What do you think was the trigger for your FM or CFS dx ?

[PlateletGal]

So what do you believe was the trigger that set-off your fibromyalgia or CFS diagnosis ?

[karajo]

My slow computer wouldn't let me vote.

Fibro/Lupus

It happened after/during a very stressful time.  One stress after another.  

[Maliss]

In 1997 I was 18 riding with a friend in his mustang, he was going fast when a car pulled out directly in front of us and stopped.  We only slowed down to about 60.  I had no seat belt on, I blacked out just briefly then black and quiet turned bright and I pryed the door open with my legs.  I didnt go to the hospital till the next day and said I was fine just a bad headache, at first I didnt notice I left a head print in the windshield.  Later on that night I was driving to Wal-Mart to get our pictures of the accident when I forgot where I was and what we were even doing and then I went to the hospital.  An X-Ray was ok and I was released.  Oh yeah and the drivers of the other car were sooo drunk.

At first it was headaches, then a month later the horrible low back pain started.  A little disc bulge was seen in a MRI but all doctors said it was ok.  Then I started getting stiff when I would stop moving for the day, it would get worse through the night and let up after noon the next day.  Then I started getting muscle spasms from my low back all the way up to the top of my neck.  All the tender point areas, especially the knees and ankles felt like bad bruises.  And the sleeping, costo, spasms, headaches, dizziness, cold and hot intolerance, etc......

[catwoman64]

i have had a lifetime of bad events and i wouldnt even begin to wonder where it hit me...growed up living with uncaring parents..father drank all the time and would leave us for weeks at a time.  at the age of 11 was raped.  then we moved from town to town.  never in the same schools.  started seeing a guy at a early age ... ended up marrying him and he cheated , drank, and so on.  then after he took my teen years and my twenties away from me he left me for the next door neighbor.  not to mention he tried to get my own sister in bed.  then got into a abusive relationship and actually thought i deserfved it!  and then started drilnking heavy myself and lost my home .. car .. and almost my son!  so where it all began .. i dont know. ive also worked hard since the age of 14.. had to take care of myself and my brother and sister... clothing , etc. the list goes on and on.  mine probably comes from a lifetime of hell.... that would be my guess!
anyone?

[shells17]

All of my problems started after I had mono at the age of 12 - it has been 11 years now of illness. I didn't get my CFS/fibro diagnosis until 1 1/2 ago, but that is just because a lot of the doctors I saw before then didn't believe that CFS or fibro were real disease. Meh.

[Narnia41]

I'm really not sure if mine was emotional trauma, or disc disease in neck.  The two things happened together, so it could even be both triggers at once.

[PlateletGal]

What the experts are saying causes fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome:

fibromyalgia ---- Fibromyalgia's cause in unknown, but a number of triggers are consistent among patients. According to the Mayo Clinic Web site, a common trigger is brain chemical imbalance, particularly in the chemical that regulates depression and migraines, and another associated with pain, anxiety and stress. The Fibromyalgia Network Web site says the same problem is seen with two hormones, one that is essential to the body rebuilding itself and another that influences nerve activity.

Other possible triggers are an injury or trauma to the upper spinal region or central nervous system; a viral or bacterial infection; an abnormality in the autonomic, or involuntary, nervous system; changes in muscle metabolism; and psychological stress/

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?id=5232&t=CFIDS_FM

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Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome or M.E.

Triggering agents/factors for CFS: While early studies of CFS sought to identify a single agent that caused the illness, most researchers now appear to agree that CFS can be “triggered” by a number of different insults including microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.), environmental exposures and severe injuries (such as closed head trauma). At this conference, researchers reported data on a number of agents that set off a CFS-like illness. Here is a list of the agents explored by researchers who gave presentations:

Giardia lambia (Eva Stormorken, RN, University of Oslo, Norway)
Coxiella burnetii (Andrew Lloyd, MD, University of New South Wales, Australia)
Parvovirus B19 (Jonathan Kerr, MD, PhD, St. George’s University of London, England)
Parvovirus B19 and herpesviruses (Kenny DeMeirleir, MD, PhD, University of Brussels, Belgium)
Mammalian viruses (Judy Mikovits, PhD, Whittemore Peterson Institute, USA)
HHV-6 and -7 (Modra Murovska, MD, PHD, Riga Stradins University, Latvia)
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), CMV and HHV-6 (Barbara Cameron, PhD, University of New South Wales, Australia)
Enteroviruses, EBV, Chlamydia pneumoniae, coxiella burnetii and parvovirus B19 (Lihan Zhang, St. George’s University of London, England)

source: http://www.cfids.org/cfidslink/2009/040102.asp