Some time ago, during searches for answers, up came links that describe connections between many chronic illnesses, including RA, and early childhood trauma by about age six.
Very interesting! Just type it into a search engine and there are links to studies on it; another piece in the jigsaw.
Have you ever taken the ACE test? I will post some links. You can also read "The Body Keeps Score". It is not an "easy" read, on any level.
npr.org/sections/health-sho...
ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_...
Thanks, cheshcat!
I have got those open in a browser.
I know exactly how I have been affected and just keep working on whatever needs it; it is a lifetime process. 
It is! I did therapy and EMDR (for PTSD) when I got sick. I think it helped.
I hope so, but you know when anything makes a difference.
For me, it was in faith in God, and much prayer from loving believers, as well as developing my own ways of reacting eg I asked God to show me when a thought pattern was in control, and to slowly dismantle that kind of hold on my mind and emotions.
Some years have been very difficult as it takes hard work and courage to grow in that way, refusing to be beaten.
Eg applying for benefits and being treated like a fraud and as if unimportant is a trigger for me to feelings from childhood trauma that had the same effect.
The battle is worth it. Never give up!
I just finished watching that TED talk; excellent! 🙂🙂
How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris' TEDMED Talk:
"The Body Keeps Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk: amazon.co.uk/Body-Keeps-Sco...
This is interesting I can’t remember this happening to me so I must have been around 3 or 4 at the time where I assume bumped into one of my siblings who was carrying some boiling water in a pot and the water accidentally poured onto my face causing a burn.
I will look at the articles
I was diagnosed with extreme PTSD in 2011 and had 3 year's of psychotherapy. During this time I was introduced to a support network of people who dissociated through childhood trauma, they believe firmly that there are links to autoimmune diseases, in fact they run workshops on this subject.
From a young age if I was feeling threatened or frightened my legs would give way, this continued for a few year's until I was around 15, after that it rarely happened, I believe it was because I was older and didn't need something physical to help me "get away ".
As I got older but hadn't dealt with issues that still filled my head I started feeling ill a lot and after the birth of my daughter I had a minor breakdown during which time my legs once again kept suddenly giving way, a few months later I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
The body and the brain are amazing how they work, I really believe that if my brain hadn't helped when I was young to dissociate me from the trauma then I would have had a breakdown when I was a very young girl. Linda.x
Hi Linda
I understand that! The articles posted in this thread were good. TED is a talk by a doctor who made the connection. She is eloquent and influential on the subject.
Hope your life is still enjoyable, especially if you are a young mum.
Angela.
Good morning Angela,
I am now 58 and my daughter is 17 so not such a young mum.I have since been diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis caused by rheumatoid nodules in my lungs and extensive scar tissue throughout my lungs, in fact like a lot of people with R.A.I think my body is possibly 70% belong to R.A.many conditions but everyone leads back to R.A..
I have mentioned that because yes thank you Angela, my life is wonderful and I do enjoy it whatever I do.
I have 3 children, 2 amazing son's ( 35 and 31) my eldest is married and lives across the road from us and last November gave me my first grandchild Genevieve. My youngest son as just bought a house around the corner from us with his girlfriend and they get married next summer. I live with my husband and our beautiful daughter who is studying for her A levels and due to go to uni next year to study international history and politics. All I wish for is to see Eloise through uni and settled.
As people with chronic health conditions we may not be around into our doddering old age but I am blessed with having quality of life. I still have the odd blip who doesn't but, on the whole I'm extremely happy with my life.
The best thing I ever did was seek help in my early 50s, it just angers me that there isn't enough help out there. Having psychotherapy for nearly 3 year's was hard going to begin with but I stuck at it and I started to feel like a butterfly when it struggles to emerge from its larva. I will look up the links from Kal and Chescat.
Take care and have a lovely weekend, Linda x
Hi Linda
You have had a rough ride but it seems with great life events mixed in too.
The last bus posted by others look very good. Not had time to look but I have read Dave Pelzer’s personal story. Just up! Slept longer and better than done for quite a while and need a shower. Used to be such an early bird but that is one way RA affects me.
My third son, along with his wife and my first granddaughter were visiting from Sat-Fri this week. Great, such a delight! But also hard to cope.
Hope your weekend goes well!
Angela
Hi Angela,Kal,Chescat and apbrooke,
I mentioned a charity who you can visit on line and there's a lot of interesting research and information, thats also the one who does day workshops, you do have to pay for those but well worth it and they hold them all over the UK. There is one about the link between illnesses and diseases and childhood trauma, I was amazed when I attended how many people had R.A.!! You can also take someone with you if you want to.
Anyway its called PODS Positive Outcome for Dissociative Survivors. I know now (since therapy ) that I have always dissociated from the age of 5 , I had never heard of it before but most children do this when anything traumatic happens to them as its the brains coping mechanism, it shuts off. In later years when you are more capable of dealing with the trauma thats when you can get flash backs and I find it amazing because the brain seems to realise that you can't deal with all of it at once so its usually a gradual process helped by your therapist.
Hope I'm not " teaching my granny how to suck eggs" as they say. Wishing you all well. Linda x
PODS* (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors): pods-online.org.uk/
(Many many thanks, Lesley_ann. 🙏 😌 )
They've 11 zero-cost 🆓 downloads: shop.pods-online.org.uk/pro...
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[* Not to be confused with: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pod... ( theredlist.com/media/databa... ) from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". 😳 😬 🙃 ]
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Spot on, Lesley_ann! 👍
Beautifully said. 🌸 🌼
Brain's (blessedly 😇 ) brilliant 'coping/ survival mechanism' to 'shut down' 😑 till years/ decades later till 'capable' of dealing with the trauma 😰 — so we don't 'short circuit' 💥😵 with 'overload'. 😯 😳
Tis amazing 🤗 indeed the mind/ body's 'built-in intelligence' 🤓 (wisdom 😌 ) to 'cope'. 🙏
Unfortunately, the spooky 👻 👻 cumulative, 'residual effects' 🤕 🤐 🤤 😧 (manifestation of autoimmune disease?) — may well have been 'contributed to' by a long-brewing undercurrent of simmering (traumatic) disturbing distress . . . dis-ease. (May be our body's 'backlash'? 🤔 😳 )
So important to take gentle 😌, loving 💓 care of ourselves & surround ourselves with loving, caring supportive family, friends, carers 👩❤️👩💑👨❤️👨 (& even Internet 'strangers') who genuinely understand. 😌 🙏
Please continue taking good care, all. 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
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I agree with that Kal,
Thanks for putting the" proper " website on for POSs I am not sure how to do that..... still learning. As for internet "friends " I have found such a lot of helpful caring people on these sites and if you ask for some advice or help, if no-one knows that read the posts there is usually someone who can direct you for help.
Take care Linda x
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Yes indeed, Lesley_ann/ Linda! 👍
Internet 'strangers' 👥👥 (whom we may never meet face to face
🙋🙋♂️ ) yet do indeed become internet 'friends' 🤝 — voice to voice
🗣 💬 🗣 💬 . . . . 🙏 😌
[Thank gawd for the Internet 🕸 !! . . . . 💻 📱 📹 ] 😁
Keep well, dear lady. 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
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You sound so positive and that's obviously what's gotten you to this point.
Immense respect, have a lovely day x
Interesting post. I have heard this too. I had prolonged stress at home age 11 to 19 and was very stressed just before I hurt my ankle and developed this disease. Although I knew something was wrong before the ankle. I think cortisol must play a part.
Hi apbrooke
The link to TED in this thread is excellent. Prolonged stress trauma at the age you indicate does cause physiological changes.
Hope you find a way to better health in all ways.
I have just done the test and my score is 3, but it doesn't tell you what this means. Does anyone else know?
Yes, that’s annoying. I am not putting much on it since it is a mere representation of all we may have felt or experienced.
Though it does state that if you had good relationships with a loving person/s, this could offset some of the effects of trauma.
However, I prefer going by my experience and knowledge of how events affected me personally.
Thank you for answering Charisma. It was the first time I have posted on here. I agree with what you say.
Here’s the link for further info. I passed it on to someone else.
The page contains links to the quiz and other items that might be of interest.
Angela
buncombeaces.org/your-ace-s...
Oops, forgot to include that!!
The effects of slight dizziness and nausea after Metaject yesterday, sorry. 😀
• Got Your ACE Score? acestoohigh.com/got-your-ac...
• CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE): cdc.gov/violenceprevention/...
Thank you Kai for the links
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Very welcome, cheshcat. 🙏 😌
Gobs more here (if interested): Healing Power of Resilience, Optimism, & Hope: Moving Forward from Trauma, PTSD, Physical & Psychological Abuse & Illness — Dave Pelzer: healthunlocked.com/nras/pos... 🙏 🍀 🌺 🌞
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I thought the same thing when I first read about, ok, now what ?!? (mine is 8). But the body keeps score is a great book. So is emotional longevity. It talks about how to mitigate the adverse childhood trauma. You can work through it. I think the first thing to do is recognize the significance. That's why I sought therapy. I ignored the trauma for most of my life, I realized I needed to face it head on. EMDR is wonderful for trauma and PTSD.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t consider repeated invasive medical procedures as a childhood trauma factor as I can say categorically that in my 1st eight years of my life I underwent medical procedure that were traumatic and also has a stay in a London hospital for more than two weeks in the days where a parent didn’t stay in a parent room (we travelled up from Devon to the French Hospital by train as no ambulance service was offered and I can still see images of that journey). Part of my therapeutic work since being diagnosed with depression (pre RA) has been unpacking and understanding the anger and guilt etc I feel around these procedures/events. I’m one of six siblings and the only one with an autoimmune disease!
Ali
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