Aa
What do you think was the trigger for your FM or CFS dx ?
So what do you believe was the trigger that set-off your fibromyalgia or CFS diagnosis ?
After you vote, if you can.... please post your answer as well and be more specific:
My answer was a viral infection (mono)
My answer was a viral infection (mono)
The first bout I had as a teenager was with fibrocitis, a short while after receiving the vaccination for Swine Flu (which was not adequately tested and subsequently pulled due to the harmful side-effects at that time...the mid 70's).
Only after my last surgery did CFS become a huge factor and now the fatigue is as bad as the pain.
Only after my last surgery did CFS become a huge factor and now the fatigue is as bad as the pain.
I was 5 years old when I had Scarlet Fever along with my younger and older sisters. I remember being so sick and having horrible nightmares. I've always had trouble with my legs and playing 6 years of tennis in school sure didn't help any. In 2007 I had 3 major surgeries on my right knee. These 3 surgeries were within 7 months to the day.
I had so much emotional trauma during this period that I felt that I was on the verge of really losing it. I had a partial knee replacement on March 22, 2007. The surgeon had to go back in and revise the partial ( 8 weeks after 1st surgery ) because he had cut too much off of the femur. Exactly 5 days later the spacer shot out and lodged in the medial part of my knee. My husband had a 5 vessel heart by-pass on June 26th and had a massive stroke in surgery. I had to put off the revision to my knee until I knew that he was going to be ok. He was released from the rehab hospital on August 17th, and I had a revision to a total knee replacement on Oct. 22.
I decided then, that I would never have another replacement on any part of my body. Never! Now my days are filled with excruciating pain and the fatigue is slowly draining me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....:)
gentle hugs
Angel
I had so much emotional trauma during this period that I felt that I was on the verge of really losing it. I had a partial knee replacement on March 22, 2007. The surgeon had to go back in and revise the partial ( 8 weeks after 1st surgery ) because he had cut too much off of the femur. Exactly 5 days later the spacer shot out and lodged in the medial part of my knee. My husband had a 5 vessel heart by-pass on June 26th and had a massive stroke in surgery. I had to put off the revision to my knee until I knew that he was going to be ok. He was released from the rehab hospital on August 17th, and I had a revision to a total knee replacement on Oct. 22.
I decided then, that I would never have another replacement on any part of my body. Never! Now my days are filled with excruciating pain and the fatigue is slowly draining me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....:)
gentle hugs
Angel
I think with CFS, it is much easier. 90% of us were diagnosed with CFS following a viral infection. If you check out the EBV forum right now, you'll see plenty of people who are frustrated because they had mono months ago and are still sick.
I'm not sure any of those apply to me. My chronic fatigue symptoms, (not yet formally diagnosed as CFS), started about eight years into my Dysautonomia. I've had mono four times though.
My slow computer wouldn't let me vote.
Fibro/Lupus
It happened after/during a very stressful time. One stress after another.
Fibro/Lupus
It happened after/during a very stressful time. One stress after another.
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......
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......
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?
anyone?
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.
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.
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
________________________________________________________________
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
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
________________________________________________________________
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
I started having more and more symptoms after my son died in 2002. It went downhill from there.
I was in a car accident in March 2000 and was diagnosed with FM in Feb. 2001. While going to physical therapy and getting injections in the neck for the pain wondering why my body was still hurting fibromyalgia was the culprit.
Stress will definitely make our illness worse. My illness became worse after I lost one of my dogs in 2004. One thing they've found in CFS patients is that we have oxidative stress... that is why supplements are vital if you have this illness or fibromyalgia. The only question is... where do you purchase quality supplements ? (consider that 90% of supplements sold in the U.S. have ingredients in them from China) There are ways to find out which supplements are the better ones... we recently talked about this in MedHelp's Complementary forum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidative_stress
Bacterial/viral components also seen with FMS:
Chalmydia penumoniea
Hepatitis C
Parvovirus B19
HIV
Epstein-Barr
Mycoplasma/spirochetes (as with Lyme Disease)
'55% of patients identify a "flu-like" or viral type illness, 33% physical trauma/injury and 14% emotional stress as a precursor to the onset of symptoms."
"Nicholson has found mycoplasma infections in approximately one half of patients with FM as well as arthritis. "The identification of mycoplasma infections in the leukocyte blood fractions of a rather large subset of CFS, FMS and arthritis patients suggests that mycoplasmas, and probably other chronic infections as well, may be an important source of morbidity in these patients. If such infections are important in these disorders, then appropriate treatment with antibiotics should result in improvement and even recovery. This is exactly what has been found." (Nicholson JAMA 1995)"
http://www.roadback.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/education.display/display_id/135.html
Chalmydia penumoniea
Hepatitis C
Parvovirus B19
HIV
Epstein-Barr
Mycoplasma/spirochetes (as with Lyme Disease)
'55% of patients identify a "flu-like" or viral type illness, 33% physical trauma/injury and 14% emotional stress as a precursor to the onset of symptoms."
"Nicholson has found mycoplasma infections in approximately one half of patients with FM as well as arthritis. "The identification of mycoplasma infections in the leukocyte blood fractions of a rather large subset of CFS, FMS and arthritis patients suggests that mycoplasmas, and probably other chronic infections as well, may be an important source of morbidity in these patients. If such infections are important in these disorders, then appropriate treatment with antibiotics should result in improvement and even recovery. This is exactly what has been found." (Nicholson JAMA 1995)"
http://www.roadback.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/education.display/display_id/135.html
I can see your concern PlateletGal, since China hasn't had the best track record, lol.
Thank you for posting that. You know I think fibro or CFS symptoms are just like lyme.
Possible scenario in lyme cases:
You are eight years old and you get bitten by a lyme infected tick. But your immune system is healthy enough to keep the bacteria under control.... so you are unaware that you have lyme disease. Ten years later... you get a virus, are working full-time and going to school part-time (or vice versa) or you have an emotional trauma (it happens to all of us). As a result, your immune system is worn down... and then guess what happens ? The lyme bacteria has the opportunity then to thrive and then you are all of a sudden very ill. The same thing can happen with viruses. These nasty, opportunist infections are just waiting for their time. That is why, IMO, we need to fight these infections.
Best,
~P-Gal
Possible scenario in lyme cases:
You are eight years old and you get bitten by a lyme infected tick. But your immune system is healthy enough to keep the bacteria under control.... so you are unaware that you have lyme disease. Ten years later... you get a virus, are working full-time and going to school part-time (or vice versa) or you have an emotional trauma (it happens to all of us). As a result, your immune system is worn down... and then guess what happens ? The lyme bacteria has the opportunity then to thrive and then you are all of a sudden very ill. The same thing can happen with viruses. These nasty, opportunist infections are just waiting for their time. That is why, IMO, we need to fight these infections.
Best,
~P-Gal
You know what cracks me up, VaBreeze ? There have been OUTBREAKS of CFS in Lyndonville, NY and Lake Tahoe. Now do you really think that all of these people just happened to be stressed at the same time and this is what happened ? ; ^ )
I believe that mine came either after emotional trauma or my Chairi Malformation. I've voted for emotional trauma because I was under a huge amount of stress before I have got it.
I believe my FMS was the result of physical (repetitive motion) trauma. I was injured and was diagnosed with CMPS then aggressively treated with PT which very quickly developed into the FMS/MPS complex.
I contracted mono when I was 15 and I think it had a big impact on my immune system afterwards. Then had a bad injury to my back in my 20's and had surgery in 1989 which was essentially the end of my "normal life". I had live in chronic pain since and was diagnosed with fibro 2 years later when I failed to heal and recover from the surgery. So, I guess the trauma from the surgery brought out the fibro even more, or at least that is what I think the neurologist told me. I didn't grow up with a great early home life, lots of fighting and domestic violence, so maybe that sets us up for having lowered immune systems from all the stress in our childhood years..
Valerie
Valerie
"I contracted mono when I was 15 and I think it had a big impact on my immune system afterwards."
That is what happened to me. After I had mono, months later I had another infection (coccidioidomycosis) and that completely knocked me out for at least a year. Since my cocci comp fix titers were positive months after my cocci diagnosis, I had to take an anti-fungal medication and be careful because the medication affected my liver.
During and after the time that I had "recovered" from cocci, I had frequent infections. It seemed like every single month I was in the Urgent Care and the physicians there were getting frustrated because they didn't know what to do with me. One physician at least recognized that something was very wrong... he even suggested that I have an HIV test. Of course I did and the result was negative. It wouldn't be until many, many years later that I FINALLY got an official diagnosis.
That is what happened to me. After I had mono, months later I had another infection (coccidioidomycosis) and that completely knocked me out for at least a year. Since my cocci comp fix titers were positive months after my cocci diagnosis, I had to take an anti-fungal medication and be careful because the medication affected my liver.
During and after the time that I had "recovered" from cocci, I had frequent infections. It seemed like every single month I was in the Urgent Care and the physicians there were getting frustrated because they didn't know what to do with me. One physician at least recognized that something was very wrong... he even suggested that I have an HIV test. Of course I did and the result was negative. It wouldn't be until many, many years later that I FINALLY got an official diagnosis.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Fibromyalgia Community
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
