Editor’s Note: Any medical information is included based on personal experience. If you have questions or concerns about health or diagnosis, consult a doctor or a professional.
Although most people who have fibromyalgia are not diagnosed before middle age, many can actually follow their symptoms back to adolescence or even in childhood. You may feel more tired than other children in your class, or often know your doctor called “growing pains.” But if this is your “normal” growth, it can take many years to recognize that the pain, fatigue, mental confusion or sensitivity to touch that habit has is actually an indication of a state of health – back.
Sometimes, receiving a diagnosis as an adult not only gives a name to your current set of symptoms, but it can also make sense of some of your childhood experiences. We ask our community outreach with fibromyalgia to share some – some of the signs that grew with fibro, which they now recognize retrospectively. Maybe the next one will bring back some of your childhood memories.
This is what the community shared with us:
1. “I was always more tired than I seemed” normal “, especially for my age. She also had episodes of severe back pain, knee pain and pain in her legs. ”
2. “As a child, [I was] told that my” growing pains “were normal, although the pain had another logical explanation and not the left. I was also told by friends and family that I was too exaggerated or too sensitive when I shudder to touch some parts of my body. ”
3. “When I look back, I would like to have horrible headaches being in the sun, [and] I always had to take naps. ”
4. “Not being able to participate in gym class, but never have a legitimate excuse and more” I do not feel well. ”
5. “Nausea was the worst. What I remember most is that I spent hours of the night crying on the bathroom floor out of fear of what I felt. It was all hot body, the pain that comes with tremors and extreme weakness burning. I did not understand why I felt like I was throwing up, but I never really did and why it would not go away. ”
6. “When I started driving, I do not remember the main roads, even though I have lived here all my life. [I] lost my car in the same parking area now. ”
7. “constant fatigue … I came from school and go to bed and wake up to eat, shower and sleep. ”
8. “The sensation of ants on my skin. Such a strange feeling, almost impossible to describe accurately. ”
9. “I cry to sleep at night when I was about 7 because of pain in my legs. My father helps by putting hot packs on the shins to relieve pain. Now, heat is the only thing that helps pain. ”
10. “Growing up with fibro, I have learned patience. I had to wait patiently for flames at the end. I learned empathy. I have learned never to say, I understand how he feels “, because even though I know my pain is worse, nobody will believe me. Also, my defect can not be the same for another person. ”
11. “I refuse to wear certain items of clothing such as jeans or clothing with labels simply because they irritate the skin so much. My parents put [me] to be very demanding. ”
12. “I’m big and I always had what all the so-called” growing pains “in my body. As an adult, I had chronic fatigue syndrome [chronic fatigue syndrome] and fibro. I also have TMJ, IBS, and I’m still suffering from high anxiety, ETL depression. ”
13. “I always did everything possible out of school sports game. Being hit by very bad things and people. ”
14. “I was afraid to have to walk places, at school or otherwise. I always thought I was “lazy” and it was very difficult for me to do that “.
15. “There are no photos of me discos or travel or put on a beach like most teenagers do. I was very sick. ”
16. “I used to spend a lot of time in bed, very tired. Ala put mental health, but when I got to that, the fatigue kept the aggravation! ”
17. “I broke my leg at the age of 5 and since my body when it was injured bad weather to come. He was detained at the beginning of my broken leg for years until there was a year in which I thought it was strange, until I was officially diagnosed six months ago. ”
18. “As a child, it really hurts to sit cross-legged on the floor. I am always on the move and adjust, and I thought everyone felt the same. ”
19. “When I was a teenager, I lost a lot to school due to fatigue / exhaustion. ”
20. “[I] severe” menstrual pain “and that would be in my arms and legs and make me weak. My column felt tender, since I can remember. ”
21. “I am always striking the candidate because it hurts so easily and frequently. I do not understand how other children might just be able to through the things that I knew were painful. Well, it seems, these things are not bad for them. ”
22. “I always thought that the most painful things that anyone else did, and always exploded in the hives. I still remember the experience of fatigue, as well as a myriad of other symptoms. However, I thought it was very normal, to feel that I did and that I brought them all together “.