I was looking at my hands and arms recently and realized the myriad red spots I've grown used to seeing (a side effect of training a puppy) have been there since February and March. They're not as angry looking as they once were, but it still looks like I've got some kind of rash. For comparison, I looked at my husband's puppy-teeth marks -- or rather, I tried to. His have healed completely.
I had to wonder if this was yet another symptom of fibromyalgia. I can't find much of anything research wise (which didn't surprise me), but I did find questions about it in a lot of forums, with enough "me too" responses to make coincidence unlikely. I didn't see much about slow healing in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, but it wouldn't be a shock to find out it was common in that sand box as well.
So why would we heal slowly? When you think about some of our underlying physiology, it makes sense. Researchers know that we have several abnormalities related to the skin: we're prone to tissue over-growth, such as skin tabs, adhesions and fatty tumors called lipomas; many of us bruise and scar easily. Clearly, something is misfiring in our cells. Emerging research increasingly suggests that we have mitochondrial dysfunction.
Mitochondria are tiny parts of our cells that produce energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Our mitochondria appear to be rather bad at their job, meaning we don't have enough energy for basic cellular functions. Mitochondrial dysfunction could play a role in many of our symptoms -- including healing -- and some researchers even believe it's at the core of our illnesses. Then again, many doctors disagree, and this remains an area of controversy. (Read more: Mitochondrial Dysfunction.)
Because I'd really like to get rid of the puppy scratches on my hands before my dog's on geriatric food, I did some research on healing and found that the essential amino acid lysine can help. I started taking it a week ago, and my red spots have cleared up more in that week than in the preceding 2 months. I also learned something else interesting about lysine -- it can help stop hair loss, which is another one of our symptoms! This is from About.com Thyroid Guide Mary Shomon:
"In one study, Dr. Hugh Rushton, a professor at Portsmouth University, also found that 90 percent of women with thinning hair were deficient in iron and the amino acid lysine. Lysine is the most difficult amino acid to get enough of via diet. Lysine helps transport iron, which is the most important element in the body and essential for many metabolic processes. When lysine and iron levels are low, the body probably switches some hair follicles off to increase levels elsewhere."
Is that what's happening in us? We can't say for sure, but it does give us something to try. Poultry and fish have the most lysine, and you can also get L-lysine supplements. Here's a great overview from the University of Maryland Medical Center: Lysine.
Do you heal slowly? Has it caused any major problems for you? Have you found anything that helps? Leave your comments below!
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Yes! Thanks for sharing. I have brown spots and scars that never really healed from CFS. And, like you said, it takes WAY longer than the normal person. In fact I just went to the dentist yesterday, and oddly enough it took a long time for the lidocaine to kick in (~20 mins) and when it did it didn’t wear off for more than 4 hours. I hadn’t eaten dinner, and now I’m stuck with several weeks of raw gum/chewed inner lip healing from my impatience and eating dinner anyway with half numb lip and cheek!
I heal up okay after cuts and even after surgery that I’ve had over the years. I bruise very easily, though. There’s one unusual thing about my skin. I have lots of very small, round red spots on my body. They’re called “cherry hemangiomas”. They’re benign but I’ve always wondered about the connection with my CFS/fibromyalgia.
I heal VERY slowly too. It’s caused problems for me a couple of times. The worst thing is that my arms are covered with scars from my animals–so much so that an ER doc once asked me if I was a self-injurer. Mederma has helped some of the old scars, but I think I will try Lysine to see if I can’t heal some of this stuff up!
I too heal very slowly, I also get infections easily , every operation, or procedure I have had done, I have had problems with infection and healing, it took six months to recover from an arthroscopy that should have only took six weeks to recover from.
I have always had problems with healing slowly, but I’m also a type 1 diabetic. I take lysine on an ongoing basis and have found it helps a lot. This was something suggested to me by my grandmother who had lupus and it helped her a lot. If you have dry skin, fish oil pills help and you can get them from GNC with lemon flavor, so your not tasting fish all day.
since i think most healing takes place while asleep, and fibros have a terrible time getting to and staying in stage 4, restorative and healing sleep, i’m not surprised i didn’t heal easily. once i began taking xyrem at night and getting a good and deep sleep then i began to recover from the day’s activities.
Gotta throw a ‘me too!’ in here. I had a bad reaction to laundry detergent over a year ago. Anywhere that had constant exposure (e.g. clothing) was affected, but my legs really took the brunt of it combined with RLS because they were constantly rubbing against the bedsheets. Everywhere blistered, and it took about a year before the original blisters finally healed and now the scars left behind are so fragile that it takes next to nothing to open them up again. It’s awful and I think L-lysine is going on my shopping list.
Thank you so much for sharing. I had no idea that the slow healing, scarring, bruising and skin tags could be from my Fibromyalgia. I have been going crazy trying to reason it all out.
Another me too. I have found something that seems has helped. I had a bad abrassion burn from a car accident and tried 2nd Skin. It’s called moisture wound care. Keeps the skim moist while it heals, pulls infection away from it and I heel at least 2x faster when I use it. It heals a large area in very short time. I started using it on more minor cuts and scrapes that hadn’t healed well for months, and it did the exact some thing. They have all healed.
It’s not cheap, but I cut the square in to smaller pieces that just cover it wound and then cover it with a band aid or first aid tape.
I had a bad car accident 6 weeks ago and have a mild traumatic brain injury and am having a terrible time and not healing well from all of the soft tissue damage or the brain injury. Has anyone else had experience of having Fibro and having to heal from something like an accident. I can’t work, I can barely leave the house. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Even if I get a paper cut, it gets infected and takes forever to heal. I always figured it was the fms…just another of the “joys” ugh! of this stupid ’syndrome’ or whatever you want to call it. It just sucks.
I have CFS and it takes forever for my cuts & bruises to heal. Recently to heal my cuts (and the red marks they leave behind) I’ve been using 100% Pure Vitamin E Oil from Jamieson (look in the vitamin isle). It works much better than polysporin with vitamin E and my cuts have been healing remarkably fast. You just rub it into your skin a few times per day. Hope this helps!
Seems a pretty strong consensus here… Ditto for me…
Thank you for this article. I have been very concerned about what is going on with my skin. Skin tags & AK have come on out of the blue, like an explosion. I was just thinking it was from too many years at the beach as a child…but non of my siblings or mother have this. The slow healing of cuts and bruises I find improve when I get aggressive with my juicing and green intake. That really makes a difference overall with my energy and endurance as well.
I did not have an auto accident but 2 hip replacements in one year are probably a similar injury. Took about 6 to 7 months to heal. My physical therapist who is about 30 years old has fibro and had an auto accident had a similar heal time. I can only say be patient and very kind to your body. My wounds healed in the normal time as did hers but the exhaustion recovery was loooong.
Another “me too” here! I’ve always bruised easily and use Arnica cream/gel/lotion/oil religiously. It’s all natural and also helps relieve pain/soreness/stiffness in joints and muscles. Just have to apply it asap after injuring yourself. For cuts and rashes I use an herbal salve made of Slippery Elm, Chamomile, Calendula, Tea Tree Oil and much more. This also needs to be applied asap. It and the Arnica will work even if you don’t apply it immediately, but not as quickly. Since being diagnosed with FM, I’ve noticed I get cuts and scrapes much more easily, probably because I’ve become so much more clumsy!
I had no clue that hair loss is a FM symptom! I have noticed more hair coming out in the brush and shower, but I thought the meds were the culprit. My hairstylist recommended I take Biotin and any/all Omega Fatty Acids.
Wishing you all many pain-free days and nights!
I had a sore on my breast for 3 months. Doctor sent me to a dermatologist. In the meantime waiting for the appt. I went to pool therapy for arthritis in my knees and lower back. The sore healed up after 2 appts. with therapy. The chlorine in the pool healed it. Hmm?
I’VE Been using vitamin e oil on my finger nails and cuticles. they have been so fragile and dry that they were cracking vertically. now my nails are pretty and clean again. vitamin e oil, pure, did the trick. i still use it at night.
I went to the doctor because I was getting sores in my mouth that never seemed to heal. He suggested Lysine and so I’ve just started to take it on a regular basis. I sure hope it helps because these sore are misrable! I hope that it helps heal the sores on my arms as well.
Good evening fellow fibromites! Hope you are all having a peaceful pain limited night! Just an fyi as another positive for L-lysine, it is used for the prophylactic benefit of keeping Herpes Simplex Virus at bay, “cold sores” for humans and actually herpes virus in animals eyes. I’ve been through it with my kitten, they get the virus from their mom’s as born, it does help keep them healthy. Also it’s amazing the difference between scars that healed nicely before Fibro./CFS hit fully 6 years ago and ones that have occured since. I think I will add this to my supplements if I can find the time to swallow another pill or powder, haha…more than happy to if they are helping right! Staying positive is the key, I was in the “down” stage plenty of times but doesn’t make a difference in the disease process so positivity it is!!Even with such severe adrenal suppression I had a cortisol of 0.4, I can only go up from here ha! Good luck everyone, comfort to all!
I am a 61 yr. old female with Fibro./CFS & last Jan. broke my leg in 3 places. After 2 hospital stays from hell & 2 operations I have discovered I don’t heal as fast as the “norm.” Surgeon said I should be farther along in my walking abilities. Ha! Thank goodness,however,the bones are healing normally. What’s “normal”. ??????
I too have the little red spots all over my skin (one where the V in my t-shirts is so it looks like a blemish daily and it’s getting old) and even have webby, red splotches on my feet that get worse in the sun and when I walk a lot. But besides that, I have a puppy too and oh my Lord, it’s so embarrassing to leave the house here in Florida without a long sleeved shirt on. I went to Disney World after a bout of blood drawings (since they messed up on one arm they went to the other and left me with two huge bruises) and then scratches and bite marks from my puppy. Boy, did I feel like someone that just literally came off the street and I was at Disney!!! I have a mark on my forearm, an area that was bruised by his baby tooth, that still hasn’t one away. I have a blister on my foot that hasn’t fully healed. I don’t have diabetes but have been told my B12 and iron levels were low and that may have something to do with it. It is frustrating!
I was at my daughters last weekend and she said my legs look like that of a 7 yr old boy with all the scraps from piddling in my garden, these have been there since spring, I have noticed how slowly I heal, I have FM/CFS and I tested positive for Epstien Bar Virus my count was over 2500. I think they are on to something.
OMG, I am reading all the posts. Have not been diagnosed with Fibro, although I believe I have all the symptoms, just can’t get a dr. to buy into it, didn’t know that cherry hemangiomas were part of the deal, have those. Was diagnosed with Vit D deficiency, been taking that and nails that never grew are actually pretty healthy as well as hair. Hasn’t done much for the fibro pain though. Any thoughts to help a newcomer?
Wow I didn’t know all of this. Thanks for the information.
Also to help prevent hair loss try sleeping on silk pillowcases. http://www.essenceofsilk.com has the best prices & selection. Used for centuries to help keep hair styles fresh & help hair grow longer & stronger all while you sleep.
I have started healing much more quickly, and have had a radical reduction in virtually all of my FM/CFS sx’s from using rather high doses of transdermal magnesium (absorbed through the skin). I’ve had FM/CFS since I was a teenager, and this truly has made the biggest difference from anything I have ever tried. I went from being couch-bound to doing hour long dance classes 4-5x’s/wk after a few weeks of using the magnesium. I’ve taken oral mag. for many yrs, however only recently found out that it is not well absorbed through the digestive system. I haven’t worked in 10 yrs., and I am getting ready to reactivate my license in social work, and start working again! In addition to the magnesium, taking porcine thyroid has increased my energy/reduced my pain even that much more. There is excellent info. on thyroid support at:
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
Best of luck to you all!
ps I use the magnesium oil from ancient minerals, up to 1,500mgs/day. I have no affiliation with this company, just letting you know what has worked for me, and what I use.
I heal slowly, bruise easily, and develop keloids constantly. I even had a bruise from a spider bite on the back of my calf that took over a year to heal. It just hit me as so odd that it would take that long.
I have Fibro with all the fixins’ too plus a genetic cancer but I honestly didn’t have problems with healing until the fibro started.
I had no idea that scarring may have something to do with my Fibro, but I definitely have noticed that things just don’t heal so well on me, that I do scar easily. I still have a small mark on the outside of my thumb from accidentally grating myself when my hand slipped grating cheese. I thought it was crazy that it would mark me like that and still see it several weeks later, but now it makes more sense. I bruise easily too and have for a long time. I wonder if Fibro is a reason why the Granuloma Annulare on my elbows never seems to dissipate. I’ve had it for years and it’s just ugly and sites I have read say it should normally clear up in a few years, but mine hasn’t. As a kid I had it on top of my feet, and that did clear, but I’ve had it around the elbow area for a long time now and really would like it gone! I wonder if Fibro delays that healing too?
Me too! I recently went to get a tooth pulled and I swelled up and bruised really bad. People at work kept saying they had NEVER seen anyone react like that from getting a tooth pulled.
Another thing I wonder about….when I have dental work done, the dentists will ask if I take aspirin. I seem to bleed quite a lot during procedures. I never had this problem before Firbo. Anyone else have the bleeding?
Glad to know I am not alone!
I thought it was my age (49) that was the reason that my bruises were healing so slowly… or not at all. I still have spots where I got hurt several years ago. It looks like a pattern here, so I’ll try to find that ‘Lysine’ here in Denmark.
I had absolutely NO idea hair loss was due to FMS. My hair has been falling out in scary amounts for two years. NONE of my doctors, including my Rheumatologist, have said anything about it being linked to my FMS. I am so frustrated that it took me twenty years to be accurately diagnosed, eleven doctors, and I am STILL doing ALL the research to figure out what is wrong with me. I was just about to schedule an appointment with a Endocrinologist. WHY do we…..FMS…..patients have to go through this??? It is so stressful to our well being!!!!!
I thought I was the only one and just unlucky that every operation, dental treatment, illness and accidents seemed to go wrong or take longer than anyone else to get over, so I am so pleased to know that I am not alone. Even a scratch can go nasty and scar!
So glad to find that others are the same way , anytime I have surgery of any kind I end up sicker than can be and healing can take months .I always need more meds to numb me or put me under and then my body is a mess. The doctors don’t belive me so I just stoped telling them till they figure it out ” 3 bottles and you can still feel this” they don’t even like putting me under anymore . any time I go to the doctors it’s always a new test they have me doing . So fed up so Im so glad to see that others are going though the same things going on with my body .
Well, I am constantly learning something new about FMS. My hair came out by the hands full when I was pregnant with my second child. I thought I was going bald. It did stop after she was born, but never regained the thickness I once had.
My doctor agrees with me that I have had FMS since the tender age of 8-9. I am 56 now. I used to get the little red spots, but since I started taking fish oil, they seem to have gone away. In fact, it has helped my skin a lot. I have lots of little skin tags, too. I do bruise easily, but normally they heal quickly as well as cuts. I don’t have a problem healing from surgery, though. However, if I bruise a bone or joint, it will take years to stop hurting.
I dropped something on the top of my foot a couple weeks ago and it is still swelling up and purple on the edges. I can’t wear anything on that foot but my flats, boots are out.
I will try the L-Lysine and see if it helps. I am already popping about 15 pills a day, what is a couple more, right? Thanks for the information!
One more thing. A few years ago I noticed my right ankle had a swelling on it. I asked my doctor and she told me what it was, but I don’t remember what she told me. She did say it was fatty tissue and harmless. I think it could be a limpoma. Not long ago, the left ankle developed one. I had no idea they could be linked to FMS. I am beginning to think everything that is wrong with me is caused by it.
I have noticed the slow or messed up healing over the last couple years as well… cuts take a long time to heal, cat scratches especially since I have a kitten that likes to kneed on me. The other thing is that I have a few old injuries that have never actually healed fully… the main one that is a problem is my right ankle, it was found to have no reflex. I have torn the ligaments in the past on that ankle and reading this the fibro could be why it never healed up right. I know I don’t sleep right and I know I wake up feeling like a truck hit me. I would agree with the statement that we dont get much restorative sleep and that could be why we dont heal.
My skin is slow healing and i’m always left with scars from the most minor scratch or mark. I even had laser treatment which helped a bit but not enough with some of the scarring. I might try lysine and see how i go.
Me too. For one, I am quite easily injured- I have no idea how I end up with so many unexplained cuts and bruises. But yes, they seem to last forever. I fell a month ago and bruised/cut my leg, and for most people it would clear up within 10 days. It looks like I fell 3 days ago. I have a metal allergy, which caused a scar on my stomach from buttons on jeans, and it came back a year ago and has yet to heal. I figured it was part of fibro- I’m surprised it isn’t an official symptom.
wow..me too. I have a great deal of dry skin patches. One day last week I apparently went to scratch my back while sleeping and left a big scratch mark which is all swollen and very painful. I thought I’d been bitten by something! Needless to say, my bra has been making it worse and I have been miserable. Nice to know that I am not going crazy and as always…misery loves company. So happy to have both fibro and hypothyroidism
I have Fibro and CFS…as well as Lupus and yes, I heal very slow and bruise very easy. As a matter of fact, I mentioned to my rheumatologist, only yesterday, that I have so many little cuts/scratches that won’t seem to go away, as well as bruises that take forever to disappear too.
I’ve always known I was a ’slow healer’ because of the Lupus, I learned way back when I was dx-ed. Not only do the cuts/scars, etc last long, simple colds or any illness seem to take double, or longer, to go away than the time it takes for others around me who get the same colds/bugs, to go away!! So I guess when you add the Lupus, Fibro and CFS together…I guess you have to stay away from sharp objects, bugs, germs,etc,etc,etc… lol
So funny u brought this subject up now. Just a week or so ago I was telling my husband that a blister I had gotten over a month ago has barely healed. Also have a bruise for same time frame. I have fibromyalgia but also several auto-immune diseases. Thanks for the lysine tip.
Fibromyalgia is caused by quinolone antibiotics and should really be called quinolone toxicity syndrome. That may be difficult to believe but go back through your medical history and see if you took a quinolone antibiotic at any point (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, etc…). You may have developed fibro immediately after taking them or it could take years for the issues to appear but they are related regardless. Look up the symptoms for fibro and then look up the symptoms for QTS; they are the same. Tendonitis, myalgias, arthralgias, neuropothies, insomnia, vision issues, etc… The brown spots mentioned by one poster are called hemangiomas and are related to vascular issues. I would also guess that some of you have seen small purplish dots on your skin which are actually pupura and are from vasculitis.
I too have a very slow healing time. Minor scrapesor even mosquito bites stay forever. I also have a problem with healing piercings. I have had my lobes and my cartilage pierced for almost 5 years now and they are still not healed. I work at a tattoo studio and everyone is baffled at my predicament. The piercers have tried so much to get them to heal and still no luck. I will try the Lysine and see if it helps at all. If anyone else has this problem please let me know.
I too have a very slow healing time. Minor scrapesor even mosquito bites stay forever. I also have a problem with healing piercings. I have had my lobes and my cartilage pierced for almost 5 years now and they are still not healed. I work at a tattoo studio and everyone is baffled at my predicament. The piercers have tried so much to get them to heal and still no luck. I will try the Lysine and see if it helps at all. If anyone else has this problem please let me know.
I have suffered from severe fibromyaliga for 8years now. I feel like i am an expert on pain and pain management after all the trial and errors i went thru until i was able to find the correct doseages of meds to treat my pain, depression (that many of us suffer from as well), and sleepless nights. However, i assumed that my slow healing and easy bruding was a side effect of the various mefs i take to hae a somewhat better quality of life. It is intetesting to think that the diease is the cause and not the meds. I am going to do more research to see what i csn find. Thank you for sharing.