This has been a theory of mine since I've noticed of my friends who have it, ALL of them have experienced some and are from dysfunction backgrounds (including myself). Anyway, I was surfing and found this stuff and thought I'd share it with you guys. There's tons more info online. Amazing!
CFS:
http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/news/features/childhood_adversity.html
FMS:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10070600
I just had a doctor ask me about childhood abuse. I have not done any research on this but I was sexually abused as a child. I have no idea if it has anything to do with the physical issues I have now. I was also in a car accident in 2001, I had to two surgeries due to this, one on my right arm and also had cervical fusion done. I know that had something to do with what I deal with today. It would be great if more research was done to find out why, and maybe be able to prevent in the future. More important, I would like more effective treatment or better yet a cure.
I hope so too. The medical community is SO SLOW to react to new information though. Look how long it took them to admit FM is "real".
From the last article:
A growing body of research has linked childhood experiences of maltreatment with a host of physical conditions that manifest in adulthood. In addition, newer neuroimaging techniques have documented structural changes that occur in the brains of individuals who suffer early maltreatment. This article briefly reviews the literature on these topics and outlines the connection between abuse in childhood and health problems in adulthood.
The link between fibromyalgia and sexual abuse has been extensively studied.27 Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, common in people who have been abused, has been found in most patients with fibromyalgia.28 Substance P (present in heightened pain) is found in high levels in this population. Irritable bowel syndrome has also been shown to be correlated with childhood sexual abuse, and higher levels of substance P have been found in the colonic mucosa of individuals who were maltreated as children. Also, increased cortisol has been shown to act on the intra-abdominal adipocytes leading to increased fat storage.4 Findings that memory pathways are adversely affected by exposure to abuse may explain some amnesia, delayed recall of abuse, and dissociative disorders.29 Some authors consider conversion reactions and pseudoseizures a form of dissociative disorder.30
Conclusion For years, we have ignored the potential influence of childhood traumatic experiences on adult disease, preferring to look for genetic causes of disease and pure biochemical factors without considering experiential influences. Given new evidence that trauma in childhood alters the physiology of the brain, it is time for all physicians to be educated about the full health impact of violence and abuse and be trained to explore these issues as the true etiology of or an underlying potentiating factor that contributes to their patients’ maladies. MM
I too suffered a lot of abuse and emotional trauma as child and i been asked many times if i had by doctors the last 2 you posted was very interesting to read
Our bodies are miraculous entities. It does have it's flaws though. It cannot differentiate good stress from bad stress and the body reacts the same to both. It takes stress of some sort to get a reaction from our body good or bad. I learned this while going through Anatomy and Physiology as well as a Registered Nursing Program. I found it fascinating.
I wouldnt be surprised its been my theory for a long time for myself considering that I have put myself through domestic abuse for a decade and still dealing with his butt now and court issues and emotional drama and stresses of college and work and generally life is stressful, Theres only so much life can do before the brain says to the Flying fairies with the stresses of living and unloads excess on the body..
Yes, I think there is a distinct link to childhood abuse and fibro/CFA. In fact, we have something called telemeres http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/chromosomes/telomeres/ attached to our DNA that shorten as we age. However, it's been found that they also shorten dramatically due to stress. Once they can get no shorter, the cell dies. I guess it's something like a candle; once you get to the end of it, it's done. Here's an article about how much they tie in to stress and how stress is bad for them: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39647/title/Telomeres-Show-Signs-of-Early-Life-Stress/
The other thing I noticed about all of us is that we all seem to be caretakers and compassionate. Some people are caretakers of parents, others to old people, still others to animals. Somehow the kind of personality that is found in caretakers seems to be vulnerable to fibro/CFS. Perhaps it's as simple as people who've been traumatized in their childhoods are more inclined to want to help the world and the helpless, so they become caretakers, and then the stress from their early lives catches up and causes fibro.
Last thing I notice is that almost all of us suffer from depression (that's no surprise, is it), and many suffer from anxiety. Bi-polar disorder also seems rather common in people with fibro, although not all of us have it.
Anyone else have any interesting observations that seem to link us all together?