What caused you to have fibromyalgia?

Lyme Disease.

Ouch! That sounds very painful.

Hi there Stari,

I don't have an exact cause, maybe more stress and repetitve stress on my body parts. But I do have elevated levels of viruses in my system. I've tried different types of meds, therapy and I am still trying to figure out what is working or will work best for me. I have been told by different docs that it sounds like to them that I have been having FM symptoms for the last 10 yrs. It took 3 yrs to get my diagnosis.

Fibro is fustrating to say the least.

Take it easy,

Hugs,

Hi VTM!

Welcome to the board I like your name, too-I can definitely relate!! (I have 3 kids)

How mine finally caught up with me (Fibro) is I fell off a horse several times while riding. And things just took a told on my body from all the falls off the horse. Plus I had other falls that have happened in my life as well.

Hara

hellokitty - No one believed me either that I had gallstones. I even had tests done to and they could not find anything. I finally convinced someone and they did surgery. My gallstones were so little they filled the whole bag. The surgeon even squeezed them out to see if there was any. And that's what he told me that they were so small that it was no wonder they didn't show up on the tests.

Hara

I'm not 100% sure.  Either the tons of domestic violence I had in my life or Lyme or all of that up together.  I know I started off with an official dx of CFS in 1999 after the Lyme thing.. but I think it started much earlier than that.

I know I had it when I was young because i can trace back symptoms -

I ALSO had back surgery at 17 for spandylolisthesis - L1-5 are fused -

I also grew up in a domestic violence situation and my step father committed suicide. That was a trauma none of us ever got over.

In 1993 , a "friend" introduced me to methamphetamine - I was depressed - my first weekend of being seperated and my son gone with his dad for the weekend. I was drinking and offered drugs. I had energy like I never had before. I have been clean now for 13 years but that I believe that was the catalyst - moving to Iowa from Az sunshine just finished me off.

Looking back - I don't ask why anymore - I say "why not" ?

Between being molested, beaten, abandoned , and life long pain and fatigue - well, I think that's what did it !

I thank the Lord that I am standing - and I really don't know how.

Like I read here earlier this week - fibro ain't for sissies !

Five years ago this July, I came down with a nasty virus.  Dr.s thought I had mono, but tests were negative (although I did have mono when I was 6).  Towards the end of the 10 day virus, my whole body (joints especially) felt like it was being attacked.  I seriously thought I must have some sort of bone cancer....I hurt so bad all over and was very scared.   I was first told I had "reactive arthritis" and that I would get better in 3-4 months.  Well, 1 1/2 years later, when I finally had insurance, I went to a Rheumy who said I just had a type of arthritis that has settled in my body from the virus.  Almost 5 years later and the pain is still always present except about a year ago, it's expanded to my muscles as well, including most all the tender points. It wasn't until last month that I was finally diagnosed with fibro (and RLS).  but definitely, the virus was the catalyst.

I grew up in a very stressful and depressed environment as a kid. I endured alot of traumas and betrayals from birth-19 years old, one right after the other and b/c of that, I battled serious depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. I have been on anti-depressants since I was 15 and a large part of my depression was due to the fact that I was dumbfounded that LIFE was so physically painful yet no one ever talked about it. I thought surely everyone else was enduring the same day-to-day pain I was! That was the quick downward slide of my serotonin depletion.
Compounding my mental state was the necessity that I help the family, and so I began simple yet manual labor jobs beginning at the age of 7 and despite two carpal tunnel surgeries when I was 21, I kept working physically demanding jobs until my body, just recently... quit .
However, the straw that broke the camel's back, was that I too got a virus that lasted about 2 weeks and sent me to the ER with extreme pain. I havent been the same since. I could ignore the pain before the virus, but now my life is upside down. I could always rely on my physical strength and my "can-do" nature. Now, I dont trust myself to be able to walk around the block!

lost in philly said...
I grew up in a very stressful and depressed environment as a kid. I endured alot of traumas and betrayals from birth-19 years old, one right after the other and b/c of that, I battled serious depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. I have been on anti-depressants since I was 15 and a large part of my depression was due to the fact that I was dumbfounded that LIFE was so physically painful yet no one ever talked about it. I thought surely everyone else was enduring the same day-to-day pain I was! That was the quick downward slide of my serotonin depletion.
Compounding my mental state was the necessity that I help the family, and so I began simple yet manual labor jobs beginning at the age of 7 and despite two carpal tunnel surgeries when I was 21, I kept working physically demanding jobs until my body, just recently... quit .
However, the straw that broke the camel's back, was that I too got a virus that lasted about 2 weeks and sent me to the ER with extreme pain. I havent been the same since. I could ignore the pain before the virus, but now my life is upside down. I could always rely on my physical strength and my "can-do" nature. Now, I dont trust myself to be able to walk around the block!

I know how it is when you use the use of your body especially your legs or at least partial use of your legs. I had had some foot ailments going on and it really scared me when the foot doctor said if I didn't do what she said to do I would probably loose the use of my foot and leg. Talk about scaring the heck into me or rather out of me. I do still have use of both of my feet and legs thank goodness.

Hara

Fibromyalgia is considered a syndrome that runs in families, but not everyone gets it because it needs something to pull the trigger. I doubt it ever set it off for me, because I was so young; but back when I was a child I had an abusive father that used drugs and beat the crap out of my whole family. I still remember getting picked up by my shirt and thrown down the hallway and I broke 4 ribs on a table. Also a step father I had when I was about 10 or 11 was a psychotic freak of nature. I remember him trying to chase me down with one of his shotguns. That night I broke both his arms and stabbed him with a steak knife.

Lol I really doubt that's what set it off considering my other post makes a lot more sense from a medical standpoint. Of all the crap that's happened than my life, there's one thing I can thank my father for, and that's to never be the person he is.

Just keep up the exercises. Don't do any that are going to hurt you. I told my Chiropractor that I couldn't do one of the exercises he gave me because it hurt. He said "OK, we'll just have to find out what exercises don't hurt you."

hehehehe - Hara