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I am a registered nurse, but also someone with severe fibromyalgia. I am curious and was thinking- altho the medical community indicates that fibro has no known cause- what common factor, if any, do fibro sufferers have. I have been exposed to the list below, and wondered if anyone else also had the same exposure. (If you think of any thing to add- please mention it). If yes, please explain:
1. Head trauma with unconsciousness - I was in a car accident in '74 (I was 18 yrs old). Hit the windshield (and broke it along with my neck, at C1). I was knocked out for a short time.
2. Exposure to insecticide- In the mid to late 60's it was not uncommon for kids-including me- to play in the "fog" when the town trucks came around weekly to spray for mosquitoes. I remember how "nice" the insecticide smelled, and we would follow the trucks and run in and out of the insecticidal fog.
3. Mold exposure- I've always lived- and currently live- in old houses. My current house especially has a VERY damp basement, sometimes with active seepage. Although I don't see mold, I wonder if it is still there. I was achey- just before we moved- in my other house (which was over 200 yrs old) but I was still riding my horse at 61, so I just thought of my achiness of just being 61 yrs old. I moved to this house (built in the 1890's) and my fibro increased a lot. At age 62 I could no longer ride since moving to this house 2 yrs ago. (I'm 63 now) Coincidence??
4. Radon- My other house was just below the unsafe level and according to the report we received back, did not need remediation. I haven't tested this house yet. Anyone out there who has fibro and high radon in their house?
5. Allergies- I've recently found out from the doctor, that I am now allergic to many foods, such as wheat (need to be gluten free), corn, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, etc. I don't feel sick/ different if I eat them. It was picked up when I was tested along with my blood work to rule out other diseases. So I don't know if I was always allergic to them or if this was something new.
There may be other things that I can't think of right now, so add your own ideas, if any.
BTW, the doctor ruled out Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme's, MS, and heavy metal toxicity. However, my ANA (antinuclear antibody) results are high which shows some systemic inflammation. All other blood work is normal. The doctor has me taking 8 different supplements and I need to be gluten free. (Also I've tried 4 different medications, acupuncture, physical therapy, and chiropractor without any luck- not even short term relief)
1. No head trauma (that I remember )
2. No exposure to those trucks
3. Mold: possibility, I live in a high humidity area
4. No radon
5. I was allergy tested, with no allergies about 10 years ago. Since then have developed a couple of mild allergies
Mine seemed to flare at same time as RA. Right now both are quiet.
Try PatientsLikeMe. They collect all kinds of data for chronic conditions like FM. Unfortunately nothing has shown as a one time/fits all patients trigger incident.
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I've had no head trauma but I did have a wreck when I was 16...it's only the grace of God that I wasn't killed, as the car left the road and spun around. I was not wearing a seat belt, so it flung me around pretty good and left a hairline fracture in my pelvic bone on one side. I've read that kind of trauma to the muscles can precipitate FM.
And yes, we ran behind the mosquito truck when we were small also. Our parents made us quit when they saw us, but they didn't always see us. Small town, we ran around outside and up and down the streets freely. My parents also came in our rooms whenever there was a mosquito loose at night and said, "Cover your head" and then they bombed the whole room with Raid with a spray can...one of those kind that had the long tube on the back and you pumped the handle forward to spray. Remember those?
I don't know about mold or radon. I don't have allergies.
I take Lyrica. I didn't want to, and I resisted for about 2 years after the doc suggested it, but finally caved and it does help me a lot. I still hurt really bad if I stand a lot, as in doing housework or laundry or cooking. When I know I'm going to have to do something "out of the ordinary" like a clothes-shopping trip with my daughter, I take tramadol and acetomenophin together (37.5 mg tram, 325 mg acet) and it works wonders. I don't do that very often, though...do NOT want to get dependent on that stuff. There is actually a pill where these are combined, called Ultracet (I read about it online and since I have some tramadol here already, I made my own). It seems they have a synergistic effect when taken together...IOW, each enhances the effect of the other, the result being that you can take less of each one and still get the same relief as a larger dosage of each separately. Tylenol had never helped my pain on its own (nor has naproxen or any other anti-inflammatory med), but that combo works wonderfully for my worst times.
Do any of you have terrible back pain? If so, I recently found a "trigger point" self-massaging tool at Bed Bath & Beyond that works great for me: Trigger Point Massager | Neck Pain Self Massage Tool | BackJoyFinally I can reach that itchy, achy spot in the middle of my back without my hubby's help, and I can press as hard as I want and do it as long as I want! I used it in the car all the way home after I bought it. LOL
Do any of you have terrible back pain? If so, I recently found a "trigger point" self-massaging tool at Bed Bath & Beyond that works great for me: Trigger Point Massager | Neck Pain Self Massage Tool | BackJoyFinally I can reach that itchy, achy spot in the middle of my back without my hubby's help, and I can press as hard as I want and do it as long as I want! I used it in the car all the way home after I bought it. LOL
I have one, but I get better results with one of those big electric back massagers.
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Yeah, the shiatsu one? The one with adjustable-width rollers that go all up and down your back? Heaven! But $200.
Mine's not that fancy, it's just a dual-head percussion massager that cost about $30 ten years ago. I mostly use it on my hips and lower back. I have tender spots below each shoulder blade and across the tops of my shoulders but I'm usually chicken about using the massager on them.
I have tender spots below each shoulder blade and across the tops of my shoulders but I'm usually chicken about using the massager on them.
I have tender spots also, but I've found that if I massage them softly, then a little harder, they go away for a while. I hit on one tender spot with my new toy and yelped...for a few minutes it hurt to even run my hand over the skin there, but after a while that all went away. For a while.
I know the Fibro dx was triggered by an emotional trauma, lost a job at 61 that I planned to retire from at 65...I needed the job and money...so that shock caused fight/flight/fright mode in my body.
During that above trauma I had been trying for many years to get thyroid supported without help as the so called lab numbers were OK....that mantra on the numbers. We are not numbers we are symptoms. Long long drama on this thyroid business. Over the years on a thyroid support group everyone kept telling me Fibro and Thyroid are so connected.
Finally in 2002 I was given desiccated thyroid by my D.O. without labs etc. 10 yrs of depression lifted in a short time and overall I'm doing pretty well with this Fibro "stuff". I take a lot of supps and my worse issue is OA, so just how much FM is left over I don't know.
Many say Fibro is a basket of a lot of stuff gone wrong in our bodies.
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