Those of you with, Fibro. IBS, as well as Migraine, which came first?

Which came first please?
Do you feel there is a connection, or just co incidence?
What do your medics make of this?

I never had a migraine before peri menopause
But just before I was diagnosed I got fibro symptoms.
I already had IBS.

I have been chatting with people on facebook and a couple of fibro forums, and loads of them never had migraines before the fibro or IBS either.

All I am trying to find here....to be clear, just for me, is as I get no treatment for the fibro at all.
Might I see some improvement if I pursued that more (not sure how in UK)
Tackling the migraines is not cracking it at all.
I am desperate for some help so that I dont have quite so much to cope with.
Migraine alone is quite enough. You will concur I imagine.

Thank you for taking the trouble to share your experience.

Pen

Further to, I have collated some interesting stuff regarding the gut brain connection etc.
I will wait to see if anyone responds perhaps after the week end.
Thanks

pen, i believe i had fibro since childhood. i am now 70. the migraines did not start until i was 29, after a (probable?) lyme tick bite. so i don't know if they are connected or not, but let's face it, EVERYTHING in the body is connected.

that's why i prefer a "holistic/wholistic" practitioner, who is not just focused on one disease or one body part, but the entire person! these saints are few and far between, though. dianne

Thats what I am trying with my Osteopath clinic Dianne.
They have a whole panel of people who work together.
I was assessed by 4 of them and I start next Friday.

There is some very convincing "evidence" on line that the conditions are connected.
Also that the gut might be the catalyst.

Apparently IMHO it is worth following through.

I just noticed where you are.
I have a good friend in Spokane.

I started getting migraines at age 12 and IBS started about the same time. It didn't get really bad until I was in my early 30's.... then it was horrible. Up until then is was a very occasional issue. It's taken until just the last year or so to get any kind of a handle on the IBS and that was by cutting out as much gluten as I can and cutting my dairy waaay back, except for yogurt.

Since the gut runs on serotonin and one of the links with migraines is a lack or shortage of serotonin, it is no surprise that there is a link between the two. I always have a bad IBS attack the day following a 6 or higher migraine and sometimes at the same time.

I was dx'd with Fibro about two years ago... the symptoms were around for about 3-5 years before that, most likely longer as I have gone through really tough times of pain and exhaustion over the last 20 years.

So I would say migraines and IBS first, years later Fibro. The meds I take for Fibro and TN also help migraines so I am tackling all three at the same time. The only thing that help IBS is altering my diet. Bentyl is the med that I do take when I am having a lot of IBS issues. But taking gluten and dairy out has helped more than anything else.

Alli

Thanks Alli,
My eldest daughter has IBS too, and she keeps thinking dairy is a problem.
She is really bad with her periods. Also gets headaches then. No migraines, Yet!!!
We were talking about gluten just the other day.
It seems a really hard thing to cut out.
Do you just ease back on it, but Gluten free??

P

I pretty much just started with the obvious, bread, pasta, pizza.... and then cut out more as I saw improvement. You can do that and see if it helps. I had gotten to the point that when I ate, I HAD to be near a bathroom as I wasn't sure what to expect. Corn Torillas, Gluten Free bread, rye crackers are good substitues. Whole Food has a the best sandwich bread mix that I've found. It's super easy to make so no worries about your baking ability. They also carry good rice pasta and quinoa pasta that are very similar in feel to wheat pasta.

I also cut out rich dairy.. like cream cheese, etc. No more cheesecake or custard desserts.

She should see a difference is about a week if it is going to make a difference, at least I did. I cheat every once in a while and sometimes I get away with it and sometimes I don't. But a Cinnabon is just a bit hard to resist.

Like Diane, I think I had fibro in childhood. I remember my mother rubbing my legs and hands, especially when the weather changed. No one had a name for it then. We called it "rain pains"...

And my mother was the same, she remembered HER mother rubbing her feet and legs at night so she could sleep.

Now it is advanced to the point that the weather doesn't have much to do with it; I hurt constantly.

Holly

I remember my mum being diagnosed with spastic colon. Two of her sisters and several of my cousins have it (IBS) too.
My dad had fibrositis which is now a part of fibromyalgia syndrome.
I always used to have aching muscles as a kid, but it wasnt until I was in my 30s, we used to play badminton on firday night.
Next day I could hardly get out of bed I ached so much. My husband and our partners were fine.
It seemed to increase from then...i had had 3 kids with no real problems muscle wise.

Headaches were part of my hormonal life from my late teens.
Nothing changed until my IBS flared up and then I started to get kneck problems.
When I finally got to see someone about it i was told I had migraines too.
There is a lot of research and speculation regarding the connection of these conditions rather than just accepting them as comorbid.

I do think mine are connected, I cant prove it of course, but there is always the hope that a "cure" for one might encompass the others too.

Hi Pen,
I don't have fybro, but in the past I suffered a lot from IBS.
IBS came first. I started to suffer from it when I was a teen ager. Migraines arrived only when I was 21.

I had both IBS and migraine till I turned 30. Then, IBS disappeared and migraines worsened.
I also read about the connection between brain and guts and I find it fascinating how some scientists find an anatomic resemblance between the two.

For my IBS a saw a gastro-enterologist who understood my problem very well as he was a migraine sufferer too
He explained to me that like migraine, also IBS has no known cause but only known triggers. For someone triggers are often associated to foods. In my case it was mainly an emotional issue.
2 years with a shrink reduced and then made IBS disappear.
I also spoke with a nutrition expert. She gave me some guidlines and a short list of possible dangerous foods for IBS. The diet helped a little bit, but I'm sure that the psycologist did 99% of the job....I wish that she could do the same for my migraines. Actually in the beginning of the analysis also migraines had improved but never disappeared

Bye

I wanted to pass on as much as possible regarding these co morbids, so if anyone has anything new to add or if you are new to the forum, please comment.

Thanks

Hi Pen,

I have had fibro for 15 years, IBS off and on, and migraines for 10. My neuro says that they are all related.

Hope you find some relief. I keep looking for it!

Ann

I started having migraines at about 15, and from the ages of 20-24 or so had bad IBS. The IBS is almost totally gone now though, do to drastic diet changes.

About 2 billion neurons line the gut, so I am certain the gut influences migraine disease.

Thank you Jayme, I am certain too. If only those that need to would agree enough to look more closely.

I got a 24/7 headache in January 2006 (I don't actually have migraine, its New Daily Persistent Headache) that had some nausea with it (between that and family history of migraine, I was misdiagnosed for the first 3 years), but I think the fibro and IBS symptoms started within a year after that, and its all been downhill since. I do think they are all connected, and that there is some auto immune link as that runs in my family and I have symptoms that go that way too. My neuro thinks that NDPH has an auto immune link for many, but its all anecdotal so far.

Alli, On a truly GF diet, rye crackers are a no-no. I have Celiac disease and have to be scrupulous about being GF. Anyone who has IBS, migraines and Fibro should be checked for Celiac disease and Gluten Intolerance. It is one of those diseases that can cause a huge array of symptoms.
Hugs,
Cindy