Activity and exercise levels when very young

[diamond]

I was just watching the video on Fibro Anxiety and depression that David posted in the new section.

the lady refers to feeling like she always felt fibro was lurking even when she was young.

I know there are many people, more so it seems on the forum lately who have fibro full blown in their early 20's.

But as a child did any of you notice any niggles and symptoms that might have indicated something was 'lurking'.

I was extremely fit and sporty as a child and teenager, ran 100 and 200meter sprint at County level as well as in ( and winning pretty much all) my school competitions and the Long Jump too.

I played in the school net ball and hockey team as a teenager and before age 11 was scouted at school and invited to join the Towns amateur athletics Association.

I gave it all up after my education as i like so many went on to a conventional life, career marriage and babies, but it got me thinking were there any signs and back then for me no, in fact stamina/pain wise i was the opposite with no signs at all, but i did have sensitivities that i brushed off as normal for me.

I think many people have things that are just 'them'. For example my throat would swell and ears and nasal passages hurt if i went into a DIY store near bags of cement or rough sawn wood and strong chemical products like creosote or strong glue....and indoor cleaning materials i could literally taste for days if say furniture polish or anti bacterial spray was used in the house.

If i went out in the cold i would get bad earache and if you want a laugh my nipples would get sooo painful even under a coat and thick jumper when it was freezing cold outside i couldn't bear any fabric rubbing or touching!

Hope this gives you a laugh..a young woman trying to pull her underwear away from her boobs oohing and ouching in her head !

None of it bothered me much as none was serious or very long lasting.

My chemical and other sensitivities got way worse after fibro and started causing migraines and other longer lasting pain.

Any of you have early memories either of actual aches and pains or funny foibles that may have been fibro warnings?

I'm Interested in anyone's stories.

 

[Marvis]

I remember in grade 8 trying so hard to do the required running (around a track) and it being so exhausting and not understanding how it could be so hard. And later trying really hard to become a jogger, running every day and it just never getting easier (I used to have dreams where I could run). In highschool, I remember volleyball being so painful that I couldn't imagine why anyone could find it fun. And always being low energy from my teen years on.

 

[diamond]

Ahh thanks Marvis for sharing.... that makes me sad .....so sorry you had symptoms from so young. My fibro is at severe end of the spectrum now but i guess i was lucky to have a normal childhood and teens, no pain until mid 40's but fatigue started in my 30's.

I hope a few others post there stories....wonder what the percentage of those who had early symptoms and those who had none?

 

[Marvis]

Ahh thanks Marvis for sharing.... that makes me sad .....so sorry you had symptoms from so young. My fibro is at severe end of the spectrum now but i guess i was lucky to have a normal childhood and teens, no pain until mid 40's but fatigue started in my 30's.

I hope a few others post there stories....wonder what the percentage of those who had early symptoms and those who had none?

My symptoms weren't that bad ... just now that I look back on it, I realize that things that I took as my 'lack of fitness' or 'laziness' might have been early signs. I had mono and endometriosis in my twenties, migraines since i was 14 and have always been frequenty 'unwell'. But I didn't admit that there was anything 'wrong' with me until about 2 years ago and I'm 47. lol. Now I'm well and truly falling to bits, but still managing to live my life, so I'm luckier than most. I look back and think I been sick as long as I can remember, but just sort skimmed along and managed.

 

[diamond]

i identify with this too..when i had fatigue in my early 30's i used to drive home from the office in my lunch break and get into bed for less than half an hour fro a rest! and then drive the 4 miles back but like you i kind of ignored it , didnt really admit or tell anyone and just carried on...my first pain started like you in my mid 40's diagnosed at 47/48.

 

[Forgetmenot]

I was always sick as a teen.ppl would tell me I was making it up.go figure

 

[vickythecat]

I also believe I had signs of fibro from an early age.

I believe in my case, it goes hand in hand with the fact that I have always been a very sensitive person. I can not stand injustice in life - seeing a poor person, an hungry animal, garbage dumped on the street etc. would make me cry each time as a child, and I'd worry constantly about the state of the world. (I still do) I first self-injured myself when I was 15 because all these feelings became too much for me.

My parents sadly were not the type to take their child to the doctor, they loved me but going to the doctor was taboo. In fact such a taboo that even when I broke my finger, they bandaged it themselves.

I also had the extremely painful nipple problem!!! Had totally forgotten about it in fact. And yes, I can totally relate how I'd try to keep my bra from touching them. I would even use my lip balm (only cream-like thing in my bag!) and use it to calm my painful nipples.

I was diagnosed with Raynaud's syndrome when I was 13. The only time my mom took me to doctor, and I remember the nurses and the doctor were all shocked to see my purple, frozen fingers and toes. They could not even jab my finger to get some blood out. It was my normal, so I hated it when they treated my normal as 'abnormal' and made such a big fuss about it.

I also had intense pains on the inside of lower legs after exercising. I used to be in the dance team in high school, but after the training, I could hardly walk to the car/bus. This intense stabbing burning sensation, I still have no clue what it was.

And I was a bed wetter into adulthood. Don't know why - my bladder, my brain, my sleep pattern etc.?

But looking back my biggest lifelong problem, besides this over-sensitivity, has been this inability of my body to recover after an injury or operation. Each and every time something bad happens (and sadly I have had quite a few broken limbs and cuts and operations), my injury/operation site does not heal. I've been operated on twice for my herniated discs in my neck - pain is worse than before. My dislocated shoulder turned into a frozen shoulder and now 2 years later it is still frozen/very painful. All of my once-broken/hurt fingers, toes, ankles, wrists etc. still constantly hurt. I had minor surgery regarding a problem in my uterus and that turned into vaginismus = painful/impossible sex.

All these set-backs have literally made me insane. I've been diagnosed with personality disorders, major depression, social anxiety, PTSD etc.

So I totally believe being a very sensitive child leads to many problems, incl. fibro.

 

[diamond]

Hi Vicky, i did a long reply and lost it before it posted by hitting the wrong button. It was thanking you for your honesty and sharing such personal information.

I am also very sensitive and was giving similar examples about animals, saving a baby bird hopping around in the road where i walked into the road and stopped all the traffic, environments and buildings that are scruffy making me feel sad and how at work ( a large Bank) we had a tramp who used to come into the outer lobby where the cash machines were housed for some warmth and we were meant to discourage him and ask him to leave if he ever appeared but one cold day instead i went over to the supermarket opposite our building and bought him pies and sandwiches instead and went into our staff room and made him a hot drink..knowing i could get into trouble!

But my heart sometimes rules my head and i felt compelled to help as it was freezing cold day and although not good for customers to have a tramp/homeless man in the lobby while they used the machines he was harmless and vulnerable.

AS it was instead of being ashamed i headed straight into my boss's office and told him what i had done and why...he wasnt really cross although I'd gone totally against the rules and it was my responsibility to get the tramp to leave or call the police to do so.... The senior Manager did then have to go out and ask the tramp to leave, but at least he had a meal and hot drink and an hours warmth.

I read a couple of years later this guy who slept rough in the local park was set on fire by a group of heartless youths..and he died of his injuries 3 weeks later in hospital..so I am forever grateful for the day i gave him some comfort. How anyone can set fire or taunt another human being is beyond me, and just because he was homeless meant his life had already gone so badly wrong at some point for him to end up in such sad situation...nobody chooses to sleep rough..he was just a product of whatever life had thrown at him.

My point is that some of us are super sensitive and i think this makes us emotionally vulnerable to the bad things in life and we dont have the same emotional resilience as most people when other people are harsh towards us...for me i think this and a few other things that happened in my life also brought on fibro....its neurological and i think many of us have sensitive bodies and minds.

 

[CatherineTheGreat]

I remember ever since I was really small I had strange, unexplained sharp muscle pains. They were incredibly brief, lasting barely a second, and I got used to them quick but I still don't know why I got them. I still get them, perhaps a little more often now. I remember describing them a few times to people but never mentioned it again because nobody believed me. My chronic pain is ache-y rather than sharp, usually. I was semi-active before my teens, and then very active at 16-17. Then I got fibro and remained pretty active for maybe 8 months before it became impossible.

I'm not really sure I was ever super sensitive. Very empathetic sure, but I wouldn't visibly get upset about most things. I used to like to take the bus to Seattle and walk around a bunch. No matter how much cash I had on me, $20, $100 I'd always come home with a an empty wallet, from giving it to people on the sidewalk. Got to a point where I had to stop carrying cash because I didn't have money for things I needed.

 

[diamond]

Hi Catherine, by super sensitive i dont necessarily mean upset..i would come across as very confident and capable, even a bit bossy..i think you hit the nail on the head with the word empathetic...not outwardly upset..just feel emotions strong inside.

I cant say i had lasting worry about most of these things just in the moment i felt compelled to help or do anything i could to make things for anyone a little better even if it was just a smile and a kind word.

 

[DK_engineer]

I don't think fibro affected me as a child. When I was a kid, I used to run as hard as I could just for the pleasure of it. I remember when I was about 10, my parents were doing some construction on our house and there was a lot of debris around. I noticed something stuck to my foot. When I investigated I found I had stepped on a piece of wood with a 1.5" nail that was now jammed into my heel. I pulled it out and showed my mom, who took me in for a tetanus shot. I remember being surprised that neither the nail nor the shot hurt much.

As a teenager, I began to notice I seemed to have more trouble with long, rigorous activities (hiking up and down steep hills for most of the day), but I just figured everyone else was in better shape. I still participated and enjoyed the long hikes.

One very rigorous hike in particular was troublesome. The first time I tried it (at 13) I got heat stroke. I had stopped sweating because I had so little water left in my body. For the next several days I couldn't do anything anaerobic or I would get dizzy and my vision would black out. The second time I tried the hike (a few years later), I finished it, but I was so exhausted I slept for about 3 days afterward. No one else struggled that much with that hike.

In the meantime I played soccer and was active. I've continued that pattern most of my life. I started having unexplained pains in my 30's, but it wasn't enough to slow me down. Now, in my 40's, I can't ignore the pain anymore. I have to carefully consider how my actions will affect my condition.