Childhood Trauma may increase risk of MS or flares of it

[SuzE-Q]

" a study of nearly 78,000 Norwegian women has found that childhood experiences, specifically exposure to childhood emotional, sexual, and physical abuse, may contribute to the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide.

"Abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction are extreme types of stress," Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... in a new paper, led by first author Karine Eid of Haukeland University Hospital in Norway.

While chronic stress is linked to poor mental and physical health, and Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... can Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... in people living with MS, a big unknown is whether traumatic experiences in childhood might years later manifest as a heightened risk of developing MS, which like many autoimmune diseases, is often misunderstood and difficult to diagnose."

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[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

SuzE-Q ~

Thank you for sharing this interesting and informative article.

Clearly, childhood trauma increases the risk for a wide range of conditions. I noted this statement:

Also clouding the picture is the fact that women with a history of trauma more often had been smokers or overweight – known risk factors of MS and other autoimmune diseases, which the analysis did try to account for.

Of course, women try to find ways to soothe or comfort the pain of that trauma, so they eat, smoke, drink, take drugs/medications. Men do the same thing.

Preventing childhood abuse is a lofty goal, and I scanned the article linked in this one about that subject. How often do authorities know that a child is being abused, if the child has no one to whom to report it? Or is afraid to report it? This is particularly true, because the abuser is typically a family member, friend of the family, coach, pastor, teacher, medical professional, etc.

It wouldn't be surprising if the amount of childhood abuse, as well as other kinds of trauma, has increased during the pandemic. What can be done about that?

I think that our diseases and conditions can't be honed down to one single cause. I think there are various contributing factors, which result in a disease/condition, including environmental, societal, industrial, political, technological. In a perfect world, we would all be healthy. But our world is quite imperfect.

Some of us will get MS, some of us will get RA, some of us will get ALS, some of us will get Crohn's, some of us will have diabetes, some of us will have Lupus, some of us will have cancer, some of us will have addictions, etc. And far too many of us will have experienced trauma in our childhood.

From the article:

Rates of childhood abuse were more than likely underreported in the study, with some participants skipping the parts of the questionnaire that asked about childhood abuses, possibly because recounting those experiences was too traumatizing.

That says it all. It's underreported, because women repress those memories to be able to function daily. Repressing those memories increased their risk of getting MS. Appropriate and accessible resources for children, who experience trauma, are ways of approaching this ancient problem. Yes, I believe that child abuse and trauma is an ancient problem.

Sending prayers, positive, healing energy to all ~

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

I am glad there seems to be greater emphasis on mental health and anxiety since the pandemic, or even greater recognition about sexual abuse with the #metoo movement. It is long overdo to mainstream discussions and help for these conditions. I didn't have any significant childhood traumas, although my childhood wasn't an easy time by any stretch. But, I can't say anything rose to "traumatic" or "abuse". I suppose it's how it is defined. I am not sure how to take this research. First time I looked up "trauma" to figure exactly how it was defined.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

SuzE-Q ~

To me, the definition of trauma is anything, which causes shock, stress, anxiety, pain, nightmares, fear, feelings of helplessness, etc. Beyond childhood sexual abuse, children are subjected to countless traumas. Parents arguing, physically fighting with each other, getting divorced, or being dysfunctional in some way, the death of a family member, bullying by peers, lack of safe housing, food insecurity, COVID, violence in the world, violence in our country, loss of a pet, any kind of disabling condition ... I think the list is possibly endless.

I still have PTSD from civil defense sirens and duck and cover drills in school. I believe that is why I had a meltdown, after 9/11 happened. The assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK were traumatic for me. The Vietnam War was traumatic for me. The riots were traumatic for me. It was all there on our TVs every day and night.

When my dear grandpa died suddenly, my mother and grandmother were devastated, unable to console me. As a child, I had never seen a deceased person, and I touched his hand. "He's cold," I said to my mother, "let's get him a blanket." That stayed with me through all of the losses I've experienced since then.

Actually, all of us have experienced these types of traumas, so it may be the way we process them as children and into adulthood, which determines the overall effects of the trauma as we age.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I don't have any credentials to support it, beyond living for a long time, and listening to others' stories of trauma.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

Yes, I think teasing out a cause/effect would take some work here. To me, a word like "trauma" is a lot like "stress" in that it is not an event so much as our perception of it and reaction to it that matters. ANY event can be deleterious or it can adjusted to, it's really our reaction that matters. Have studies found MSers to have poor coping skills? Are we more sensitive? Pessimistic? Fatalistic? Those might get closer to assessing whether there's some psychosocial component involved rather than looking at generalized external events. Just thinking out loud here. I agree it's how we process it.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Selma Blair's Memoir, "Mean Baby"

This seems to be an appropriate thread for this post. Selma Blair is promoting her memoir, "Mean Baby," and was interviewed by the Today Show and is on the cover of People magazine.

In the videos below, she discusses her alcohol addiction, which began when she was about 7 years old and lasted for 20 years. She also addresses the abuse and sexual assault she endured in her youth.

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Once she was diagnosed with MS, Selma realized that she had symptoms during adolescence, which were not identified.

She appears to be healthy and fairly agile riding her horse and laying on the ground posing for photographs.

Selma is one woman, who supports the hypothesis of the Norwegian study mentioned in your original post, SuzE-Q.

One in three women globally have experienced abuse and/or sexual assault, often beginning at an early age.

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Right now in our country, that statistic is extremely relevant.

Given that extraordinary ratio, it's probable that tests for women with any kind of autoimmune disorder or other disease will overwhelmingly indicate a history of abuse and/or assault. There will be women, who have repressed memories, or who do not want to acknowledge their trauma. In that case, the ratio might be 1 in 2 women.

Women with MS outnumber men with the condition by nearly 4 to 1. And this gender gap has only widened in the last 50 years. Experts don’t have a clear explanation for the cause of MS in anyone, much less in women specifically. But they have a few theories that might explain the sex differences in MS rates.

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The article does not mention abuse/assault as possible causes. But, common sense tells us that women are more likely to be victims of abuse/assault than men are. It seems plausible that this could be a factor in why MS, and other autoimmune disorders, affects women more than men.

Consider for a moment ... if MS and other autoimmune disorders were more prevalent among men, would there be greater progress in treating and curing those disorders?

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[Virginia]

Rose, thanks for posting this. From time to time I have wondered how she was doing. She went through a lot to have the stem cell therapy and apparently it has paid off for her. I am happy that she is able to do some things now that she had missed out on. Some stem cell transplants do not work for a lot of MS people, but she went the hard route with the chemo and it has worked and put her in remission. I just hope she has many good years ahead of her. I might read her book.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All))))))~

Virginia ~

Selma does seem to be able to do many things now, which she couldn't do before the stem cell therapy. She was so brave to endure that treatment and clearly determined to succeed. Revealing all of the private details of her therapy and her life also takes tremendous courage.

Her journey is similar to Drew Barrymore's journey, although Drew doesn't have MS. Both were child stars, who were thrown into an adult world, drank as children, were subject to abuse. I am surprised that Drew has not invited Selma to her show yet.

I also hope that Selma will continue to thrive, ride her horse, and enjoy her life.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

I admire her bravery putting it all "out there", we've come a long way from actors/actresses hiding their medical issues. Of course, ALS is more prevalent in men, yet medical treatment/understanding are woefully inadequate. Thanks for sharing that info about her book and interview. Of course, nowhere near 1 out of 3 women develop MS, so not sure how they tease out early trauma as more than correlation when so many with trauma do not go onto develop MS.