hi was wondering how many of you had depression before fibromyalgia stuck its claws in???

[lulu2012]

[joed]

h

hi lulu 2012 i have suffered with depression for 19 years and have only been diagnoised with me/fibro for a year but think i have had the symtoms for several years joed

[Cleaner]

Hi lulu. Yes I have suffered from depression most of my life then fibromyelger set in.

[Abbeystead in reply to Cleaner]

Yes cleaner. I too now realise that I have had depression all my life. Looking back to years and years ago, like when I was a young child and I wouldn;t join in with social events e.g. like street parties after the war (I;m 75) and being taken on trips with the school and hating them and always liking being alone. There wasnt much happiness in my life with parents who were always fighting. Struggled through life,married my first boyufriend at 17 (now 57 years and stilll together), Marriage has suffered because of my depression;Worked for 40years and then had to leave because of ME/FM. Could write a book on it and have more or less educated many young psychiatrists on this subject!!

Just struggle with black periods and tell myself it will eventually pass off. Only take diazepam which I have been on now for about 50 years. Dont care what beople say about it, it has been a life saver to me.

Painkillers make me feel worse so just struggle on. Sorry to have gone on.

Take care

[loobie]

Hi peeps I suffered with depression b4 I was diagnoised with fibro when I was diagnoised with fibro 12/15yrs ago & was told its caused through a bad car accident I had when I was 19 I'm now 45 x

[lulu2012]

thanx peeps,am doin so much research at the mo about it but am convinced fibro is something that happens when your mind has sufferd depression and its taken all it can,it then attacks the body (fibro) .not sure if its fact but it seems to of been like that for me.lucy

[Abbeystead in reply to lulu2012]

I'm sure you remarks are right. Repressed feeling I believe are the cause of my CFS/ME. If you're a person who does not cry easily because of repression well where do all those painful feelings go. Couldn't cry when my mother died, but when she just died felt someone hit me on the back of the head with a cricket bat. Now where has all that grieving gone - internally Obviously,it makes sense. I have suffered depression since I was a child,with a father who always told me I was never good enough for anything,but beside this I nbow know he was wrong because I achieved a lot in having good jobs, a lovely family,bought a house in a lovely district. Did this and worked through with my depression all the time. I'm sure you're right.

[loop]

yes ive suffered with depression for over 20 years, i think there is a link between the two.

[Stormlaw]

I agree, I definitely had depression first, but then saying that a lot of my fibro symptoms I also recognise from before I had depression, so not sure on what the link is but there definitely is one. I'm feeling really bad today, symptoms much worse, because I've had an emotional weekend, so there is definitely a tie somewhere in there.

[glochessum]

I have suffered with depression for over 20 years, been in a bad car accident when I was 25ish, plus a lot of very stressful things have happened in my life. I think it all adds up eventually.

[Jan52]

Hi, yes i have suffered with depression on and off for over 10 years.

fibro for about 3,but think i had it longer just did not know what was wrong

with me,coudnt really understand all the pain and everything else that comes with the fibro and at first doctors were putting it all down to depression which was very hard.I felt like i was going mad.

[Jane64]

My fibro got worse after several years of depression caused by behavioural difficulties with my adopted son.

Now, though, I think I must be one of the luckier ones as I don't have a problem with feeling depressed now and haven't for a good few years now.

Perhaps it's because I keep my mind active with my writing and art work, but my GP and pain consultant are always surprised at how upbeat and busy I am!

I think if you feel depressed, it generally makes you feel ill and in more pain, even people I know who don't have fibro feel significant pain increase when they are depressed.

Try to find something you can do that you enjoy and gives you sense of achievement, hopefully it will bring you up and you'll start to feel a little better.

Take care of you xxxxxxxxxxx

[rosehip]

yes i suffered depression and still do xx

[cxs957]

I did not suffer depression beforehand. I developed fibro when I was 11, due to a shock in my family and maybe a bad flu as well as i started my periods all within a couple of months. I feel other emotional factors have caused my fibro to worsen and my gp feels I developed m.e when I was 16 which i believe waa triggered by the disapperance of my brother. Strange how it all works though.

[Hidden]

I never suffered depression before, but I do now

[bikerchick69]

I have suffered from depression on and off, with a very bad bout approx 2 years ago for various reasons, and I also had a fall from my motorbike in 2010 so am looking at various triggers. I have rheumatology on Thursday, my first specialist appointment, wondering what it will bring and hoping not to be fobbed off with bullsh*t as a lot of other people seem to have been. Best wishes to everyone xx

[sh3ronb]

Yes i suffered bad depression, but started getting better, then i took a bad cold. It was just after that i started getting the symptoms.xx

[mandyb]

yes i have for at least 10 years

[chambers]

yes i also suffered with depression about 4 or 5 years before i had fibro xxxx

[Gracie59]

Suffered with depression and joint hypermobility.

[Hidden]

I have had depression to the point of attempting suicide.i have now accepted that depression is not being sad or unsatisfied with life it is just and illness that make you feel terrible. people with depression are treatedas attention seekers or mental patients this is so unfair as depression can be helped as they help the flu or hayfever etc. recognise the signs and keep telling your self it will pass.it is not easy but with support you can do this please feel freto write to me any time on depression. butterfly hugz

[wallflower_fairy]

Hey Lulu:),

The time leading up to my fibro was an unhappy and distressing time for me. Depression is also in my family, my mother, grandmother, and both my aunts suffer from it (among other health problems- both my aunts have porphyria (I'm hoping I have the right spelling here as I don't want to cause confusion!)- a rare blood condition, and one of my aunts has an inflamed thyroid).

During my teens I started to develop anxiety problems, which partly arised from pupil harrassment and general school stresses. I developed obsessive behaviours such as overwashing-because I found they gave me STrelief. Looking back, I think I may have been suffering from a mild form of OCD (though I use the term loosely because I haven't been diagnosed). I experianced a constant cloud of anxiety and this made me generally rundown, while I didn't yet have symptoms of fibro, I felt 'sick' a lot of the time. I was constantly flustared at school so I often didn't have time to eat, stopped wearing a coat-even in the cold (after being mocked), and went the whole day without using the toilet-no matter how desparate, as I was worried about hygeine- think this also helped me to rundown.

Recently, before I got the symptoms I'd stopped taking the (contraceptive) Pill (originally prescibed for period pain) after reading about its negative affects. Good job too - although it didn't realise at the time, it worsened my obsessive behaviour and must have been a cause for the panic attacks I'd recently suffered. Immediately after I stopped taking it a wave of depression hit me hard. (It went unnoticed by others at the time but I know it must have been depression because it felt worse than I had ever been a long time- it was nothing like the anxiety I'd previously experianced and mild boats of depression that generally accompanied it.) Looking back, I think it was the sudden withdrawal from the Pill, and when it passed, I felt a lot better of course- For a short while. (That pain in my arm I had was hardly noticeable.) I think being on the Pill was a big contributor, both psychologically and physiologically. Anyway, although I had improved, I was still under stress. I was coming to the end of Year 11, had exams, and had to make decisions about what I was going to do next, and...I feel mean for saying this but...I recieved little support from my parents, who wanted to me to stay and do sixthform where I was - I didn't, I hated it there. I could say lots here, but all I will say is that the arguements added to the stress. (Gosh this is taking a while- but I will TRY to keep this short!)

I think depression and anxiety are both linked to fibro. Been depressed myself recently (slowly improving) and found the pains were worse. (A part of me believes a time came when I was no longer able to cope emotionally. (The 'drip'drip' bullying from school-which was practically invisible- really hurt. It took me a long time to get over.) Because of this, my body gave me pains to distract me, replacing the psychological distress, with physical pain-something I'm much better at dealing with.) Awhile back I read somewhere that the Pain Perception Part of the Brain is in close proximity with Emotion, so its likely that the two would overlap- pain can also be a symptom of depression. But I think the link is much more complex than that. Obviously, other symptoms need to be accounted for. And then there is the activity of chemicals in the Brain, abnormal in both cases of fibro and depression. I think anxiety is a big contributer, as well as depression. When we get stressed, changes happen in the nervous system, which cause unpleasent symptoms such as fatigue and sickness. If this happens frequently enough, then its bound to have a negative affect long term.

Before I finish, I just need to ask- HAS anyone been affected by ALCOHOL? (When I first started drinking I got 'little twinges' in chest and arms. Hardly noticeable at the time, but I recently realised that these twinges are not much different from some of the pains I get today, associated with the fibro. Nowadays when I drink the pains are the same but a lot worse. I think I may have an allergy to alchohol, my aunt recently told me she was allergic and gets similar pains after drinking.) Interestingly, the time I started drinking on a regular basis (not heavily- I was 15 and sat at my parents house), was the period the fibro symptoms started to creep in- now I'm wondering if this contributed as well. I think its something worth considering as alcohol is a depressent and can make you depressed.

Sorry this took so long- didn't realise there would be QUITE this much myself !!!(And can you believe this has bits edited out?!)

...But I hope this helps. I have lots to share so if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. Best wishes, wanderingwallflower xxx

[brandie]

I have had depression ever since my husband died suddenly 14 years ago, it was such a shock!

After a few years I met someone else who I loved very much, we were together for nearly 7 years but one day he didn't come home, after several hours of trying to talk to him on the phone he sent me a text to say it was over!

I discovered a few weeks later that he had left me for another woman, I was totally devastated it was like when my husband died all over again .. so suddenly without any warning, following this I had a slight breakdown.

I live alone since my ex left ... I still cant move on from what happened 3 years ago ...... I was diagnosed with FM last year but know I have had it for much longer than this, I was told it was probably caused by emotional trauma.

Best wishes