trauma and fibromyalgia

[REBarlow]

I have been told my mother that at 2 years old I put a bobbie pin in an electrical outlet and she had to get a mop to dislodge me. My question is could my fibromyalgia, reoccuring shingles, and electric shock feeling be caused by this and what can be done to stop it.

[REBarlow]

Thank you so much for the information. I will try your recommendations.

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. The various fibromyalgia triggers are over exertion, stress, lack of exercise, anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, trauma, extremes of temperature or humidity, and infectious illness. The suggested causes are immune system problems like toxins accumulating in muscles from lactic acid buildup. Disturbances in brain chemistry like depression, insomnia, infection with Epstein barr virus, which causes infectious mononucleosis, food allergy and emotional stress. Other associations could be nutritional deficiencies, adrenal exhaustion, anemia, hypoglycemia and hypothyroidism. Fibromyalgia is closely related to chronic fatigue syndrome similar to fibromyalgia but fatigue predominates over muscle pain.  The childhood incident that you are citing is unlikely to be the cause of fibromyalgia. Hope this helps. Take care.

[kathat]

I would say no it has nothing to do with it The latest info says Fibro is caused by over active nerves from unknown reason There are many meds you can take to feel a lot better.
I would also have my Vit D level checked.
They have a shingles vaccine you can take between flareups to lessen the frequency.
My symptoms were close to yours and I never had an experience with a bobby pin.
Ask your doctor if you are hyper clonus also

[FurballsMom]

I don't think doctors really know all of the causes for Fibromyalgia.  Anything is possible.  Very likely, as with me, you have had vitamin D deficiency, too.  That was one of the reasons I was finally diagnosed myself.  Since I know vitamin D deficiency has been noted as a root cause for why some people get Parkinsons, then I know vitamin D is important for neurological function.  Also, be sure to have your vitamin B 12 tested.  If it's okay, you should still take a vitamin B complex and extra B 12.  It matters which B complex you use.  I was intolerant to all B complexes 'til a friend told me which one she uses.  I decided that since I was struggling with getting enough B vitamins to give the brand she uses a try.  That did the trick.  Many of the other formulas would make me sick to my stomach.  B complex should provide you with B 6, too.  Unless you specifically need more, there should be enough in the B complex.  I do suggest the NOW brand, as this is the brand that my friend suggested that I finally can tolerate.  Low vitamin B's in the system has been linked to the electric shock feeling you're describing.  What you're describing is likely parasthesia.  I get that, too.  When it's really firing away, it really hurts.

Some other supplements you can try are Alpha Lipoic Acid and Acetyl L Carnitine.  Both of these are antioxidants.  Do discuss with your doctor about Acetyl L Carnitine.  Sometimes they don't want people using this supplement.  It was another person with Fibromyalgia who told me about these supplements.  I do think they're safe, but just be sure to discuss with the doctor about Acetyl L Carnitine.  Sometimes when I take these supplements I get more parasthesia.  I'm not sure why.  So, just be aware that this can happen, too.  I do know that these supplements do help with the nervous system.

Keep a close eye on your vitamin D levels.  Aim for a level closer to 60-100, not the 30 that conventional medicine aims for.  All that the 30 tells you is that you're no longer in danger of severe vitamin D deficiency.  A level of 60 is more optimal.  Having sufficient vitamin D should help you stop getting recurrent Shingles outbreaks, because it is the key to your immune system.

Sometimes people don't tolerate oral vitamin D.  If this is the case, try to get some sun exposure when the weather permits.  You do not have to have over exposure to get enough.  So, if you have a light complexion, just 20 minutes should be enough.  You actually need to be in the sun during the hours when the experts say to stay out of the sun--unless you can't tolerate it.  I can't, so I know about that.  When you take oral vitamin D, you need to be sure you take magnesium.  If you have IBS with constipation, you will be able to tolerate the magnesium.  You need a minimum of 500 mg of magnesium (RDA), but if you have constipation anyway, you can take 1,000 mg or more.  It's hard to overdose on magnesium, because you would know if you did.  The first indication would be diarrhea.  So, if you tend toward constipation, you might even need closer to 1,500 mg.  But, after 1,000 mg only nudge it up in smaller increments, so you don't get diarrhea.  So, you might be better off with 1,200 instead of 1,500 mg of magnesium.  As for getting enough to make the vitamin D work--the minimum RDA of magnesium will work.

The Vitamin D Council suggests that between 2,000 iu and 5,000 iu of oral vitamin D3 is the amount that healthy adults need to take.  The naturopath I went to said that 5,000 iu is necessary as the maintenance dosage.  For me, what the naturopath told me is what has proven true in my own case.  The FDA didn't do people a favor for avoiding vitamin D deficiency by not recommending nearly enough.  People are still deficient.  The National Skin Cancer foundation has pretty much demonized the sun, which has furthered this problem of vitamin D deficiency.  There actually just needs to be a healthy moderation.  Over exposure is definitely bad with the sun, but so is no exposure.