Sore Thumb Syndrome

This thread is widely cross-posted (Adrenal Fatigue Forum, Candida Support Forum , Lyme Forum, PTSD Forum, Hypothyroid Forum). There's a lot of overlap between the illnesses represented by each of these forums, at least from a symptoms perspective, and possibly even from an etiology perspective. I spend my time in the "Adrenal Fatigue" forum, so you know where I'm coming from. I do think most of these illnesses are in fact related in nature.

It's like saying your thumb hurts. You happened to mash your thumb in the car door, and you spend a lot of time in the Car Door forum talking about how people need to be careful about car doors. People there call it Car Door Disease. Someone reports having a sore thumb? Beware the car doors! But, wait, this new guy says his thumb hurts and he thinks it's because he hit it with a hammer. He says you're wrong about car doors, but you know in your heart car doors are a real problem.

We should be careful not to think that people need to be more careful around car doors, or more precise with hammers, when it may not be that particular thing that caused the problem. But we can still look out for one another and give support, because our illnesses are related, and we're all humans trying to be well. But your own remedy is not necessarily the right remedy for everyone else with similar symptoms.

Hormonal imbalance caused by chronic or excessive stress can lead to digestive malfunction (and lowered immune function). Maybe you then pick up an opportunistic Candida infection, but resolving just the Candida doesn't resolve the poor digestion. Or maybe one's diet seems to be causing problems, but fixing the diet may not be enough. Indeed, not addressing the hormonal deficiencies can make fighting infections or dietary adjustment an uphill battle or a complete waste of time.

It depends on the specific situation. Yes, these illnesses are related, but, no, there isn't one exact cause and one exact course of treatment that applies to all of them.

That said, it doesn't mean that we can't help one another to ease the symptoms we share though the exact causes might be different. In fact, we might think we've got toxicity-induced "Adrenal Fatigue" when we actually have trauma-induced "Adrenal Fatigue", and while trying to ease the symptoms of our illness by giving therapy to our mind we find the cause was not what we thought.

Which is another reminder that we should leave our minds open and pay good attention to what works and what doesn't, whether we expect it to.