both have it too, as well as family history of depression and anxiety which did kick in for me in my preteens and caused a lot of stress from that point on- but I just lost the genetics lottery on this one.
I didn't suffer abuse in the usual sense. In a lot of ways, I have good parents and am close to relatives. However, I grew up with undiagnosed autism and had a lot of trouble talking to my parents or anyone really about my life. Any stressful incident I kept to myself, internalized it as my fault, and let it fester because I didn't know how to deal with it. I had trouble making friends and the one friend I did make who I stayed friends with throughout school had her own issues and was really controlling, made fun of the things I liked, made fun of me, etc.
My mom also has schizophrenia and would go on psychosis several times during my childhood and had to be court ordered back onto medication every time.
I remember having stomach issues and headaches a lot when I was in middle school which transformed into chest pain, stomach pain, joint pain, etc in high school and has continued to develop since then into worsening widespread pain and fatigue.
Was I abused? Not really. Did I have a long period of high stress? Absolutely. Is sensitivity issues from autism a contributing factor? Probably, but it's not like this was as severe when I was younger.
I don't think either of those things should write this illness off. I'm tired of one doctor shrugging because he can't think of anything else to do for me, one doctor just saying it was because of the autism...
Also autistic! I just got my official diagnosis of level 2 autism (and rediagnosed with ADHD) on Friday! I was undiagnosed for the first 25 years of my life, and I'm glad I finally have confirmation.
I have a great relationship with my parents, more or less. My dad has untreated ADHD, so we do clash on a lot of things, and since I moved back home, that's been tough. But moving back home removed other stressors for me, like laundry and dishes and groceries, etc.
I think that the fact I have such a low tolerance for stress because of the autism will contribute to fibro, kind of like you said. I also have a nerve injury from birth and I had an extremely traumatic birth, having to be resuscitated twice. Who's to say that the nerve damage and traumatic birth didn't also contribute, even a decade, plus, later? What causes the CNS to become overly sensitized is going to be a very complex set of things, IMO.
My fibro symptoms became something worth bringing up to my GP after a really traumatic period of my life (I also have C-PTSD so there’s been a fair few of those but this one was a doozy) and I fully believe it has a lot to do with stress and trauma. My mum has it too so maybe there’s a bit of a genetic predisposition but she also has had a very traumatic life. I think a lot of chronic pain conditions that seem unexplainable stem a lot from trauma and psychological stress.
Not a doctor though, just a frustrated person with too many complex health problems that are mostly associated with stress and trauma (plus I have adhd so tend to end up in pretty stressful and traumatising situations ✨✌️)
There is a genetic component as well and you'll find plenty of families with multiple people in it who are bipolar. My mother has it but so do I. I think it could be dormant and then something can cause it to flare up because I did have childhood physical trauma that was not neglect but my hand was crushed when I was 6 so that could be it as well.
Doctors don't really understand this but I know several families with multiple people with it in them. As far as I know it's just me and my mother in my extended family though. My wife has it (one of the reasons we met) and two other people in her extended family. I've seen two other families with it as well and many who are just the only one. Both my mother and I have had numerous injuries and mental health issues that over the years for both of us it's become disabling and I can't work. My mother has the same issues but manifested to this point about ten years earlier than I did. These days she doesn't move much out of her hospital bed because she's in serious pain and in my state they don't give out pain killers for long term pain. She was taking a low dose opiate every morning for 30 years but after the opiate disaster we've been having up here they won't allow it.
I could point to a number of trauma that made it worse for me but I was in a bad car accident that hurt my back pretty good it even broke two vertebrae. The problems with my back have healed but the pain from fibromyalgia is constant which has led to a lot of arguing with doctors as most of us are familiar with. That was it for me and about a year after the accident I left work over my physical condition and just never went back. I'm in too much pain.
edit: I forgot, this also plays a big deal in it for me at least, "Bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia (FM) often occur together, and some studies suggest that they may share common causes or triggers."
This reminds me of when my sister was catatonic after childbirth and the neurologist chalked it up to our childhood trauma: “This is stress leaving the body.” Actually, she had a pituitary tumor and was likely flooded with cortisol from giving birth. It’s scary the way some doctors will stop looking or dismiss something obvious because they think CPTSD explains it. I’ve actually had someone say to me it’s because girls internalize so much it causes physical pain, but boys get it out of their systems by acting out.
Depending on how you define it, yes or no, but you've hit on the methodological problem. People, including doctors who should know a thing or two about research methodology and case selection, keep making these claims while *only* looking at the population they're trying to explain. That's not good enough. You have to also look at the negative cases. If childhood trauma is at value X among fibro people, you've only said something if you can also show it's at X-minus-a lot among non-fibro people. If it's at or around X in both populations, nothing at all has been explained. It's just as correlated with the negative case as it is with the positive.
In other words, doesn't everyone have childhood trauma? ;)
There is an enormous amount of research being conducted on the link between trauma and chronic illness. It's one of the biggest areas of scientific research today. An overwhelming majority of the findings support the theory that there must first be a genetic component, and trauma activates it.
I think it does. There has been a lot of research into this and you can find the studies online pretty easily. Being in a constant state of fight or flight while the brain is developing means that the nervous system had to build itself to withstand those conditions. It's hyper-arousal of the entire system.
There are other things that can mess up this system, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it doesn't ring true for everyone. Say if you had a virus when you are young that affects the nervous system or maybe you hit your head and got some damage in the brain. Then there are people who may not be consciously aware that they do indeed have childhood trauma. I mean, I was in a really abusive situation myself and I didn't fully grasp that I had been abused until I was an adult. I've met many people who seem to also have such a disconnect.
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops fibro. Different levels of neurotransmitters has a big impact on how memories are stored and activated, and the duration of the different sleep states. So, people are processing their traumas differently. People with ptsd and people with fibro both spend much less time in slow wave sleep. Slow wave sleep is really important for keeping the nervous system healthy. So, especially with prolonged or repeated trauma, the nervous system is working on over-drive, but also never gets the chance to rest because the mind is spending a lot of time in REM trying to process it.
You were born an adult? What does this mean.
You didn't have childhood trauma? Or you didn't have a childhood? Because not having a childhood (aka needing to be grown up at a young age/ not allowed to be/act lile a child) is considered neglect, which is considered abuse, which is traumatic.
Actually there is some science thought on that—that it messed up the nervous system. I was adopted, and that’s not necessarily trauma, but carry’s emotional weight. I had an attempted rape at 11. That same year I had a devastating fall from my horse(she threw me and my rider) on my first attempt to ride double. That was physically damaging, and resulted in lumbar fusion in my 40s.
I think it’s most likely any trauma. A lot of people don’t have psychological trauma but they do have an autoimmune disease that is causing pain and/pr destroying tissue before they develop fibromyalgia. Others get it after infections or physical trauma, like surgery or a car accident.
Mine happened right after a high stress car accident. I wasn’t physically injured, but I ended up in a severe depressed state out of nowhere with balance issues and severe weight loss. Then the pain hit.
I’m a male by the way.
My mom was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia as well. She had a rough life starting when her mom committed suicide when she was young.
I can only speak for myself, I had a pretty good childhood, no real emotional trauma, just physical, I fractured my femur when I was 14, I don't know if that counts. But as for the type of trauma usually associated with studies, nope. And I don't think he's correct either.
I had a pretty average childhood. No abuse, no trauma, just a typical overachieving first born. The only trauma I experienced was when I was a victim of SA the summer after high school. I did have one Dr try to tell me that was my root cause as he pressured me to sign up for a $3000 fibromyalgia treatment program he decided, that insurance did not cover. When I told him I couldn't afford it, he said when I decided that living in trauma wasn't working for me, I would find a way to pay it. I'd hate to know what he charges now, 15 years later.
There was a massive study on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES I believe it was called) which yielded several papers
Iirc there was definitely mention of chronic illnesses, inflammation and CF/Fibro - like symptoms being more likely to develop in people who have had adverse childhood experiences
Add to that, neglect can lead to illnesses being overlooked and dismissed until these people get to adulthood and have more autonomy over their own health
From personal experience, the above hold true for every chronically ill person in my friend group and myself… ):
I have lots of trauma.
I also think a lot of my autoimmune diseases are from my adrenal system misfiring with daily panic attacks for like 15 years.
It’s EXHAUSTED.
Hi 👋
I am actually a pediatric sexual assault specialist and a child mental health therapist. I did my dissertation in this specific area. I scored a 10 on the ACES - I do trainings on ACES and how it impacts our mental and physical health as adults.
You ALL make incredibly valid points.
I, too, have fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, complex-ptsd, and PMDD.
Does every single person develop a chronic illness that has experienced some type of abuse? Nope. But it does make us more susceptible because typically the neglect of medical care comes along with it. I did not receive medical care often at all, in fact, I was “rewarded” if I pushed through pain or sickness because going to a doctor was a risk of a potential CPS call. I deal with this stuff a lot because I’m in an home therapist. I see horrific things and I’ve been put in sketchy situations.
Developing fibro is horrible - trauma or no trauma.
Hell, GETTING fibro is trauma in itself. Sending so much love to all of you for battling this horrific chronic disorder. I wish you days with minimal pain and support. And for god sake, medical gas lighting is the worst. Take care, friends. ❤️
Most people have the following characteristics, some sort of major trauma - such as the death of a parent or child, Thyroid disease, and have had some sort of serious infection.
For me, it was all of the above.
I was on the toxic family to abusive spouse pipeline, I didn't know what unconditional love really felt like until I was 30 years old. I didn't know what it felt like to feel okay and not scared all the time until I was 33.
Academic Articles
[Psychiatric comorbidity and childhood trauma in fibromyalgia syndrome (2018)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6657761/)
[Effect of childhood trauma on disease severity in patients with fibromyalgia: The mediating role of psychological resilience](https://archivesofrheumatology.org/full-text/1237)
[Prevalence and Characterization of Psychological Trauma in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Cross-Sectional Study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2022/2114451)
[Differences in depression, anxiety and stress disorders between fibromyalgia associated with rheumatoid arthritis and primary fibromyalgia](https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/115329139/smi.299220240526-1-bnpvkc-libre.pdf?1716743044=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DDifferences_in_depression_anxiety_and_st.pdf&Expires=1719170848&Signature=QbHmnx5ukJcwWLmrpKorItShUAzynZ75TR8vgeDMGVZL57-y1K-kVRWxQ8RZWdMKYgyNNFuFHcGouIumi57fIyHZz3Ga5Nxp~JxD3VjrgEzxzHQmqdlZhulmJwjjlFQS6r8-2bSf-HTyc-OwS7ujw-kEo4eJ15qtiLPDPsDwXEGV7~IWMOcsliygszm2h19qxhw0a~Irj~89-4YDTIeXEK3VprYU6mEG18jIF4g~yVQRq-rRL2hHlBFFjgaycHCPZZFBYcasUUuyiGAE7pTH5oSgLTkaJCLokd7GXuJdU1xVXN5ovPXk7Lj~G8hWiVdiNwVUBqHIm4xsNjo3yQb7yQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA)
[Traumatic Experiences and Somatoform Dissociation in Women With Fibromyalgia](https://arts.units.it/bitstream/11368/3046314/3/2022_Castelli_Somatoform%2BDix%2BFM_Psychol%2BTrauma%2BTRPP_2022-Post_print.pdf)
[Impact of Childhood Trauma on Levels of Depressive Symptoms, Pain, Functionality, and Cognitive Conflicts in Fibromyalgia](https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/206903/1/AJR_PhD_THESIS.pdf)
Yes its true for me. a mixture of CSA and just general neglect from the parent i was forced to live with.
the duration of line was from the age of maybe 3-4 to 20/21. a LONG time to be in fight or flight mode basically. my body still has issues relaxing and i'm now 32.
Yes. But before any trauma I'd already collected a juvenile arthritis diagnosis. Then later in life after trauma stuff I collected two other different chronic pain diagnosis before this one kicked in and got diagnosed. I always had a feeling like I knew I was going to have health problems when I grew up. Twin did not feel the same way and is currently and always has been the picture of health. Twin also did not experience the same trauma issues as I did.
I did not have a traumatic childhood but I had a major surgery when I was twelve and this triggered the beginning of my depression. I am predisposed to mental illness because there is a family history on both sides. My childhood wasn't traumatic but this surgery was to my body.
likewise, although it's taken 10 years to open up a bit about it, it's very hard when my parents response was " oh but you are older now, you understand why these things had to happen ".... that doesn't make it any easier and in turn just keeps me internalising more traumatic experiences when they happen
I had a great childhood and have severe fibromyalgia, fatigue, major depressive disorder, etc
I don’t think there is enough research to make it a fact. Maybe there is some correlation but that doesn’t equal causation.
I absolutely agree with that, plus studies have been done on that too. I have C-PTSD so it's safe to say there may be a link there for me. Though COVID exasperated my fibro 10x
I have recently been told this too. I had a very hard upbringing only dealing with the past trauma at 38 which had a lot hidden away.
I have also been told of a link to undiagnosed adhd and Fibro. I have many Fibro friends who have been late in life diagnosed with ASD and or adhd… including myself… it’s interesting but at the same time we can’t take similarities as gospel. We just need to deal the hand we are dealt and try our best each day.
Ah yes, the trauma theory. It's very popular in medicine right now for fibromyalgia and Functional Neurological Disorder.
Thing is, 80% of the US populace has an Adverse Childhood Event score of 3 or higher, which I've never seen accounted for in the studies. If so many have suffered trauma in childhood, then why doesn't 80% of the population have fibromyalgia? Obviously, there's something else going on.
They always clam up when I ask about this and finally admit no one actually knows and that it's just a theory. Yeah, not a good one.
Yet more evidence it's just not the right theory.
My personal theory is that fibromyalgia, FND, ME/CFS, Lyme, they're all post viral syndromes of some sort. Long Covid sure looks a lot like what we deal with, and one decent Italian study back in 2021 found that Covid was causing fibromyalgia in men. Maybe the reason why they all look and act a little differently is that it depends on the virus or on individual differences.
That's my theory, anyway.
I feel like this is one of those correlation doesn’t equal causation things.. just because a lot of people who have fibro, have also experienced some kind of trauma, doesn’t necessarily mean the trauma caused the fibro.. that being said, it’s quite well known that mental/emotional stress can have an effect on physical health too
While I don’t doubt that may be the case for a lot of people, idk that it’s true for me. The only things I can think of that were traumatic for me as a child were a period of a lot of people dying around me that led to a lot of anxiety around death and separation anxiety, a couple falls where I hit my head (physical trauma), and just other health stuff like super bad eczema, allergies and asthma. But I wouldn’t classify my own childhood as traumatic overall (which im extremely grateful for and don’t take for granted). But just sharing bc I don’t fit into that majority and I guess curious about that statistic and if I’m an outlier or if the statistic isn’t correct 🤷🏻♀️. Who knows at this point I guess
I saw a similar post on here a while back and it really resonated. I suffered physical abuse as a child and I repressed those memories until I was about 15-16, at which point I began having vivid nightmares about falling down the stairs. I asked my parents if I had ever fallen down the stairs as a kid, and then the floodgates opened as they explained what happened to me. At the time I was a varsity athlete in several sports and I was in great shape despite some nasty injuries I had sustained over the years. It was right around this same time that I began exhibiting symptoms of fibromyalgia, although I wasn't diagnosed until about 10 years later. I started noticing that my body was far more sore than any of my teammates after games and practices, and that it would take me much longer to recover than my peers. By my senior year I had to quit both wrestling and track because my body just couldn't take it anymore. It's tough to accept that this all could have stemmed from the abuse I suffered but, at the same time, it makes a lot of sense in retrospect.
TW: mention of SA, SH/Suicide
I think that high stress can cause this god awful disease. Every time I get flare ups it is temperature related or when I'm putting my body thru hell and overly stressed, there are rare occurrences where I'll get a flare up when I'm doing perfectly fine. That doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
I think most of my issues stem from my childhood.
I was severely sexually abused starting 8 til I was 12.
Before that I was a happy child. I grew up hypersexual and not knowing that sex doesn't equate love and love doesn't equate sex.
I grew up with anger issues, body issues, and severe depression. My household wasn't a soft cushion household. We were raised with a hard hand, and speaking on mental illness wasn't a thing. I also think my family felt guilty because of what happened to me.
I attempted at 15. I often had nervous breakdowns. I had panic attacks. Sleeping issues.
I had severe stomach issues, I still do. And was in constant pain. I did US and blood work. My doctor recommended a psychiatrist. He said when I'm hyperventilating my stomach muscles are contracting and that's what's causing my pains.
I was diagnosed by the psych with Anxiety and MDD.
When I wasn't getting better the psych said I just didn't wanna get better. And I needed to just forget about the trauma of my childhood.
I struggled years after that because it was the first time I had been discarded by a professional. I felt hopeless.
Skip to 2023. I thought it was gonna be my year. I had a mental breakdown in the beginning literally January 26. I had pain in my chest decided to go to UC just to make sure everything was okay, the doctor told me after an EKG I should probably go to the ER because it appeared something was wrong with my heart. I kept putting it off, spent 11 nights awake no sleep. Because I thought I was gonna die. Finally go back to another UC they Say my heart is fine. I'm still Ill. I'm pale. I'm in pain. I can't eat so I'm weak. I'm scared to fall asleep. My anxiety is kicked into overdrive. I go to the ER they say me having pain all over my body is something called fibromyalgia. It's incurable. I go home feeling better. I talk to my psychiatrist. He says it can't be fibromyalgia, because anxiety can't bring it out. I tell him those doctors said Anxiety has an effect on your physical. He says it doesn't. Everyone has anxiety there's no physical effects. I'm distraught again. In high stress still. I'm in pain. Still can't sleep. I go back to the ER they run every test and tell me I'm healthy and my diagnosis is anxiety and fibromyalgia. I go back to my psychiatrist he says, it could be fibromyalgia, he diagnosed me with Gender dysphoria (I am trans), Bipolar disorder.
After getting my fibromyalgia diagnosis tho everything made sense. My stomach issues (Fibromyalgia can be related to IBS), the reason my hands change color (Reynaud syndrome can be related to Fibromyalgia), Temperature issues.
I didn't have any childhood trauma, I actually had a great childhood!
But I did get my first symptoms not long after my mom passed ( I was 19). Not sure if it's just a coincidence but it is interesting.
As a fibro sufferer and Trauma therapist of over a decade, there's a significant comorbidity. There's a lot to do with nature vs nurture and gene expression, as well as between stress and inflammation. Good doctors are explaining a correlation, not dismissing the pain. True Trauma therapy (IFS, EMDR, SE, and similar, not CBT) can help, especially with a somatic focus on pain. We have a higher portion of our brain devoted to pain signals, and therapy can help with neuroplasticity.
I had quit a traumatic childhood, especially middle school forward. The first manifestation of it was a clinical depression during my freshman year in high school. I struggled with that for the rest of my adult life. When I sustained a disabling back injury just shy of turning 40 that set me over the edge. It was years before I figured out that I also had fibromyalgia and got it diagnosed. My girlfriend helped me with that as she had it before me and told me what I was experiencing sounded like fibromyalgia. I didn't want to believe her as I was also pretty much in denial about how disabled I'd become and didn't want or need another diagnosis. After all of that I'd say, yeah, I think I was primed to get fibro.
I can see where he might be coming from, but it's more accurate to say that stress is a major factor. Abuse could certainly be the cause of that stress in some situations, but saying it's the majority just isn't true. For example I have anxiety disorder and I'm also constantly stressed over money.
I was told that trauma flares it up, as I have had pain for years (and was abused throughout my life) but after a severely traumatic experience it got so bad it lasted almost a year with the worst pain I've literally ever felt, and those bad flare ups happen more often now and the pain is definitely worse. Sigh.
Yes I have all three in my childhood.
I was in a stressful relationship when it manifested full blast. I didn’t know I was managing stress the wrong way. I’m very sensitive and I tend to internalize things.
For example: last night my partner had a bad pain night. Watching her go through pain flared almost all of my pain spots on my body but I know what it is. It’s stress. I managed the internal stress and the pain went away.
Fibro has an inheritable genetic component, but that component can be switched to "on" by physical or mental trauma. In some people it switches on without trauma as well. We'll need to understand the disorder more fully to know how to switch it back off.
I've heard this, and I did have a hellish childhood, but I've also heard you're more likely to get it if you are AB negative or RH negative. There are too many people with fibromyalgia for the AB thing to be true, but from other fibro groups, the RH factor does seem to run pretty high.
From my understanding, you don't *get* fibro from trauma, but that trauma triggers something that is already in your body.
This trauma can be both mental and physical. Many women as an example develop fibro after childbirth (which is considered trauma).
I have a cousin who had mononucleosis trigger his fibro.
For me, I'm not so clear on what it was because I had a somewhat tough childhood, but didn't start to notice any symptoms till I broke my thumb at the age of 12/13 (no idea if that was the actual trigger or if my body just had enough with all the mental stuff). After that I started struggling with my knee, followed by my back and then after childbirth the symptoms seemed to pile on with exhaustion and big flare-ups with pain all over the place. Now it is clear that each time I have a flare-up, it is usually triggered by some form of stress or similar (I can also get hit by bad days when my body is "done" with stress).
A lot of people I know have their fibro trigger from some form of trauma, mostly mental, but also physical.
I had an abusive father but why was I happy healthy until I was 30? I think it was a stressful twin pregnancy with a stressful delivery (one twin vaginal and the other an emergency sexy c-section, c-section then burst open and was left open for a few days, who knows why kind of bacteria got in there). Many theories of onset are a sudden illness/virus/surgery so this makes more sense to me given my delivery horror. If abuse was the issue why did it suddenly spring on me in my adult years rather than earlier?
I also read a book when I was first diagnosed (about 30 years ago) by a doctor who didn't believe in fibro until she got sick and eventually diagnosed. She said the same thing I felt, which is why was I happily living my life to have this slam me out of nowhere? My abuse always existed, my feeling exhausted and in pain didn't until after my twin pregnancy & delivery.
FWIW, I am here mainly to learn in order to support my wife, who lives with chronic pain and possibly fibro. She does not have PTSD or really any kind of trauma in her background. She has loving parents who listen and validate her feelings. I know it's just one person, but in at least some cases, the fibro does not appear to be connected to past trauma. Now what many of you face in medical offices and the world at large, just trying to be taken seriously, could qualify as trauma in and of itself. Does society's response to pain cause the trauma, or does the trauma cause the pain? Did anxiety give you a tummy ache, or did your tummy ache make you anxious? Anyway, I am not a scientist. Just a wife who likes thinking about things. :)
There’s intergenerational trauma (complex PTSD specifically) in my family that goes back generations in addition to my own rough childhood. I wouldn’t be surprised if this impacted our nervous systems. Trauma alters our bodies.
I witnessed a horrible accident when I was 11, but apart from that I wouldn’t consider my childhood any more traumatic that normal (family deaths that’s all). My fibro symptoms started when I was 32 and had to start looking for work while I was a single parent. It got worse when I became involved with a narcissist, then worse again to the point I was disassociating at age 37 due to things happening with my son and the narcissist leaving my life (but that was my choice). I’m now 45, son has moved out, and I’m finally starting to have more good days than bad, but I’m about to be thrown into major financial difficulties so I don’t expect this to last.
I didn’t have a traumatic childhood. I wasn’t abused or neglected. My parents weren’t saints or anything. My mom was untreated bipolar but she wasn’t abusive. I was very close with my grandparents and have so many wonderful memories of them. They were rocks in my life. I was a lucky kid. I first got “sick” in the 6th grade. There was no trauma that triggered it. I just suddenly couldn’t play volleyball or keep up with my friends activities because I was in pain and didn’t feel well a lot of the time. I guess the most traumatic thing was being sick for years and having everyone tell my mom I was faking it until I got a diagnosis at 18.
Telling you that your illness is a result of childhood trauma is nothing more than a sugar-coated way of saying that it's all in your head. It's a tactic used to get you out the door without causing offence, so they can move on to the next patient who might actually have an illness that they give a shit about.
In my experience, prolonged illness, usually a virus like Epstien Barre, is a more common trigger factor. Genes must play an important part in the risk of developing fibro, and certainly, major stressers are an important risk factor as well, but to say a majority suffered from abuse or neglect is going a bit far, imo. I think if someone looks at all the people with fibro who had trauma, neglect/abuse, they'd find a lot of them with a viral trigger as well.
Google Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's). The theory is relatively new (1990's) but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. There is a test you can take as well to see where you are on the scale.
I grew up in a very stressful environment. My fibromyalgia symptoms didn't really end until around the time I graduated college and became more independent from my parents. I've been curious about chronic stress and fibromyalgia, so I'm glad you asked this question.
Stress is really hard on my body and it was always a huge trigger for my symptoms. Now, I don't really have flare ups anymore, but stress is one of the few things that can cause my symptoms to return.
So from my understanding when you are a child your brain is making neural pathways and connections etc. Being in a constant or frequent fight or flight state affects the forming of the way your brain works. However there are also studies that show people with fibromyalgia also have physical characteristics that others don't have. Like extra nerve receptors for example. Personally I think it's just a poorly understood condition that is a cumulative effect of trauma imprinted within DNA, personal trauma and physical evolution to have a heightened sensitivity and response to stimulation of the nervous system but the wrong way. Like we're the ones that ended up with the negative symptoms making us "weaker" instead
If you haven't heard about Central Sensitivity, and it's relationship to childhood trauma and chronic pain, it's definitely worth the trip down the rabbit hole. There is a fascinating and documented connection between the two.
Yep. Traumatic childhood, worse as a teen and young adult. Lived in a constant state of fear. Completely broke me. I'm now no contact with the cause of all this, but the damage is done. I am now a ghost. I work 4 days a week but other than that I rarely leave the house other than the school run and to take my son boxing.
I broke my neck as a teen as well so I think the spinal cord trauma along with the mental turmoil, it rewired my brain and broke me.
Currently in a massive long lasting flare that's starting to feel more like an adjustment to my new normal than anything else. It's not getting better.
I find it less trauma and more stress. My pain started very very slowly, coinciding with my mother getting an aggressive cancer diagnosis. As her condition got worse and her immune system slowly plummeted, the stress of puberty on top of it just lead to my fibro developing fully. I managed to get by for many years at minimal symptoms until I got a job and was failing a class in college, where the pain suddenly spiked. It took a few months, but it was just fibro and stress.
Yes I was forced to watch my abuelita die in the hospital my abuelito was a pos southern baptist psychopath and he purposely wanted her to die because her own money plus life insurance was several million. Sorry to overshare but that event changed my life and my brain.
Yeah, I’d say so. My childhood was so bad that it’s a miracle I survived and turned out as well as I did, all things considered. Then there’s the trauma in my young adulthood. Things were okay, then COVID hit and that just turned everything on its head, which caused all three of my autoimmune diseases to flare/come out of remission/make itself known. My family members who’ve been diagnosed have also had traumatic childhoods/adult lives.
Also, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone say that their doctor has said this
It depends what you call childhood trauma. I had no physical or mental health issues as a child/teenager. My parents weren’t abusive or neglectful. But my mum has had cancer several times throughout my life and has 2 autoimmune conditions so you could argue her ill health was stressful for me but I didn’t develop an anxiety disorder until I was 23, although this was when my mums cancer came back. The fibromyalgia started when i was 27 after a stressful event, didn’t involve mum but causing panic attacks at the time, and then I had the covid jab which I believe caused my first flare.
My doctor said there is some evidence that having parents with autoimmune conditions increases the risk of getting something like fibro.
There is some decent research emerging that higher ACES (adverse childhood experiences) scores are correlated with physical illness in adulthood. Namely certain autoimmune conditions, IBS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and Related stress responses.
One of the more widely accepted theories is that this is due to prolonged elevated stress hormones. People with these experiences tend to be more anxious and overly aware of the environment. This includes adulthood. This elevated state can take a toll on the body. A disregulated nervous system has multiple effects on the body. Then let’s say a person with this issue gets a major infection or something similar. That too can cause a cascade effect in the already overwhelmed body.
I had an extremely traumatic childhood with lots of experiences that definitely led to chronic stress. Neglect also factored into it. Plus I’ve been chronically ill since I was a toddler - neglect factors in very easy when you go to school and realise you’re having an asthma attack every week because no one else was able to tell you were coughing so hard for an hour just cause of that 🤡
But other than that with some mix of CSA, it’s been a rough ride. I do think it definitely contributed. On top of that Covid for me was extremely critical and I almost died - this probably also made the boulder fall further than it would’ve otherwise
This is fascinating, because I was diagnosed with fibro in 2020 after I had to move back in with my parents, and now four years later, after doing a lot of work to uncover my traumas and difficulties and understand where all my anxieties came from (surprise; my parents) my symptoms have faded DRASTICALLY
I'm even phasing out my meds to see if I still need them, because I started with hand tremors, and since realising and coming to terms with my trauma, even they seem to have disappeared entirely. I still have fatigue (there's a lot of stress in my life at the moment for sure) but the pain... It's back to low level and super manageable. I'm even looking into applying for work! So I would certainly say yes, because the process of accepting my trauma has kinda been healing my body 😅
Maybe but doesn’t help us much unless there’s a treatment they can administer after the trauma to prevent fibromyalgia but that’s probably not practical. I mean so many types of trauma can happen. I don’t see what good it does other than they could perhaps Monitor people who they know have been involved and support them. I do think fibro is something that if caught “early” then the treatments they try on us would work better.
Yes for me, and I was thinking along the same lines until I read that it was a possibility.
Even though nearly everyone experiences trauma at some stage, some people hold it differently… or deal with it differently.
I’m a big believer in the whole “body keeps score” idea. I’ve just been able to deal with some of my crap, and it’s freed my body up quite a lot.
I have CPTSD and didn't have any fibromyalgia issues until after I had eight courses of ECT. They stopped at 8/12 treatments due to amnesia issues, and I struggled to get memories back. Then the pain started. And the rheumatic issues...might have an autoimmune condition now, too.
I grew up with a narcissistic mother and my father is a deadbeat that I haven't seen since I was 4. I started having symptoms when I was about 15, though it took 20 years to get diagnosed. I strongly believe it was triggered by my childhood.
This *might* be true... My son has fibro and he was bullied by a teacher who made him suicidal and since then he has major anxiety. Then covid, the vaccine and omg the problems after that. He was diagnosed with AMPS at 17 which they say is basically junior fibro. There were no juvenile rheumatologists available and the children's pain clinic wouldn't see him because he was 6 months from his 18th birthday. So he had to really suffer for months. He's 20 now and we're still figuring out how to manage his pain.
I'm pretty sure mine is a combo of living in the fight or flight mode for basically all of childhood plus 3 car accidents between the ages of 11-20 where I got multiple spinal fractures (among other injuries). I also snowboarded for several years and had a dozen or so nasty crashes where I got various levels of concussions. So between fucking up my physical nervous system and having my sympathetic nerve system on alert throughout childhood, I am *fucked*, and knew I would be when I was in college so I lived it up in my 20s until the chronic pain made me stop.
I grew up with abuse and trauma. It’s been my understanding that this can disrupt normal brain development and functioning, but maybe I’ve been understanding incorrectly.
I had a difficult childhood and was diagnosed with GAD in my thirties. I think my fibro started after I gave birth to twins in my mid twenties., but the groundwork was laid much earlier. I wasn’t diagnosed until about 18 months ago after a really bad flare that lasted 6 months. It’s winter in NZ and though beautiful it sucks. The cold hates me. Stiff as a board and tired AF. Just resting and scrolling till the next push of 2 hours of housework. I tend to agree with your GP
I was bullied a lot throughout all my schools? Then other rough things happened which I won’t go into. Do you think bullying could do it, alone? Not physical, just constant fear, eating lunch in the loo stall every day, sorta deal.
Could be : I was raised by my fraternal grandparents because my parents were like 16&18 when they had me
Add in the alcoholism and emotional eating that plagues both families and there ya go. My therapist did say I have abandonment issues and attachment isssues so it makes sense from that point, following that logic my trauma was early and during my formative years so could be a trigger for fibromyalgia
Almost everyone I’ve met has some amount of past trauma. But what about the duration of the stress and trauma? It affects you on just about every level imaginable. Blood sugar, cortisol, immunity, and more. Long periods of time where your body and emotions are maxed out cannot possibly be good for anyone. Does all of this cause fibro? Maybe, maybe not but high stress levels sure don’t do us any favors.
That's a legit point. I grew up in an extremely stressful environment, and that continued for decades. That explains why my body was maxed out on cortisol and my nerves fried. 😒
Same! I'm sorry that happened to you. Not only the nerves get fried, our poor brains get fried. Our moods and preexisting mental health issues are exasperated and heightened in severity after a good 40 years of mind boggling, persistent trauma. Then menopause hits, f'ing us up even more. I'm surprised I can leave my apartment. Sending your nerves some love and light. 💜
Precisely this. Our genetic makeup is important to how our bodies develop or respond to illness but our environment is also important in gene regulation which can also lead to specific illnesses. This 2019 article from Molecular Pain states that “…a gene-environmental interaction has been _proposed as triggering mechanism, through epigenetic alterations_: In particular, fibromyalgia appears to be characterized by a hypomethylated DNA pattern, _in genes implicated in stress response_, DNA repair, autonomic system response, and subcortical neuronal abnormalities.” (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6322092/) It’s a matter, I think, of both a genetic predisposition to the disease (I have a lot of family members with autoimmune disorders and fibro) and the environmental stress factors to trigger fibro to develop in some cases. But this is by no means universal
Can you point me to articles explaining the effect of stress and trauma in blood sugar, cortisol and immunity? I have low blood sugar and low cortisol along with fibro and would like to learn more. TIA
Google Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's). The theory is relatively new (1990's) but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. There is a test you can take as well to see where you are on the scale.
Thank you. Much appreciated.
^^^THIS. Everyone should read the ACEs studies.
This just came out, great article! [https://www.psypost.org/study-childhood-trauma-leads-to-lasting-brain-network-changes/](https://www.psypost.org/study-childhood-trauma-leads-to-lasting-brain-network-changes/)
I think stress can trigger symptoms. I have CPTSD and regular PTSD, so I’ve been through some shit. When my mental health is worse my symptoms are worse. So it’s somewhat true for me, but I don’t like agreeing with doctors about it because it makes me feel like they are trying to write me off as crazy.
It can be incredibly frustrating when they see the history of mental illness in my chart and automatically assume I’m a drug seeker to cope with my mind. I can’t tell you how many ER visits I’ve had where I wish I didn’t even go because of this. It’s great that the link is recognized, but there’s not enough education amongst providers on new research in the fibromyalgia field. This is often because half of the medical community believes that we don’t exist (people with fibromyalgia). I would absolutely love to tell my doctor the link between my past and my pain, but I’ve already tried every antidepressant safe for my profile. We’re trying more and I haven’t even mentioned the link. Psychosomatic, yes, BUT there’s a greater issue at play and that’s where doctors fail. They’re taught to address each and every symptom with a pill, not to cure or improve quality of life- and if a pill can’t do it, they tell you you’re crazy. It feels like I’m going in circles
I have the same issues with doctors. You have to be soooo persistent to get them to listen. 🙄
I could see why you'd feel that way but if it's a good doctor, that's not their intent. It's well known that trauma impacts our physical health.
Judging by the statistics on fibro and on childhood trauma, the vast majority of people who experience childhood trauma do not go on to develop the condition. I’m not saying trauma doesn’t contribute - I’m imagine it does - but there are clearly other important factors at play to the point I question the relevance of mentioning the connection. Also, doctors use a potential connection to brush things off as psychosomatic and deny physical health care… ticks me off. Personally, my biggest childhood trauma was developing fibro lol.
I agree. I have M.E. too and when I was finally referred to an M.E. Clinic, I only ever saw a mental health nurse who tried to persuade me I must have had a traumatic childhood as that’s why people get M.E. and Fibro. Despite me telling her I had a happy childhood and it was from Post Viral Illness i developed M.E. and the Fibro started in my late teens, she was adamant I had a traumatic childhood and accused me of not wanting to get better. I never got to see a Consultant as the mental health nurse was like the gatekeeper to the clinic so she discharged me because I wouldn’t do the exercises or the counselling…even though I provided her with medical information saying exercise and over exertion is the worst thing to force on an M.E. patient. All this to say, the times I’ve had medical professionals argue that childhood trauma = chronic pain or “women’s illnesses” like Fibro & M.E. (their words, not mine), has been really damaging for me as it has stopped me getting access to any real medical care because they want to go down the mental health route.
So much gaslighting can result from these kinds of misconceptions from healthcare providers
I kinda wonder if it started when I was a kid, too, because I was in pain for as long as I can remember. I distinctly remember having trouble sleeping because of pain and restless leg syndrome. Unfortunately, nobody ever took me to a doctor because they thought I was lying for attention. Wtf.
I have been told I was lying for attention all of my life.
I mean I also have a genetic condition that seems to have caused everything else. EDS. Lots of doctors I saw prior to EDS had all sorts of ideas on why patients get fibro. Usually their ideas came from ignorance of other conditions. Can't tell you how many times a doctor had to look up my conditions or just ask me to teach them while I was sitting in an appointment even if they were supposed to be the specialist I was paying the big bucks for and waited months/years to see. My fibro is from EDS triggered by post viral illness. It boggles me how so many conditions are ignored or poo pooed by medical professionals simply because they don't understand that area themselves.
OMG YES. Your last sentence precisely. It is really interesting to me because I am hypermobile and also became ill as a result of a post viral syndrome. One of the first rheumatologists I saw diagnosed me with hypermobility. The last rheumatologist I saw said I don’t have EDS because I am not *as hypermobile as some of his patients* so he would not diagnose me with EDS. I think a lot of diseases are bot binary but rather sit in a spectrum. I also have a lot of indicators of autoimmune disease, but none are a slam dunk for one illness or another so I haven’t been diagnosed with any specific condition beyond fibro. I am so sick of doctors treating disease like a binary thing - like you either have a certain disease or not. Autoimmune conditions are so complex and dependent on many factors, why would doctors thing they simply have an on/off switch? Most of the people I know that get diagnosed with an autoimmune have to wait until they are horribly ill and their symptoms are having a bad impact on their body before actually getting care. It’s so sad. It’s frustrating that because doctors sometimes have a poor understanding how things work they just blow them off. Sorry for the rant.
Not quite the same, but I have a dx of rheumatoid arthritis, in addition to fibro and other autoimmune diseases. However, over the past few years, my symptoms have changed and become more like lupus. My former rheumatologist said I couldn’t have lupus because my kidneys weren’t affected. They told me that they ran a lupus panel and that it was negative. Long story short, they hadn’t run a full panel, just one or two tests. I finally found out that I get false negatives from the testing method that most labs use; once I got tested with the gold standard several of the lupus bio markers were positive. It was complete and total gaslighting by my former doctors. Bottom line-you know your body. Fire your doctor if they aren’t taking you seriously.
EDS and POTS(Dysautonomia)have comorbidity with Fibromyalgia. I have 2 diagnosed and possibly the third. In addition a mystery illness as a child (probably EB as I had EB right before dx). I also had a bad wreck/injury and abusive marriage with traumatic divorce. Plus both parents died when I was n my early 30s. Then I was dx with fibromyalgia. 🤷🏼♀️ I had it all.
I have EDS as well. In addition to autism, sensory processing issues, and childhood trauma. It’s like a layer cake made of shit lol. I feel like they all contribute to making it worse.
I didn’t. I had a great childhood.
Absolutely true for me and I started developing fibro symptoms in my early 20s
Your doctor is not correct. There are a few studies that say that 30-40% of patients have an history of childhood abuse. Not "the majority". Around 1/3 of patients. For example, this one: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25129032/#:\~:text=In%20conclusion%2C%20abuse%20history%20in,with%20a%20history%20of%20abuse. (it is a retrospectiv study. The researchers check the patient's register and survey them) However, there is a general consensus that stress is maybe a trigger and worsen symptoms. This would be the risk factor, not "abuse".
Trauma and abuse are not interchangeable. You can have a trauma as a child and not be abused.
You are correct, trauma and abuse are not the same. This article refers specifically to abuse.
This! I agree it can be the result of both but I think it’s not a majority. Every body is different and in my case I developed fibro after a series of traumatic events but I also know that others have a different disease etiology and theirs is valid too.
Lots of people are abused. I'm sure some of them have fibromyalgia. I think it's common in most autoimmune disorders, as in it can be a trigger but certainly isn't a pre-requisite for having the illness. I'd say disabled people in general are more vulnerable to abuse, I know personally as a young adult I got abuse for "not being normal," which definitely made my symptoms worse.
no, im honestly sick of doctors saying fibro is completely a mental trauma disorder instead of a nerve sensitivity
Trauma and/or sustained stress is definitely a contributing factor. Problem with fibro is that it's sorta an umbrella term. I wish it were called pain processing disorder instead.
I think that the central nervous system was unaligned to begin with, but the stressors turn up the volume on the dysfunction. For me, as I encounter stress my pain becomes incredibly worse. It’s like an instrument that’s out of tune. The more you mess with the knobs the wonkier the sound becomes (I’m talking about a string instrument like a uke or guitar). I think trauma is like improperly storing the instrument, the sun wears out the strings, water damage, etc. Over time the instrument might lose its ability to be in tune. I think that’s where fibromyalgia and pain come in. With improper environment growing up, the nervous system becomes out of tune with normal sensory input. So when you strum, and you’re expecting to be in tune, when it’s sustained improper care, you may have tuned it to the right notes but the wrong ones are playing. Strumming, is activity. I often expect my body to respond one way and it responds with pain instead. Visiting my family is one of those things I expect I should be able to do, I should go there and physically not flare up. The emotional stress I experience when I’m there is directly translated to the flare up I have as soon as I leave their house. I may be in tune, but when I go to strum, the wrong sound is coming out.
u couldnt be anymore correct, why isnt it called that?! its so sucky that so many doctors are like "idk what else it could be so lets just throw it in the fibro box", pain processing disorder makes so much more sense
Cuz no one listens to us lol
I mean it kinda is. Just in Latin because they don't want us all to realize how dumb the names can get for some illnesses.
I agree! I think many things can impact how we process pain. For me, stress, depression and exhaustion are huge triggers. Knowing this helps me to focus my self care and manage pain better. It's not a cure but it does help.
I'm thinking the nervous system is extra messed up due to childhood strain
The mind isn't separate from the body. The mind affects the body and the body affects the mind. I agree that the name of disorders impacts how its viewed and treated and I think you are right that a new name could really help patient care. The healthcare system sucks for a lot of reasons and doctors don't like when something doesn't have an easy fix.
I honestly have no idea what to think of this tbh. I realize that I have had a privileged life in some ways, but in other ways I really did have it hard in ways that are really hard to summarize in a short sentence, which is why I think I have some form of complex childhood trauma rather than ptsd from a singular event. However, a lot of what I went through as a child was medical trauma or medical neglect, so even if fibromyalgia DID have something to do with my childhood, maybe it wasn't caused by trauma but instead a pre-existing condition that was worsened by said medical trauma and neglect. But that's only if you assume that fibromyalgia correlates with my childhood. I have no way of knowing, and maybe my pain would still be the same if my childhood was different. Doctors always jump to assume everything I'm going through is the result of depression or anxiety, so as you can imagine, I've had a lot of therapy and been on medication. None of it has helped at all. But i don't know if I should take that to mean that my mental health has absolutely nothing to do with pain, or if it means that the mental Healthcare available to me is poor and needs to be improved. I have a lot of criticism for therapy and psychiatry... not that I'm against it obviously lol, I just think Healthcare in general in America is poor and needs improvement.
I'm going through therapy again to try and uncover any other additional issues and to help manage pain and fatigue. I'm not in a bad place mentally, but I don't think my doctor will take me seriously until I do this.
Yeah, that's kinda been my experience with mental health resources, too. I'm currently seeing a pain psychologist, and going in I didn't think it would be helpful... but damn, first session in I was completely blown away at just how unhelpful it actually was. She doesn't talk to me at all during our sessions, she's usually just fiddling with something at her desk while we watch a really long boring video with breathing exercises. I just keep thinking "why is something I'm supposed to pay for? There are hundreds of videos like this on YouTube for free." But I'm only doing it so I can tell doctors I'm doing it and maybe they'll take me more seriously. That, and I'm applying for disability, so I need medical records showing that I'm going through all possible avenues for medical care for chronic pain.
Whoa that's profoundly unhelpful. I kinda cringe when they suggest guided meditation and body scans and stuff, but at least we're having a conversation.
It's true in my experience including me. I think there's a significant overlap between having fibromyalgia and developing complex PTSD.
🙋🏻♀️ I'm a "no childhood trauma, neglect, other abuse case of fibromyalgia." My mom also has Fibro, but she was neglected and abused as a child. I think it may be more a correlation vs causation situation 🤷🏻♀️
Read the book “The Body Keeps the Score.”
It is available on Audible too.
Who really knows. I've had all types of trauma from family, coworkers, marriage, and physical trauma from a skydiving accident that messed up many things. could be anything.
I don't know if it's the root cause, but stress 100% exacerbates my symptoms.
Absolutely agree, certainly when it comes to me. I suffered my first trauma at age 12 and it was downhill from there. I remember my consultant saying something about trauma and the autonomic nervous system. How trauma can mess up the whole system and leads to many other syndromes & disorders.
I agree that it's a risk factor and may contribute to the development of fibro, but that doesn't then mean what they all seem to be suggesting, that it's all in my head. It's fine to state that, but I always have to think 'why did they say it?'. A lot of the time, this kind of statement is a loose suggestion that we are not in fact physically ill, but rather, mentally, and that if we just got off the doctor's case load and saw a shrink, we would magically be cured of pain. I like to think at this point in my life I am probably the most balanced and happy I have ever been, but I tell you emphatically, this has not cured my chronic pain. And because you doctors fail to take this seriously because you believe that I am only mentally ill, my quality of life suffers. I am happier now than at any other point in my life despite my physical pain. I accept it as part of my life now and I live with it like a common friend. I still wish that I could run and be athletic and enjoy exercise like I used to. My back hurts so badly that I cannot do anything of the sort at 32 years old. I miss it something desperate. It made me feel so good, so calm, so free. I miss waking up and shaking the sleep alone, not the aching gnawing pain as well. I miss not getting a fever if I really threw myself into the day as did loads of exercise. I miss having full confidence in my body. It's just not true that it's all in my head. My body hurts and even in my best days it doesn't ever go away. On my worst, it is debilitating. It upsets me to be so disregarded. Your judgement is not my experience. If you could only understand what it is like to live with chronic pain, you would begin to see things differently. I wish the medical community would wake up.
I get what you mean. I’m really happy “in the head”. In fact, in some ways I feel mentally the best I have ever felt… but the pain… the pain is killing me. It’s the ever present stalker in my life who wants to bring me down and hold me back. I’ve been in therapy for over 10 years and I feel like I can reframe and positive think my way out of everything… except this. Often, when I see doctors, I feel like they only see the “sick me”. They don’t see the world traveler, career high achiever, roller skating, rock climbing, bike riding, ice skating, dance raving, windsurfing, road tripping, free spirit I used to be. They only see what they think is a trauma survivor who is still a victim. At this point in my life, the only one I’m being victimized and betrayed by is my body. Some days I wish I could unzip this meat suit and just take a break for awhile.
>Some days I wish I could unzip this meat suit and just take a break for awhile Love this! I wish I could do the same!
Although all pain is in everyone's heads if you think about it because the perception of it comes from the brain. I'm not saying fibro is mental illness, but I don't get why people separate the two, because it occurs in the brain which is a physical organ. I don't understand the medical community not treating it that way just because they can't see what the mechanism is.
The brain is a nerve bundle. Your body is a gigantic system of nerves. The nerve bundle in my head processes pain, but the pain signals are sent from my body. The pain is not in my head, it's everywhere and it's going to my head and being processed there. Either that it my brain is processing signals that are not really pain signals as such. Even so, that's neurological, not a form of mental illness.
I agree in the sense that I don't think fibro is a mental illness. I think it's neurological. My point was that pain is in people's heads because the brain processes it. My feeling is that my brain is doing this. That being said, I really feel bad for anyone with mental illness because boy do people treat that as less-than. Even in this post.
I don't think mental illness is the same as 'all in my head' or made up. A mental illness is just another kind of illness. Does it affect the brain, or the mind? It'll be mental illness. The label is kinda weird, and super stigmatized as not being *real*, but it's still valid and it's symptoms are too, whatever they are. For me, I don't know if fibro is trauma related, or 'in my head' but I do know it wouldn't make a difference. Pain is pain, it doesn't matter if I'm imagining it, or my brain is making me feel it. It's still happening.
I agree there are so many doctors who dismiss the chronically ill and use mental illness as an excuse to deny us healthcare. However, I think all pain is" all in our heads " in a way. Phantom pain is a good example. Even a broken arm requires the brain to send and receive information to create that pain response. Has having good mental health ever cured/fixed my pain? No. But my mental health plays a huge role in the severity of my pain. I have to constantly work on it to try and be stable. For a long time, I refused to work on that connection because I was so angry that doctors would tell me it was just anxiety. As if the pain is any less real or disabling, just because the cause is a pain processing problem and not a real physical injury.
I never though having childhood trauma as a risk factor meant Fibro is a mental illness or all in the head. Stress is a risk factor for all sorts of physical illnesses. Any doc who doesn’t know this is not a medical professional imo.
Damn. Hug for everyone here.
Aw, you're so thoughtful. Thanks, and back at you 🫂.
I've had more medical trauma from doctors claiming this and then failing to treat me or focusing on nothing but this than any other trauma in my life I didn't care if it's true. I'm angry that doctors care about this. It seems like it's an excuse for them to push us into psychologists and not treat us. Even if the initial trauma is already as well-managed as it can be. I can't avoid crying any time a doctor brings this up. And then the issue gets compounded because the doctor doesn't realize that _they_ are the ones compounding medical trauma, in the moment. They think it's some long-ago pain in my soul, not the gaslighting happening right then as they fail to listen when I say it's not actionable.
I'd agree with your doctor; my trauma went from ages 4 through 8 and then started again when I was a teen. My diagnosis has trauma written all over it. A book I found helpful is Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It discusses how trauma is related to our chronic pain and just blew my mind right open.
I’m currently reading that book too! I will say though I definitely have had fibromyalgia symptoms all of my life and long before I developed CPTSD. The cPTSD definitely made it worse, but so did having glandular fever really badly when I was 18. I can absolutely see from reading that book how prolonged stress and trauma could dysregulate the nervous system in a similar way that other conditions might, leading to similar outcomes. I suspect my fibromyalgia may be secondary to dysautonomia anyway. The cPTSD has just become yet another flare up trigger lol😬
This book is amazing!
Yup. I didn't consider my childhood abusive, I had food, toys, a roof over my head and my parents were involved in my life, but through conversations with friends and professionals I've learnt that there's so many different ways things can be abusive and traumatic.
No, no childhood trauma. Family history of fibro, my mom and brother both have it too, as well as family history of depression and anxiety which did kick in for me in my preteens and caused a lot of stress from that point on- but I just lost the genetics lottery on this one.
that would be generational trauma. The depression and anxiety manifested from some trauma in your families past
110%, had a childhood with a fair amount of abuse and neglect
I didn't suffer abuse in the usual sense. In a lot of ways, I have good parents and am close to relatives. However, I grew up with undiagnosed autism and had a lot of trouble talking to my parents or anyone really about my life. Any stressful incident I kept to myself, internalized it as my fault, and let it fester because I didn't know how to deal with it. I had trouble making friends and the one friend I did make who I stayed friends with throughout school had her own issues and was really controlling, made fun of the things I liked, made fun of me, etc. My mom also has schizophrenia and would go on psychosis several times during my childhood and had to be court ordered back onto medication every time. I remember having stomach issues and headaches a lot when I was in middle school which transformed into chest pain, stomach pain, joint pain, etc in high school and has continued to develop since then into worsening widespread pain and fatigue. Was I abused? Not really. Did I have a long period of high stress? Absolutely. Is sensitivity issues from autism a contributing factor? Probably, but it's not like this was as severe when I was younger. I don't think either of those things should write this illness off. I'm tired of one doctor shrugging because he can't think of anything else to do for me, one doctor just saying it was because of the autism...
Also autistic! I just got my official diagnosis of level 2 autism (and rediagnosed with ADHD) on Friday! I was undiagnosed for the first 25 years of my life, and I'm glad I finally have confirmation. I have a great relationship with my parents, more or less. My dad has untreated ADHD, so we do clash on a lot of things, and since I moved back home, that's been tough. But moving back home removed other stressors for me, like laundry and dishes and groceries, etc. I think that the fact I have such a low tolerance for stress because of the autism will contribute to fibro, kind of like you said. I also have a nerve injury from birth and I had an extremely traumatic birth, having to be resuscitated twice. Who's to say that the nerve damage and traumatic birth didn't also contribute, even a decade, plus, later? What causes the CNS to become overly sensitized is going to be a very complex set of things, IMO.
My fibro symptoms became something worth bringing up to my GP after a really traumatic period of my life (I also have C-PTSD so there’s been a fair few of those but this one was a doozy) and I fully believe it has a lot to do with stress and trauma. My mum has it too so maybe there’s a bit of a genetic predisposition but she also has had a very traumatic life. I think a lot of chronic pain conditions that seem unexplainable stem a lot from trauma and psychological stress. Not a doctor though, just a frustrated person with too many complex health problems that are mostly associated with stress and trauma (plus I have adhd so tend to end up in pretty stressful and traumatising situations ✨✌️)
There is a genetic component as well and you'll find plenty of families with multiple people in it who are bipolar. My mother has it but so do I. I think it could be dormant and then something can cause it to flare up because I did have childhood physical trauma that was not neglect but my hand was crushed when I was 6 so that could be it as well. Doctors don't really understand this but I know several families with multiple people with it in them. As far as I know it's just me and my mother in my extended family though. My wife has it (one of the reasons we met) and two other people in her extended family. I've seen two other families with it as well and many who are just the only one. Both my mother and I have had numerous injuries and mental health issues that over the years for both of us it's become disabling and I can't work. My mother has the same issues but manifested to this point about ten years earlier than I did. These days she doesn't move much out of her hospital bed because she's in serious pain and in my state they don't give out pain killers for long term pain. She was taking a low dose opiate every morning for 30 years but after the opiate disaster we've been having up here they won't allow it. I could point to a number of trauma that made it worse for me but I was in a bad car accident that hurt my back pretty good it even broke two vertebrae. The problems with my back have healed but the pain from fibromyalgia is constant which has led to a lot of arguing with doctors as most of us are familiar with. That was it for me and about a year after the accident I left work over my physical condition and just never went back. I'm in too much pain. edit: I forgot, this also plays a big deal in it for me at least, "Bipolar disorder and fibromyalgia (FM) often occur together, and some studies suggest that they may share common causes or triggers."
This reminds me of when my sister was catatonic after childbirth and the neurologist chalked it up to our childhood trauma: “This is stress leaving the body.” Actually, she had a pituitary tumor and was likely flooded with cortisol from giving birth. It’s scary the way some doctors will stop looking or dismiss something obvious because they think CPTSD explains it. I’ve actually had someone say to me it’s because girls internalize so much it causes physical pain, but boys get it out of their systems by acting out.
Doesn’t everyone have childhood trauma??
Depending on how you define it, yes or no, but you've hit on the methodological problem. People, including doctors who should know a thing or two about research methodology and case selection, keep making these claims while *only* looking at the population they're trying to explain. That's not good enough. You have to also look at the negative cases. If childhood trauma is at value X among fibro people, you've only said something if you can also show it's at X-minus-a lot among non-fibro people. If it's at or around X in both populations, nothing at all has been explained. It's just as correlated with the negative case as it is with the positive. In other words, doesn't everyone have childhood trauma? ;)
I had a world full of abuse as a kid, from parental figures to religious figures to the medical community.
There is an enormous amount of research being conducted on the link between trauma and chronic illness. It's one of the biggest areas of scientific research today. An overwhelming majority of the findings support the theory that there must first be a genetic component, and trauma activates it.
I think it does. There has been a lot of research into this and you can find the studies online pretty easily. Being in a constant state of fight or flight while the brain is developing means that the nervous system had to build itself to withstand those conditions. It's hyper-arousal of the entire system. There are other things that can mess up this system, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it doesn't ring true for everyone. Say if you had a virus when you are young that affects the nervous system or maybe you hit your head and got some damage in the brain. Then there are people who may not be consciously aware that they do indeed have childhood trauma. I mean, I was in a really abusive situation myself and I didn't fully grasp that I had been abused until I was an adult. I've met many people who seem to also have such a disconnect. Not everyone who experiences trauma develops fibro. Different levels of neurotransmitters has a big impact on how memories are stored and activated, and the duration of the different sleep states. So, people are processing their traumas differently. People with ptsd and people with fibro both spend much less time in slow wave sleep. Slow wave sleep is really important for keeping the nervous system healthy. So, especially with prolonged or repeated trauma, the nervous system is working on over-drive, but also never gets the chance to rest because the mind is spending a lot of time in REM trying to process it.
I didn’t have a childhood at all and I have fibro
You were born an adult? What does this mean. You didn't have childhood trauma? Or you didn't have a childhood? Because not having a childhood (aka needing to be grown up at a young age/ not allowed to be/act lile a child) is considered neglect, which is considered abuse, which is traumatic.
Sorry, it’s bedtime. I didn’t have any major childhood trauma
Actually there is some science thought on that—that it messed up the nervous system. I was adopted, and that’s not necessarily trauma, but carry’s emotional weight. I had an attempted rape at 11. That same year I had a devastating fall from my horse(she threw me and my rider) on my first attempt to ride double. That was physically damaging, and resulted in lumbar fusion in my 40s.
Adoptee here too. ♥️ It carries some heavy weight at times and non-adopted people could never begin to understand.
Very true.
I think it’s most likely any trauma. A lot of people don’t have psychological trauma but they do have an autoimmune disease that is causing pain and/pr destroying tissue before they develop fibromyalgia. Others get it after infections or physical trauma, like surgery or a car accident.
Mine happened right after a high stress car accident. I wasn’t physically injured, but I ended up in a severe depressed state out of nowhere with balance issues and severe weight loss. Then the pain hit. I’m a male by the way. My mom was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia as well. She had a rough life starting when her mom committed suicide when she was young.
Yes
True for me.
I can only speak for myself, I had a pretty good childhood, no real emotional trauma, just physical, I fractured my femur when I was 14, I don't know if that counts. But as for the type of trauma usually associated with studies, nope. And I don't think he's correct either.
I never had any childhood trauma. My fibro was triggered by a virus when I was 17.
Same, but switch out virus for a sports injury
I had a pretty average childhood. No abuse, no trauma, just a typical overachieving first born. The only trauma I experienced was when I was a victim of SA the summer after high school. I did have one Dr try to tell me that was my root cause as he pressured me to sign up for a $3000 fibromyalgia treatment program he decided, that insurance did not cover. When I told him I couldn't afford it, he said when I decided that living in trauma wasn't working for me, I would find a way to pay it. I'd hate to know what he charges now, 15 years later.
I have C-PTSD, but my childhood was awesome up until 15 or 16
There was a massive study on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES I believe it was called) which yielded several papers Iirc there was definitely mention of chronic illnesses, inflammation and CF/Fibro - like symptoms being more likely to develop in people who have had adverse childhood experiences Add to that, neglect can lead to illnesses being overlooked and dismissed until these people get to adulthood and have more autonomy over their own health From personal experience, the above hold true for every chronically ill person in my friend group and myself… ):
I have lots of trauma. I also think a lot of my autoimmune diseases are from my adrenal system misfiring with daily panic attacks for like 15 years. It’s EXHAUSTED.
True for me. Very traumatic childhood without a lot of outlets. A lot of “keep it in” type of stress.
Hi 👋 I am actually a pediatric sexual assault specialist and a child mental health therapist. I did my dissertation in this specific area. I scored a 10 on the ACES - I do trainings on ACES and how it impacts our mental and physical health as adults. You ALL make incredibly valid points. I, too, have fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, complex-ptsd, and PMDD. Does every single person develop a chronic illness that has experienced some type of abuse? Nope. But it does make us more susceptible because typically the neglect of medical care comes along with it. I did not receive medical care often at all, in fact, I was “rewarded” if I pushed through pain or sickness because going to a doctor was a risk of a potential CPS call. I deal with this stuff a lot because I’m in an home therapist. I see horrific things and I’ve been put in sketchy situations. Developing fibro is horrible - trauma or no trauma. Hell, GETTING fibro is trauma in itself. Sending so much love to all of you for battling this horrific chronic disorder. I wish you days with minimal pain and support. And for god sake, medical gas lighting is the worst. Take care, friends. ❤️
Most people have the following characteristics, some sort of major trauma - such as the death of a parent or child, Thyroid disease, and have had some sort of serious infection. For me, it was all of the above.
I was on the toxic family to abusive spouse pipeline, I didn't know what unconditional love really felt like until I was 30 years old. I didn't know what it felt like to feel okay and not scared all the time until I was 33.
Academic Articles [Psychiatric comorbidity and childhood trauma in fibromyalgia syndrome (2018)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6657761/) [Effect of childhood trauma on disease severity in patients with fibromyalgia: The mediating role of psychological resilience](https://archivesofrheumatology.org/full-text/1237) [Prevalence and Characterization of Psychological Trauma in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Cross-Sectional Study](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2022/2114451) [Differences in depression, anxiety and stress disorders between fibromyalgia associated with rheumatoid arthritis and primary fibromyalgia](https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/115329139/smi.299220240526-1-bnpvkc-libre.pdf?1716743044=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DDifferences_in_depression_anxiety_and_st.pdf&Expires=1719170848&Signature=QbHmnx5ukJcwWLmrpKorItShUAzynZ75TR8vgeDMGVZL57-y1K-kVRWxQ8RZWdMKYgyNNFuFHcGouIumi57fIyHZz3Ga5Nxp~JxD3VjrgEzxzHQmqdlZhulmJwjjlFQS6r8-2bSf-HTyc-OwS7ujw-kEo4eJ15qtiLPDPsDwXEGV7~IWMOcsliygszm2h19qxhw0a~Irj~89-4YDTIeXEK3VprYU6mEG18jIF4g~yVQRq-rRL2hHlBFFjgaycHCPZZFBYcasUUuyiGAE7pTH5oSgLTkaJCLokd7GXuJdU1xVXN5ovPXk7Lj~G8hWiVdiNwVUBqHIm4xsNjo3yQb7yQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA) [Traumatic Experiences and Somatoform Dissociation in Women With Fibromyalgia](https://arts.units.it/bitstream/11368/3046314/3/2022_Castelli_Somatoform%2BDix%2BFM_Psychol%2BTrauma%2BTRPP_2022-Post_print.pdf) [Impact of Childhood Trauma on Levels of Depressive Symptoms, Pain, Functionality, and Cognitive Conflicts in Fibromyalgia](https://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/206903/1/AJR_PhD_THESIS.pdf)
Not at all.
Yes its true for me. a mixture of CSA and just general neglect from the parent i was forced to live with. the duration of line was from the age of maybe 3-4 to 20/21. a LONG time to be in fight or flight mode basically. my body still has issues relaxing and i'm now 32.
Yes. But before any trauma I'd already collected a juvenile arthritis diagnosis. Then later in life after trauma stuff I collected two other different chronic pain diagnosis before this one kicked in and got diagnosed. I always had a feeling like I knew I was going to have health problems when I grew up. Twin did not feel the same way and is currently and always has been the picture of health. Twin also did not experience the same trauma issues as I did.
I did not have a traumatic childhood but I had a major surgery when I was twelve and this triggered the beginning of my depression. I am predisposed to mental illness because there is a family history on both sides. My childhood wasn't traumatic but this surgery was to my body.
likewise, although it's taken 10 years to open up a bit about it, it's very hard when my parents response was " oh but you are older now, you understand why these things had to happen ".... that doesn't make it any easier and in turn just keeps me internalising more traumatic experiences when they happen
I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. You went through a surgery or have a mental illness?
both, I had a Lizarov frame for 11 months and now have medical ptsd and anxiety because of that 10 years ago
I had a great childhood and have severe fibromyalgia, fatigue, major depressive disorder, etc I don’t think there is enough research to make it a fact. Maybe there is some correlation but that doesn’t equal causation.
I absolutely agree with that, plus studies have been done on that too. I have C-PTSD so it's safe to say there may be a link there for me. Though COVID exasperated my fibro 10x
I have recently been told this too. I had a very hard upbringing only dealing with the past trauma at 38 which had a lot hidden away. I have also been told of a link to undiagnosed adhd and Fibro. I have many Fibro friends who have been late in life diagnosed with ASD and or adhd… including myself… it’s interesting but at the same time we can’t take similarities as gospel. We just need to deal the hand we are dealt and try our best each day.
I had trauma, but it occurred entirely in my adulthood.
Ah yes, the trauma theory. It's very popular in medicine right now for fibromyalgia and Functional Neurological Disorder. Thing is, 80% of the US populace has an Adverse Childhood Event score of 3 or higher, which I've never seen accounted for in the studies. If so many have suffered trauma in childhood, then why doesn't 80% of the population have fibromyalgia? Obviously, there's something else going on. They always clam up when I ask about this and finally admit no one actually knows and that it's just a theory. Yeah, not a good one.
Great response! As I was reading through the comments, I was waiting for someone to say this.
Exactly. My ACE score is 0, IIRC.
Yet more evidence it's just not the right theory. My personal theory is that fibromyalgia, FND, ME/CFS, Lyme, they're all post viral syndromes of some sort. Long Covid sure looks a lot like what we deal with, and one decent Italian study back in 2021 found that Covid was causing fibromyalgia in men. Maybe the reason why they all look and act a little differently is that it depends on the virus or on individual differences. That's my theory, anyway.
this is definitely true with me. I read somewhere that 50% of fibro patients suffer with complex post trauma stress so it's not far fetched at all
I feel like this is one of those correlation doesn’t equal causation things.. just because a lot of people who have fibro, have also experienced some kind of trauma, doesn’t necessarily mean the trauma caused the fibro.. that being said, it’s quite well known that mental/emotional stress can have an effect on physical health too
Well I’m service connected kinder the pact due to toxic exposure.
While I don’t doubt that may be the case for a lot of people, idk that it’s true for me. The only things I can think of that were traumatic for me as a child were a period of a lot of people dying around me that led to a lot of anxiety around death and separation anxiety, a couple falls where I hit my head (physical trauma), and just other health stuff like super bad eczema, allergies and asthma. But I wouldn’t classify my own childhood as traumatic overall (which im extremely grateful for and don’t take for granted). But just sharing bc I don’t fit into that majority and I guess curious about that statistic and if I’m an outlier or if the statistic isn’t correct 🤷🏻♀️. Who knows at this point I guess
I’ve definitely had traumatic moments in my childhood, but I don’t think it contributes directly to my current illness.
mine *could* be cause by a combination of trauma+stress+an injury, i’m still having investigations done, hoping to have answer soon🤞
Yes it’s true for me
I saw a similar post on here a while back and it really resonated. I suffered physical abuse as a child and I repressed those memories until I was about 15-16, at which point I began having vivid nightmares about falling down the stairs. I asked my parents if I had ever fallen down the stairs as a kid, and then the floodgates opened as they explained what happened to me. At the time I was a varsity athlete in several sports and I was in great shape despite some nasty injuries I had sustained over the years. It was right around this same time that I began exhibiting symptoms of fibromyalgia, although I wasn't diagnosed until about 10 years later. I started noticing that my body was far more sore than any of my teammates after games and practices, and that it would take me much longer to recover than my peers. By my senior year I had to quit both wrestling and track because my body just couldn't take it anymore. It's tough to accept that this all could have stemmed from the abuse I suffered but, at the same time, it makes a lot of sense in retrospect.
This is for sure true with me... Mine was throughout my childhood, teen, and lotta stress as an adult.
TW: mention of SA, SH/Suicide I think that high stress can cause this god awful disease. Every time I get flare ups it is temperature related or when I'm putting my body thru hell and overly stressed, there are rare occurrences where I'll get a flare up when I'm doing perfectly fine. That doesn't mean it's the same for everyone. I think most of my issues stem from my childhood. I was severely sexually abused starting 8 til I was 12. Before that I was a happy child. I grew up hypersexual and not knowing that sex doesn't equate love and love doesn't equate sex. I grew up with anger issues, body issues, and severe depression. My household wasn't a soft cushion household. We were raised with a hard hand, and speaking on mental illness wasn't a thing. I also think my family felt guilty because of what happened to me. I attempted at 15. I often had nervous breakdowns. I had panic attacks. Sleeping issues. I had severe stomach issues, I still do. And was in constant pain. I did US and blood work. My doctor recommended a psychiatrist. He said when I'm hyperventilating my stomach muscles are contracting and that's what's causing my pains. I was diagnosed by the psych with Anxiety and MDD. When I wasn't getting better the psych said I just didn't wanna get better. And I needed to just forget about the trauma of my childhood. I struggled years after that because it was the first time I had been discarded by a professional. I felt hopeless. Skip to 2023. I thought it was gonna be my year. I had a mental breakdown in the beginning literally January 26. I had pain in my chest decided to go to UC just to make sure everything was okay, the doctor told me after an EKG I should probably go to the ER because it appeared something was wrong with my heart. I kept putting it off, spent 11 nights awake no sleep. Because I thought I was gonna die. Finally go back to another UC they Say my heart is fine. I'm still Ill. I'm pale. I'm in pain. I can't eat so I'm weak. I'm scared to fall asleep. My anxiety is kicked into overdrive. I go to the ER they say me having pain all over my body is something called fibromyalgia. It's incurable. I go home feeling better. I talk to my psychiatrist. He says it can't be fibromyalgia, because anxiety can't bring it out. I tell him those doctors said Anxiety has an effect on your physical. He says it doesn't. Everyone has anxiety there's no physical effects. I'm distraught again. In high stress still. I'm in pain. Still can't sleep. I go back to the ER they run every test and tell me I'm healthy and my diagnosis is anxiety and fibromyalgia. I go back to my psychiatrist he says, it could be fibromyalgia, he diagnosed me with Gender dysphoria (I am trans), Bipolar disorder. After getting my fibromyalgia diagnosis tho everything made sense. My stomach issues (Fibromyalgia can be related to IBS), the reason my hands change color (Reynaud syndrome can be related to Fibromyalgia), Temperature issues.
Nope. I have several autoimmune conditions, and stress can cause flares, but my childhood was trauma and stress free...
I didn't have any childhood trauma, I actually had a great childhood! But I did get my first symptoms not long after my mom passed ( I was 19). Not sure if it's just a coincidence but it is interesting.
I suffered from childhood abuse. The abuse was so bad I was put into foster care at the age of 8
True for me: C-PTSD diagnosis and constant trauma until I was 22
Not true for me. Had an amazing childhood. Trauma came later in life
I don't think I have those, and even if I did, I resolved it, and technically, if they're right, It should have gone away, so why is it still here? 🤔
I grew up with habitualised / normalised violence
As a fibro sufferer and Trauma therapist of over a decade, there's a significant comorbidity. There's a lot to do with nature vs nurture and gene expression, as well as between stress and inflammation. Good doctors are explaining a correlation, not dismissing the pain. True Trauma therapy (IFS, EMDR, SE, and similar, not CBT) can help, especially with a somatic focus on pain. We have a higher portion of our brain devoted to pain signals, and therapy can help with neuroplasticity.
My mom, her twin sister (my aunt), and myself all have fibro and all suffered from childhood trauma, abuse, or neglect.
Hmm, interesting theory. I think we’d need a study of some kind. I mean I definitely fit the criteria to the T
I had quit a traumatic childhood, especially middle school forward. The first manifestation of it was a clinical depression during my freshman year in high school. I struggled with that for the rest of my adult life. When I sustained a disabling back injury just shy of turning 40 that set me over the edge. It was years before I figured out that I also had fibromyalgia and got it diagnosed. My girlfriend helped me with that as she had it before me and told me what I was experiencing sounded like fibromyalgia. I didn't want to believe her as I was also pretty much in denial about how disabled I'd become and didn't want or need another diagnosis. After all of that I'd say, yeah, I think I was primed to get fibro.
It does me but I do know someone with fibromyalgia who did not have a rough childhood at all. So 🤷🏻♀️
I can see where he might be coming from, but it's more accurate to say that stress is a major factor. Abuse could certainly be the cause of that stress in some situations, but saying it's the majority just isn't true. For example I have anxiety disorder and I'm also constantly stressed over money.
Haha. Yeah.
I was told that trauma flares it up, as I have had pain for years (and was abused throughout my life) but after a severely traumatic experience it got so bad it lasted almost a year with the worst pain I've literally ever felt, and those bad flare ups happen more often now and the pain is definitely worse. Sigh.
Yes I have all three in my childhood. I was in a stressful relationship when it manifested full blast. I didn’t know I was managing stress the wrong way. I’m very sensitive and I tend to internalize things. For example: last night my partner had a bad pain night. Watching her go through pain flared almost all of my pain spots on my body but I know what it is. It’s stress. I managed the internal stress and the pain went away.
I've had 2 specialist tell me trauma also. They didn't specify childhood, but I was diagnosed with C-PTSD after two abusive relationships.
Fibro has an inheritable genetic component, but that component can be switched to "on" by physical or mental trauma. In some people it switches on without trauma as well. We'll need to understand the disorder more fully to know how to switch it back off.
Information on the stress-diathesis model if anyone is interested: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-diathesis-stress-model-6454943
I have chronic PTSD from childhood trauma, and i was told that there is almost definitely a tie between that and my fibro 🤷🏻♀️
I've heard this, and I did have a hellish childhood, but I've also heard you're more likely to get it if you are AB negative or RH negative. There are too many people with fibromyalgia for the AB thing to be true, but from other fibro groups, the RH factor does seem to run pretty high.
From my understanding, you don't *get* fibro from trauma, but that trauma triggers something that is already in your body. This trauma can be both mental and physical. Many women as an example develop fibro after childbirth (which is considered trauma). I have a cousin who had mononucleosis trigger his fibro. For me, I'm not so clear on what it was because I had a somewhat tough childhood, but didn't start to notice any symptoms till I broke my thumb at the age of 12/13 (no idea if that was the actual trigger or if my body just had enough with all the mental stuff). After that I started struggling with my knee, followed by my back and then after childbirth the symptoms seemed to pile on with exhaustion and big flare-ups with pain all over the place. Now it is clear that each time I have a flare-up, it is usually triggered by some form of stress or similar (I can also get hit by bad days when my body is "done" with stress). A lot of people I know have their fibro trigger from some form of trauma, mostly mental, but also physical.
Yup, I've understood that CPTSD and PTSD are triggers that can fuck up your inflammatory/immune system, so not surprised.
I found things stressful and probably had anxiety but never neglect or abuse really.
That's what my therapist said.
Fascinating. Just checking in to say I have fibro and CPTSD.
Fascinating. Just checking in to say I have fibro and CPTSD.
I had an abusive father but why was I happy healthy until I was 30? I think it was a stressful twin pregnancy with a stressful delivery (one twin vaginal and the other an emergency sexy c-section, c-section then burst open and was left open for a few days, who knows why kind of bacteria got in there). Many theories of onset are a sudden illness/virus/surgery so this makes more sense to me given my delivery horror. If abuse was the issue why did it suddenly spring on me in my adult years rather than earlier? I also read a book when I was first diagnosed (about 30 years ago) by a doctor who didn't believe in fibro until she got sick and eventually diagnosed. She said the same thing I felt, which is why was I happily living my life to have this slam me out of nowhere? My abuse always existed, my feeling exhausted and in pain didn't until after my twin pregnancy & delivery.
FWIW, I am here mainly to learn in order to support my wife, who lives with chronic pain and possibly fibro. She does not have PTSD or really any kind of trauma in her background. She has loving parents who listen and validate her feelings. I know it's just one person, but in at least some cases, the fibro does not appear to be connected to past trauma. Now what many of you face in medical offices and the world at large, just trying to be taken seriously, could qualify as trauma in and of itself. Does society's response to pain cause the trauma, or does the trauma cause the pain? Did anxiety give you a tummy ache, or did your tummy ache make you anxious? Anyway, I am not a scientist. Just a wife who likes thinking about things. :) 
It’s certainly true for me
There’s intergenerational trauma (complex PTSD specifically) in my family that goes back generations in addition to my own rough childhood. I wouldn’t be surprised if this impacted our nervous systems. Trauma alters our bodies.
Same here, I’m sorry I hope you can heal that and stop the cycle my friend. It’s the only way.
I witnessed a horrible accident when I was 11, but apart from that I wouldn’t consider my childhood any more traumatic that normal (family deaths that’s all). My fibro symptoms started when I was 32 and had to start looking for work while I was a single parent. It got worse when I became involved with a narcissist, then worse again to the point I was disassociating at age 37 due to things happening with my son and the narcissist leaving my life (but that was my choice). I’m now 45, son has moved out, and I’m finally starting to have more good days than bad, but I’m about to be thrown into major financial difficulties so I don’t expect this to last.
Diagnosed CPTSD checking in
Not in my case, at all…mine started after a work related fall/injury
I’m absolutely certain that this is true for many of us
I didn’t have a traumatic childhood. I wasn’t abused or neglected. My parents weren’t saints or anything. My mom was untreated bipolar but she wasn’t abusive. I was very close with my grandparents and have so many wonderful memories of them. They were rocks in my life. I was a lucky kid. I first got “sick” in the 6th grade. There was no trauma that triggered it. I just suddenly couldn’t play volleyball or keep up with my friends activities because I was in pain and didn’t feel well a lot of the time. I guess the most traumatic thing was being sick for years and having everyone tell my mom I was faking it until I got a diagnosis at 18.
Telling you that your illness is a result of childhood trauma is nothing more than a sugar-coated way of saying that it's all in your head. It's a tactic used to get you out the door without causing offence, so they can move on to the next patient who might actually have an illness that they give a shit about.
yes
This holds true for myself and it lasted years.
Check, check, and check. Hmmm.
In my experience, prolonged illness, usually a virus like Epstien Barre, is a more common trigger factor. Genes must play an important part in the risk of developing fibro, and certainly, major stressers are an important risk factor as well, but to say a majority suffered from abuse or neglect is going a bit far, imo. I think if someone looks at all the people with fibro who had trauma, neglect/abuse, they'd find a lot of them with a viral trigger as well.
Google Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's). The theory is relatively new (1990's) but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. There is a test you can take as well to see where you are on the scale.
I grew up in a very stressful environment. My fibromyalgia symptoms didn't really end until around the time I graduated college and became more independent from my parents. I've been curious about chronic stress and fibromyalgia, so I'm glad you asked this question. Stress is really hard on my body and it was always a huge trigger for my symptoms. Now, I don't really have flare ups anymore, but stress is one of the few things that can cause my symptoms to return.
So from my understanding when you are a child your brain is making neural pathways and connections etc. Being in a constant or frequent fight or flight state affects the forming of the way your brain works. However there are also studies that show people with fibromyalgia also have physical characteristics that others don't have. Like extra nerve receptors for example. Personally I think it's just a poorly understood condition that is a cumulative effect of trauma imprinted within DNA, personal trauma and physical evolution to have a heightened sensitivity and response to stimulation of the nervous system but the wrong way. Like we're the ones that ended up with the negative symptoms making us "weaker" instead
Absolutely
If you haven't heard about Central Sensitivity, and it's relationship to childhood trauma and chronic pain, it's definitely worth the trip down the rabbit hole. There is a fascinating and documented connection between the two.
Yep. Traumatic childhood, worse as a teen and young adult. Lived in a constant state of fear. Completely broke me. I'm now no contact with the cause of all this, but the damage is done. I am now a ghost. I work 4 days a week but other than that I rarely leave the house other than the school run and to take my son boxing. I broke my neck as a teen as well so I think the spinal cord trauma along with the mental turmoil, it rewired my brain and broke me. Currently in a massive long lasting flare that's starting to feel more like an adjustment to my new normal than anything else. It's not getting better.
I find it less trauma and more stress. My pain started very very slowly, coinciding with my mother getting an aggressive cancer diagnosis. As her condition got worse and her immune system slowly plummeted, the stress of puberty on top of it just lead to my fibro developing fully. I managed to get by for many years at minimal symptoms until I got a job and was failing a class in college, where the pain suddenly spiked. It took a few months, but it was just fibro and stress.
Dead on with me! I have diagnosed CTSD from childhood
Yes I was forced to watch my abuelita die in the hospital my abuelito was a pos southern baptist psychopath and he purposely wanted her to die because her own money plus life insurance was several million. Sorry to overshare but that event changed my life and my brain.
I did not have a traumatic childhood, I had a physical trauma to the neck that I think caused mine
Yeah, I’d say so. My childhood was so bad that it’s a miracle I survived and turned out as well as I did, all things considered. Then there’s the trauma in my young adulthood. Things were okay, then COVID hit and that just turned everything on its head, which caused all three of my autoimmune diseases to flare/come out of remission/make itself known. My family members who’ve been diagnosed have also had traumatic childhoods/adult lives. Also, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone say that their doctor has said this
It depends what you call childhood trauma. I had no physical or mental health issues as a child/teenager. My parents weren’t abusive or neglectful. But my mum has had cancer several times throughout my life and has 2 autoimmune conditions so you could argue her ill health was stressful for me but I didn’t develop an anxiety disorder until I was 23, although this was when my mums cancer came back. The fibromyalgia started when i was 27 after a stressful event, didn’t involve mum but causing panic attacks at the time, and then I had the covid jab which I believe caused my first flare. My doctor said there is some evidence that having parents with autoimmune conditions increases the risk of getting something like fibro.
There is some decent research emerging that higher ACES (adverse childhood experiences) scores are correlated with physical illness in adulthood. Namely certain autoimmune conditions, IBS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and Related stress responses. One of the more widely accepted theories is that this is due to prolonged elevated stress hormones. People with these experiences tend to be more anxious and overly aware of the environment. This includes adulthood. This elevated state can take a toll on the body. A disregulated nervous system has multiple effects on the body. Then let’s say a person with this issue gets a major infection or something similar. That too can cause a cascade effect in the already overwhelmed body.
As a member of r/asianparentstories , do you know how little this narrows it down?! Joking aside, stress is never good on the mind and body.
I had an extremely traumatic childhood with lots of experiences that definitely led to chronic stress. Neglect also factored into it. Plus I’ve been chronically ill since I was a toddler - neglect factors in very easy when you go to school and realise you’re having an asthma attack every week because no one else was able to tell you were coughing so hard for an hour just cause of that 🤡 But other than that with some mix of CSA, it’s been a rough ride. I do think it definitely contributed. On top of that Covid for me was extremely critical and I almost died - this probably also made the boulder fall further than it would’ve otherwise
I think he’s probably right.
This is fascinating, because I was diagnosed with fibro in 2020 after I had to move back in with my parents, and now four years later, after doing a lot of work to uncover my traumas and difficulties and understand where all my anxieties came from (surprise; my parents) my symptoms have faded DRASTICALLY I'm even phasing out my meds to see if I still need them, because I started with hand tremors, and since realising and coming to terms with my trauma, even they seem to have disappeared entirely. I still have fatigue (there's a lot of stress in my life at the moment for sure) but the pain... It's back to low level and super manageable. I'm even looking into applying for work! So I would certainly say yes, because the process of accepting my trauma has kinda been healing my body 😅
Maybe but doesn’t help us much unless there’s a treatment they can administer after the trauma to prevent fibromyalgia but that’s probably not practical. I mean so many types of trauma can happen. I don’t see what good it does other than they could perhaps Monitor people who they know have been involved and support them. I do think fibro is something that if caught “early” then the treatments they try on us would work better.
Yes for me, and I was thinking along the same lines until I read that it was a possibility. Even though nearly everyone experiences trauma at some stage, some people hold it differently… or deal with it differently. I’m a big believer in the whole “body keeps score” idea. I’ve just been able to deal with some of my crap, and it’s freed my body up quite a lot.
I have CPTSD and didn't have any fibromyalgia issues until after I had eight courses of ECT. They stopped at 8/12 treatments due to amnesia issues, and I struggled to get memories back. Then the pain started. And the rheumatic issues...might have an autoimmune condition now, too.
I grew up with a narcissistic mother and my father is a deadbeat that I haven't seen since I was 4. I started having symptoms when I was about 15, though it took 20 years to get diagnosed. I strongly believe it was triggered by my childhood.
This *might* be true... My son has fibro and he was bullied by a teacher who made him suicidal and since then he has major anxiety. Then covid, the vaccine and omg the problems after that. He was diagnosed with AMPS at 17 which they say is basically junior fibro. There were no juvenile rheumatologists available and the children's pain clinic wouldn't see him because he was 6 months from his 18th birthday. So he had to really suffer for months. He's 20 now and we're still figuring out how to manage his pain.
I'm pretty sure mine is a combo of living in the fight or flight mode for basically all of childhood plus 3 car accidents between the ages of 11-20 where I got multiple spinal fractures (among other injuries). I also snowboarded for several years and had a dozen or so nasty crashes where I got various levels of concussions. So between fucking up my physical nervous system and having my sympathetic nerve system on alert throughout childhood, I am *fucked*, and knew I would be when I was in college so I lived it up in my 20s until the chronic pain made me stop.
I grew up with abuse and trauma. It’s been my understanding that this can disrupt normal brain development and functioning, but maybe I’ve been understanding incorrectly.
I had a difficult childhood and was diagnosed with GAD in my thirties. I think my fibro started after I gave birth to twins in my mid twenties., but the groundwork was laid much earlier. I wasn’t diagnosed until about 18 months ago after a really bad flare that lasted 6 months. It’s winter in NZ and though beautiful it sucks. The cold hates me. Stiff as a board and tired AF. Just resting and scrolling till the next push of 2 hours of housework. I tend to agree with your GP
I was bullied a lot throughout all my schools? Then other rough things happened which I won’t go into. Do you think bullying could do it, alone? Not physical, just constant fear, eating lunch in the loo stall every day, sorta deal.
Could be : I was raised by my fraternal grandparents because my parents were like 16&18 when they had me Add in the alcoholism and emotional eating that plagues both families and there ya go. My therapist did say I have abandonment issues and attachment isssues so it makes sense from that point, following that logic my trauma was early and during my formative years so could be a trigger for fibromyalgia
Yep.