15-25, was when I was diagnosed but looking back I went to my GP and was referred to the hospital with fibro type pains when I was younger than that. xx
I got fibro when I was 42 while my brother was dying. As a psychologist, Iâm personally convinced that fibro is caused by traumaâŚpsychological, physical, perhaps environmental. We know psychological trauma causes physical changes in the brain. I sure havenât been able to reverse these, LOL. Interesting to me, I have not found stress to impact myu illness at all. I do a combo cardio/ aerobics program almost every, sometimes with real difficulty, that seems to at least maintain me a bit.
That was 22 years ago, first misdiagnosed with Lyme ( endemic here) for a month.
As for disease du jourâŚIDK. I will say that Fifty per cent of the women outpatients at our community MH clinic, virtually all trauma victims, have fibro.
Steve
I was 17 years old after a bout of chicken pox and major stress in my senoir year. It was aggravated by a car accident when I was 21 years old. I rarely encounter people who have it or even know someone that does have it. I do know very few people are interested in how it affects my life or what the symptoms are.
I was diagnosed at age 54
My medical records state the diagnosis was in 1990 at age 34, but working with a therapist, she thinks I may have gotten it soon after my father died when I was 12. Migraines started at 13, terrible menstrual periods, which were diagnosed as ovarian cysts at 16. Removed after an exploratory surgery at 16. Continued pelvic pain from adhesions with IBS diagnosis. Have been in 2 serious auto accidents, first in 1983 and 2nd in 1990, then had to have back surgery in 1992. Sleep problems started and have never stopped. I remember having growing pains especially in legs as a child and shin splints from track in high school. Double cervical fusion in 2007 out of the blue, and 2 shoulder surgeries from a slip and fall a year apart in 2011 & 2012.
I cannot remember a time where something hasnât hurt. Labor was nothing compared to the day after day, not knowing when it will ease up pain. As my husband has said more times than I wish to remember " you always have a headache or something wrong." Heâs not the only one who has said that - Not so funny, but those words hurt more than the pain!
My philosophy, hypothesis or bullcrap thoughts believe its been there, but as we get older are bodies just canât take it anymore and our pain receptors are on overload. Unfortunately, some peopleâs system go into overload at an earlier age. I donât know what I would have done if I felt like I do now at 22! My heart goes out to those of you -
Hey dozer, glad to hear from you, girl! Though I may have had this for a long time, it was a car accident that really did me in. Just couldn't get over it! Too bad those you care about, and those who care about you, don't take more time to understand how this affects your life. We surely do! Glad to see you on the boards, hope you are well!
Hugs,
SK
Wow- I was taller than anyone in my class so understand those growing pains- emotionally and physically. I've had IBS since I was in my teens, thyroid problems (overactive then treated by radioactive iodine so now underactive) plus GERD plus bad back, later diagnosed as degenerative disk.
THey believe mine also started due to auto accident.
Sandi- bless you, have ou tried acupuncture. Truly helped me. Better than most other things. THe drugs work for pain like Lyrica but side effects are almost as bad.
Pitted nails? I have ridged nails but they say it is due to hypothyroidism
:-(
That is quite a kicker for heading into your golden years.
Eight??? Renie, people can actually have fibro at 8? That's incomprehensible - and just plain awful. I'm so sorry you've had to deal with it for your entire life.
Seems like fibro likes to pop its ugly head up after stressful events occur in our lives.
Petunia GIrl said it all- I can't imagine feeling this way since I was in my 20's or 30's. I am told by my doctor that many people seem to see the symptoms fade after about 20 years. Hard to know. Not enough time has passed since general diagnoses for most people.
What I am seeing is that it is being diagnosed more frequently now so maybe it is more widespread than first thought. If this keeps growing I will try to find a free survey program to refer this to for stats. Is there a MD that wants to study this and do more work on this in this group?
I tried acupuncture before I had my neck surgery which helped with some of the tension - a great experience. Just last Friday went to a local place and had a horrible experience. Guy looked right off the hay wagon, when he put one needle in my right hand the pain was terrible! It wasnât your common zing you get at times - I screamed and he said it would ease up. Told him to take it out or I would. Completed the insertions and tried to get the music to work but he said it was one of those days where it wasnât going to. So I tried to relax listening to his conversation with the patient next door. When he came back in and looked at my tongue he said letâs try 20 more minutes - I said no, how about 5! When he took out the needles from my forehead he pushed his palm on it because I was bleeding! I think he made matters worse - me with my bruised dots on my forehead - I just canât win. I do have a great massage therapist who will work on me for an hour and a half for $40 and sheâs worth every penny!
Linda, I really donât think it is more widespread. I think it is just diagnosed as fibromyalgia now, whereas before it was diagnosed as other stuff. I canât remember the names and I am too tired to research but it was basically attributed to female âhysteriaâ. Maybe google it and you can find some of the history.
Oh, if only we could!
Right, exactly, female hysteria. That was the name for anything that doctor's didn't understand. Even bad menstral pains were due to female hysteria.
But I don't know if there are more cases now than back in the day.
Bless you "kids" for handling it while still going out into the world and making a place for yourselves in it. You're stronger than I would be in your place.
Brain fog- you said it correctly. It was always there but misdiagnosed. However I would love for a better form of diagnoses because I think that people are diagnosed as fibro but are RA or arthritic or have other issues that could be better treated.
What a horrible double trauma for you to go through. And I do agree that it seems that trauma and fibro go hand in hand and I thank you for sharing your own experiences on the matter. I'm kind of bowled over by your observation that virtually all of the trauma patients have fibro. Very, very sad, to be traumatized again, after the original trauma has ended. Seems so very unfair.
I'm not sure I should count since I had Ehlers Danlos all my life. My doctors wont say I have fibro now because I have EDS and so many other issues. But I have the tender points and muscle knots all over. The EDS literature says fibro is commonly a secondary issue caused by the connective tissue disorder and dysautonomia (a dysfunctional autonomic nervous system) and POTS. But my fibro pain started in my mid 20s. I'm 39.