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A MyFibroTeam Member asked a question 💭
Little Rock, AR

How is it that so many women , and from what I've seen live in about 3 different countries get the same thing? It's the U.S, CANADA AND THE UK mostly. I've also noticed that's it's white and black women mostly and some Mexican women. What do we have in common with each other? Am I the only one that thinks this is strange?

July 6, 2016
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Answer Summary

Members explored theories about why fibromyalgia seems more common in certain countries and demographics, with many sharing that their... Read more

Members explored theories about why fibromyalgia seems more common in certain countries and demographics, with many sharing that their condition was triggered by specific events like physical trauma, childhood stress, or starting birth control. Several members discussed possible contributing factors, including exposure to environmental toxins, hormonal changes, traumatic childhood experiences, Type A personalities, and the cultural tendency for women to carry stress from work and family responsibilities without adequate rest. A recurring theme was the belief that fibromyalgia may have a genetic component that lies dormant until activated by a triggering event, with many noting overlapping conditions like hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's disease.

A MyFibroTeam Member

@A MyFibroTeam Member, I believe you are exactly right! I believe that mine was trigered when I was a little girl. I had some tramatic things happen in my life and I do believe that's where it started!

August 9, 2016
A MyFibroTeam Member

There were signs that I had it even as a child. I didn't sleep well even as an infant, I was always sensitive to crowds and noise, I would be the first one to get sick and the last one to get better of my siblings. The list just goes on. I think at some point in our lives something happens that triggers the fibro from being just there to active. For me it was being put on the pill to control the pain I had when I ovulated. My first clue that I was chemically intolerant. I know the trigger has been different for most of us but something almost always happens to make us go from mostly normal to actively fibro. Most people don't have the same reaction so there has to be something in us that is different, an inherited tendency to getting fibro.

July 7, 2016
A MyFibroTeam Member

I think people have fibro worldwide but they are not educating people on what this is. They are treating each symptom separately.

July 6, 2016
A MyFibroTeam Member

A lot of fibro patients had traumatic events in their childhood. I was reading an article about it the other day. Women, being more emotional (that's not an insult), seem to carry the stress of those events with them long enough and forcefully enough to make ourselves sick. Also, type A personalities who work in stressful jobs or think everything has to be perfect are a lot more likely to get this disease. I think women stress over stuff more often than men. And in countries like Japan and China, rest periods are built in to the work day, along with time for physical exercise. We rarely have those kind of things in America and the U.K. And women also stress about mothering issues and keeping the household running. So too much work and not enough play makes our countries and our gender more apt to have this condition.

August 2, 2016
A MyFibroTeam Member

Possibly it is that the doctors treating a lot of women and men with fibro just aren't diagnosing it because as it was here for so long, they don't believe it is a real condition. Another possibility is that we just haven't been able to reach out to other areas yet because their technology isn't as abundant as ours. Even here I know a lot of people who don't have computers or internet.

Another possibility is that it is an inherited tendency so may be limited to certain cultures that carry that gene.

July 6, 2016

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