Fibromyalgia: It Just Happens.

No Smoking Guns: Triggering Events Not Common in Fibromyalgia – Health Rising

The study looked at almost 1,000 patients, 94% of whom were women… only 27% of patients reported an obvious precipitating factor.  Of those 22% reported experiencing some sort of physical trauma (e.g. motor vehicle accident), while 5% reported an infection was present.

72% of Fibromyalgia  patients reported no obvious trigger at all. 

How a disorder starts can be very informative.  A recent study … suggested that the most common road to fibromyalgia involves neither a physical trauma or an infection.

For most people with FM, their FM appears to have descended like the dusk falling – slowly and surely and for no obvious reason.

It just happened.

The most common physical trauma reported was a car accident (6%), followed by surgery (5%) and childbirth (3%). When an infection did appear to trigger FM it was usually a respiratory infection.  Only 1% of FM patients reported having an infection associated with Epstein-Barr virus.

The type of trigger may have some impact on later health.  People with infection triggered fibromyalgia had worse quality of life scores but better emotional health scores.

Take the Poll

How did your fibromyalgia happen? We dig deeper in a poll on the Health Rising Forums. Take it and let us know here.

Read more: No Smoking Guns: Triggering Events Not Common in Fibromyalgia http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2015/04/23/smoking-guns-triggering-events-not-common-in-fibromyalgia/