I am one of those weird ones who doesn't really seem to have a cause for my TM. I wasn't under any undue stress. We had moved out of state the year before but were well-settled by then. We were in the first week of our second year of home schooling, and though there is some pressure getting ready for the school year and switching over from a summer schedule, it wasn't what I'd call major stress. No colds, flu, viruses, or immunizations. I had had a biopsy of my cervix in the weeks before, so there is some possibility that something got into my system then. The night before, I had opened a jar of nacho cheese sauce that was covered in mold -- it was new from the store and I had noticed that the little indention on the top of the lid that's supposed to pop up when it is opened was already popped up, and I took the lid off and sniffed to see if it smelled spoiled before realizing there was mold. We mentioned that to the doctors and they thought it laughable that mold caused it, but we held on to that theory for a long time. There was a former TMIC member whose every post had to do with mold in her building causing TM -- I don't know if that's the same type of mold as in food, but I think it certainly might be a contributing factor. I was sent for a second opinion to Emery University, and the doctor there said that even if they could have analyzed everything I had been in contact with the day I contracted TM, they wouldn't be able to pin down which thing set it off. To me what's more interesting and perplexing than the specific factor that causes TM is wondering what makes exposure to one thing "set off" another reaction for some people but not for others or at one time but not another. For example, people get flu and viruses every day, but it doesn't always go into a more serious illness. Some who got TM after having the flu probably had the flu before with no further problems -- what triggered the switch this time? Thousands of people get vaccines every day, but only a few go on to develop TM and other problems: what made the difference? I do believe stress and general health are two contributing factors, but I don't think they're the only ones and the whole story. I hope someone somewhere is doing a study on this kind of thing Barbara H. _http://barbarah.wordpress.com/_ (http://barbarah.wordpress.com/)
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