My mother had a very stressful time while pregnant with me, which possibly made me more prone to getting fibromyalgia. Here is an article about
it:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060623095402.htmI'd be interested to see if there are more recent articles on this topic supporting or refuting this idea.
I have always been sensitive and sickly - even as a baby, by all accounts. Throughout my childhood, I was always getting pneumonia and the flu, always hypersensitive to touch (I was diagnosed with hyperalgesia and allodynia for years before I developed the other symptoms of fibromyalgia). My parents smacked me once and I felt like they were killing me because it hurt so much. I feel that my mother emotionally and mentally abused myself and my siblings. I was sexually abused by a friend of the family. I was physically abused by one of my brothers. I was emotionally abused by both of my brothers. I was made to do inordinate amounts of housework for a child. My father is a good man, but he worked so much that he was hardly ever there to protect me from my mother and brothers and friends of the family.
I was in pain a lot as a child - I was told they were "growing pains". But the pains continued even when I was not growing, and they were not just in my legs but rather all over my body. The pain suddenly dramatically increased when I first got FMS.
When I was sick as a child and was given antibiotics, I didn't take probiotics to replace the good bacteria. I was diagnosed with IBS when I was 12.
My parents didn't mind whatever grades I got in school, so long as I didn't fail anything (I was allowed to fail the one subject that both of my parents are bad at too: sport - I failed sport most of the time because I was sensitive to touch, clumsy and didn't appreciate the value of it). However, I have always been naturally a high achiever with my schoolwork - I was always the best or second best in all my classes, until I got FMS.
I always had hormonal problems - I turned 11, started getting sporadic, very painful periods and this has continued for eight years. I still look like an eleven-year-old and I still get sporadic, painful periods.
In the lead up to getting fibromyalgia, several things happened:
A few of my friends died unexpectedly and unnecessarily (i.e. their deaths were preventable but they didn't complain of their symptoms early enough), one of them leaving behind a baby and toddler.
I saw someone commit suicide.
I lost my best friend.
A storm came through my hometown and destroyed the houses of several of my good friends, and half our property.
I had been doing an overload of difficult, university-bound subjects in senior high school and pushing my body to the limits.
There was a horrible housefire right near where I lived.
My parents were considering divorce.
The fibromyalgia came on very suddenly - I thought it was the flu at first. But I didn't actually vomit or have diarrhoea. After a while, I realised it wasn't the flu. It went on and on... it just never stopped.
So what do I think? Imbalance of intestinal flora, hormonal imbalances, sensitive central nervous system, stress and abuse triggering an abnormal stress response, low immunity... all of these are theories that have been bandied about on the internet, and I can certainly see how they might have played into my own life.