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1640056 tn?1362508710

Fibro: Ever been told it was caused by childhood trauma?

I want to know if anyone else has read or heard their doctor state that you fibromyalgia is caused by something traumatic before the age of 12?

I have been told this was recent research, but not given a copy.  The dr. is my pain specialist, and I believe him.  I don't need to explain WHY but WHAT makes me believe this.

We lived in the same home for 32 years.  I was moving and had a 3 week notice.  I had lots of help, but cleaning 3400 sq. feet on 2 levels was very hard for I had a neck condition caused by a car wreck.  I did great until the day of the move.  We worked from 7:40 AM until after 11:00 and that was when I went to lunch with my husband and son for a sandwich.  While there, the fibro attacked.......sleepiness, fatigue, rubbery legs.....the whole 9 yards.
I found a walk-in closet in the new house and laid down.  I slept on this floor for 3 hours........so hard to believe, but when I reflect on childhood, we moved so much, and I attended 8 schools in 12 years.  YES, it was real for me.
EPISODE 2:   One night a conflict arose and I was yelled at loudly before bedtime.  That night I wet the bed, just as I had until my teens (physician said it had to be emotional for it was not a physical impairment, when checked);
This yelling had reminded me of two caregivers I had grown up with, at differing times in my childhood who YELLED at me to get what they wanted me to understand, to do, or as punishment for ? - Sometimes I never knew.
EPISODE 3:  Long ago, my husband and I bought a trailer to go camping.  We were so excited.  Beds for all of us, and it was a pull behind, 22 ft. long.  The first night in the campground, I wet the bed.  WHY?  Well, I had to think long and hard, but then I recalled that when my mother left my dad for a party type lifestyle he did not want, we had moved into a trailer near my grandparents.........my dad would come at night sometimes and knock, crying out for my mother to come to the door.  And she didn't.
EPISODE 4:   This happened just last week.  My neighbor has dogs, and I have a cat.  Where we rent, we cannot have pets, but they allow my cat to live in a cage on a screened porch.  My neighbor walked over one night when we were having dinner and growled at my cat.  My husband went and took care of the discussion, but as I stood there, I was very frightened........it scared me that someone would try to intimidate my pet.  The next day was fibroland.......alll day and night.  WHY?  I had about 5 dogs when I was little and they were all stolen or run over.
I didn't get a cat until I was 13, and this is what I wanted for a pet.  I now have pet #4, and I have found the sweetest, most loving, playful cat and buddy.........and then someone tries to scare him?  It hurt me just to hear it.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?   Am I crazy, like half the drs. who do not believe in fibro?   Let me know IF you have ever heard of this......NO, I do not mean a "PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT" OF fibro.........I mean TRAUMA AS A CHILD which stays in your subconscious the rest of your life.   Just email me:   ***@****, if this is best.
Thanks,
Nan1953
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Avatar universal
I was told by my New RA dr. That my Fibro was when your nerves in your brain gets crossed and it gives false signals of pain when there really isn't any. And that I had PTSD and only could this have happened in my childhood. So, it took 30 years to give me Fibro? Told him that nothing happened and he advised me that I am blocking it and set me up with a shrink. Some soldiers have it from fignting in the Gulf. That was recent not a childhood tramatic experience.
My family doctor and Neuro does not agree. For my family doctors wife suffers from it and she has had nothing traumatic happen to her in her life.  
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Avatar universal
When I was 2 yrs old, I fell in a tub of very hot water.  I had mostly second degree burns over 70% of my body.  Only my head and back was spared.  There were a few spots of 3rd degree too.  I had periods of severe fatigue and pain in the neck and hips even before I had mono and got the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome.  I knew a girl who was scalded around the same age.  She developed classic rheumatoid arthritis.  My diagnosis is 'unknown autoimmune disorder'.  And yes, I have PTSD and was beaten by my father.
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Avatar universal
I have researched Fibromyalgia for years now and run a support group here in Milton Keynes UK. I understand that Florence Nightingale also suffered with FM and was caused by all the stress she went through as a nurse in the war. It was also known as Post War Traumatic Stress, now known as Fibromyalgia.
I believe that at some point in our lives we have all been involved with some form of trauma ie: accidents, death, verbal and physical abuse, so any or all of the conditions couls start FM.
Like Cancer we are all born with a strain but only some are unfortunate enough to have it rear its ugly head, also pneumonia, after a cold or cough or chest infection this may lay dormant and then rear up and attack, sometimes causing death,
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Avatar universal
Hi there, yes my rhuematologist did. Actually she flat out asked if I had been abused as a child!!!! I haven't and I was completely shocked and really just thought she thinks it's all in my head.Maybe she doesn't I don't know but as for any trauma in my young life? I don't think so. Just lifes normal ups and downs. Seems to me the medical profession cannot explain fibromyalgia so they come up with all sorts. I firmly believe, in my case, that it has been brought on by hashimoto's. I was dx'd about a year ago and had all these pains/tiredness etc. Medication (thyroxine) for it did not ease these particular symptoms so rheumy dx'd fibromyalgia. I saw her twice only, she tried me on antidepressants (which made me more tired) and then mobic (a drug for arthritis) and sent me on my way. Do you have any other autoimmune disease?
The trauma in your young life is very real, but in my opinion, I don't think it caused/causes your fibro. Stress, however, can make it worse. I'll bet that ANY stress you suffer makes it worse, regardless of whether or not you can analyse it back to your childhood.
You are not crazy and this is very real. It is so very annoying (to me) that doctors can implant the thought that it is all in our heads because of our childhood. If that were the case just about the entire population in the world would have it!
Just my opinion :0)
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