It does say in articles I've read there is a connection between the abuse and fibro, also my doc says there is. I don't know about cfs but they seem to go together. I was sexually abused as a little girl, I haven't told too many people and I really need to talk about it. Does this help? Hugs Charlie :)
Your amazing! I wish I could feel like that. I can't seem to forget. Hugs Charlie :)
Yes it helps to talk about it. I am 63 and still have issues. There is a site on Facebook that I moderate …Mind Body and Spirit …for sexual abuse survours …
My Dr told me that a large population of CFS and Fibro patients were abused or suffered some kind of trauma …maybe has to do with the limbic system…the fight or flight system. Constant release of cortisol. Then I guess I because a adrenaline junkie as a paramedic and firefighter …another correlation …many of us are care givers or rescuers. The body only. so much it can take.
I was date raped twice. I don’t like to think or talk about it. I have talked about it though, with my mother and my husband. It still huts though. Being molested as a child I believe is worse I w
Sorry…I believe being hurt in this way as a child is much worse. I am sorry…my mother was molested by an uncle, a cousin and a neighbor. I watched her go through one awful man after another. I have made consistently bad choices as well. I often feel like ivwas quite the whore. I am sick to my stomach now. If you ever want to talk feel free to private message me.
I never knew there was a link with that tobthis illness.
A million hugs
Well put Geranium. I too have PTSD and had many bad adult abusive relationships as well. Our childhood sets us up for our choices later in life. But we can change our choices, but it doesn't seem that we can change the affects quite as easy - like PTSD, depression and FMS. This sux.
Love to you,
Lisa M
I hate to hear about your terrible traumatic experiences, Berrygus. But I don't believe the motto what doesn't kill you ... At this point, it seems to be making me much weaker.
Please let me/ us know how your therapy goes. I think it is time for me to go back. I just feel so crazy and stressed and have had an unbelievable past few years. I am off my pain meds and now all i can do is work, shower, dress myself and go to bed. Do not have energy to get to grocery store and am becoming closer and closer to becoming bed ridden. My job - I am underpaid way underpaid and my boss expects the moon. Is at legal firm and well the stress is over-whelming when you factor in the fact that I was homeless this past year. Long story for another thread.
Sorry to go off topic
Hugs,
Lisa M
Charlie,
Thanks for sharing. I believe therapy helps. I found the book, "The Courage to Heal" to be extremely helpful. It is an old book and a long one but it makes you not feel so alone in this experience. I also went to group therapy for this 20 years ago... The group was not the best looking back and at some point after I had the courage to tell my story and after hearing the horrors that others went through it made me feel like I had experienced "sexual abuse-lite" (though there is nothing lite about any kind of this abuse. In other words, the women told such horrific tales and one in particular couldn't even stand small sounds like the once in a while squeak of my straw against the plastic lid of my drink. I decided that this particular group, while serving as a way for me to speak out about what I experienced, was not for me in the end. I had to decide that the others stories were just doing me more damage than good. I found one on one counseling better and also reading books on the topic. Did you know that some people are so scarred by this experience that they legally change their names in attempts to escape from the identity of their old self and reclaim their new self. Read that book. It is great. The Courage to Heal"
PS I hate my misogynist step-father - topic for another thread. After I told my mother what was happening, though i had not words for it, my stepfather had one talk with this adult step brother victimizer I had but the molestation didn't stop. I wish I could sue is Ass.
My therapist in the past told me it makes it hard for us to say NO to people ie be doormat (NOT ANYMORE - well I have tendencies that have resurfaced because I used to be superwoman). It also makes us feel so very unsafe that our parent(s) did not protect us.
Hugs
would you mind giving me the facebook address. I cannot find it.
Thanks
I had surgery some years ago for endometriosis. One of the questions was whether or not you had been sexually abused as a child. The doctor later said that when he first started asking that question he thought that there must be a link because so many answered yes. But some years later he believes that it is more of a case that most people were abused as children.
I think he may be right. So many have been abused that if there was a scientific study done with a fibro group or any other group with nervous system disorders, you will find that a certain percentage were abused in one way or another in their life. But you may find that the same percentage is found in the control group (those without a nervous system disorder). So it is really hard to know.
BUT on the other side of the coin, reading about PTSD (which can be caused by abuse during childhood), you will find that there is evidence that when a person suffers PTSD, their nervous system is permanently damaged in a way that their coping mechanisms are not going to work properly. Their chance of reoccurance of PTSD is much higher than a person who maybe goes through a similar incident but had not previously suffered from PTSD.
So once the nervous system is damaged, it may never be right again and may more easily malfunction. There are many fibro and CFS causes. They are usually physical. One lady got it after a sign fell in Walmart and hit her in the head. That is a neck injury and the signals from the brain began to be faulty. Many get fibro after car accidents and after illnesses. But others with the same injuries don't get fibro or CFS after the same incidents. So there is a predisposition.
Is it a genetic predisposition or is it previous damage to the nervous system? It would be nice to know and it could be both or either depending on the person. There are genetic issues they have found that can cause damage to the nervous system. Fibro is not much different than MS and is often a symptom of EDS or MS. It is sometimes a symptom of chiari or CSI or porphyria.
These are physical problems that attack the nervous system and a side effect is bad signals to the muscles - fibro.
So I think that abuse is a link but it is not the key nor is it the only causative factor.