Fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia is not associated with childhood trauma (??)

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
A bit of a surprise - because many autoimmune and inflammatory disorders are associated with an increased risk of childhood trauma. This study suggests not - although I do note that there is no control group. It may be that there are simply no differences between FM patients in the US and Germany. They stated:

Psychological distress fully accounted for group differences in emotional and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect.

Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2015 Mar-Apr;33(1 Suppl 88):86-92. Epub 2015 Mar 18. Self-reported childhood maltreatment, lifelong traumatic events and mental disorders in fibromyalgiasyndrome: a comparison of US and German outpatients.
Häuser W1, Hoffmann EM2, Wolfe F3, Worthing AB4, Stahl N5, Rothenberg R6, Walitt B7.
OBJECTIVES:

The robustness of findings on retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment and lifetime traumatic experiences of adults with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) has not been demonstrated by transcultural studies. This is the first transcultural study to focus on the associations between FMS, childhood maltreatment, lifetime psychological traumas, and potential differences between countries adjusting for psychological distress.
METHODS:

71 age-and sex-matched US and German FMS outpatients were compared. Childhood maltreatment were assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and potential, traumatic experiences by the trauma list of the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Potential posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR symptom criteria by the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale. Potential depressive and anxiety disorder were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ 4.
RESULTS:

US and German patients did not significantly differ in the amount of self-reported childhood maltreatment (emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect) or in the frequency of lifetime traumatic experiences. No differences in the frequency of potential anxiety, depression, and PTSD were seen. Psychological distress fully accounted for group differences in emotional and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect.
CONCLUSIONS:

The study demonstrated the transcultural robustness of findings on the association of adult FMS with self-reports of childhood maltreatment and lifelong traumatic experiences. These associations are mainly explained by current psychological distress.
 

Issie

Well-Known Member
Interesting. I've been told that a person can hold memories in muscles. A massage therapist said that massage can sometimes cause a Person to recall things and it is held in the muscles. She said that sometimes people will cry and tell her of things that happened with/to them and when they confide in her, the muscles will start to relax. So could it be that the pain is a subconscious suppression of bad memories? Interesting thought.
Issie
 

Rosie

New Member
Yes, that exact thing happened to me: I had excruciating back pain after giving birth. During massage, I had memories of childhood sexual abuse that I had not previously recalled. I'm convinced that my fibromyalgia results from all the trauma (chronic stress, elevated fight-flight response) in my childhood. I have RA too... Which also appears to be related to elevated sympathetic NS activation. I find some relief in massage and very gentle yoga that activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
 

Recliner

Member
According to Dr. Pridgens application for patent that I read in the United States patent and trademark office....
It does occur during childhood or early adolescence, only not like that!
Dr. Pridgen states that 98% of the worldwide population has herpes 1 virus and that it is brought on by INOCULATIONS!!! ---You don't catch it from the inoculations themselves but you catch it shortly after receiving the inoculations you got as a child.--- that is his theory!!!
I brought it up to try to give you all directions to read it yourselves but... It was gone! I tried everything to get it back but... It was just gone!
I had visited that same site yesterday 4 or 5 times for research but today it was just gone!
 

Get Our Free ME/CFS and FM Blog!



Forum Tips

Support Our Work

DO IT MONTHLY

HEALTH RISING IS NOT A 501 (c) 3 NON-PROFIT

Shopping on Amazon.com For HR

Latest Resources

Top