Question:
HE asked about my feeling that trauma causes fibromyalgia, so I thought
I'd look into it a little and see what I could find to back this up. My
feeling on this question, based solely on personal observation of Mother,
three sisters and myself all having fibromyalgia (Mom for over 30 years,
sisters 20 years, myself 15) is that:
We probably all (I mean all my female family members) carried some 'marker'
for whatever this thingie is, but we were all *relatively* healthy until
some severe traumatic event (in some cases physical, in some emotional, in
some a combination) changed everything in our lives.
I remember that none of us was particularly robust or active when we were
little, and my mom was always a little achy and sluggish, but I wouldn't say
any of necessarily had juvenile fibromyalgia. In each case, the severe
symptoms can be pinned down to a specific event, or several in quick
succession, followed by a realization (which took a LONG time for me) that
we probably had the same thing Mom did. When she was Dx, they called it
Fibrositis.
HE asked if I thought this meant that FM is a 'mental' problem and I'd
say "No, but I think it's a neurological one." The HPA Axis plays a
delicate balancing act to provide us with proper levels of various hormones,
enzymes and such (serotonin, dopamine, cortisol, epinephrine . . . ) I
think it's possible that severe trauma screws with this delicate balance,
which may already be teetering in some people. Some can't survive the
severity of what a brain goes through when faced with severe trauma. They
*crash*. Like I said -- physical or emotional trauma or a combination.
Citing some references:
No. 1
From ImmuneSupport.com
http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm?ID=2381
No. 2
From ChiroWeb Archives:
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/13/05/04.html
I'm sure you will find people who will say their FM wasn't caused by a
trauma (which could include an illness in some cases, I think) but I've
talked to more people who have. Many know the event, some know the DAY.
They feel that specific event was the catalyst that brought on their fibro
pain.
Unfortunately, "getting over" the event doesn't seem to help with getting
over the pain. :o( On July 15 I will be celebrating 15 years of survival
since I was gang raped and I have pretty much dealt with that incident in my
life. I don't much like watching movies that glorify rapists, but other
than that I'd have to say it doesn't affect me much anymore. But I still
have many symptoms of fibromyalgia, though I've figured out how to manage
the pain aspects quite well in the last few years.
Any thoughts?
Answer:
I think I'd be more comfortable with saying trauma can *trigger*
fibromyalgia in individuals pre-disposed to it by a combination of genetic
and neurological/biochemical factors, which themselves may have some
etiological connection to the environment... But there's basically much
research to back what you've said regarding trauma (as much as that
regarding infections triggering FMS). Same could be said for "perpetuating"
factors.
