For me I was diagnosed as an adult, although I had always had stomach issues at a young age. I do not know one specific event, at least one that I can recall. My weight loss and postpandrial pain was never understood until I had my first cath angiogram at Mayo for an underlying vascular disease. That is when the severity of the stenosis was noted, and at the time I was drinking ensure to keep my energy level up. I spent many days in bed, because of lack of energy, deconditioning and malnutrition. Since my surgery I have been able to eat without pain, and my energy has improved some.

I am very curious if you think something triggered it for your daughter? I there an event that you remember? Nothing can be ruled out, as a cause, although some believe we are born with the defect, I do not now if there is another trigger, or if it gets worse as we grow. I do wonder if hormones play a role or another environmental factor. Please know this is just guesses on my part, but parents really know there kiddos best, very curious to hear your thoughts. The only other thing I can think of is second hand smoke, I have never smoked in my life, but both my parents did when I was going up.

Hello @jamorris9,

I see that our Mentor @kariulrich has shared some great information; I also wanted to welcome you to Connect, and let you know how glad we are that you've come here to find some support.

I hope @lmtuska will also join in with some insight. What symptoms did your daughter have, @jamorris9?

At around my daughter's 13th birthday we both had Chiropractic adjustments that were quite hard in our mid spine area. It was a Locum covering for our regular chiropractor . We both came home and iced our backs and felt nauseous and thought we were coming down with something. Mine went off after a few days. Her nausea never disappeared. She will be 16 in May. So I have wondered if part of that was coincidentally hormonal as things certainly changed for her around the age 13 or if it could have been caused by the adjustment, and she had some anxiety and learning challenges brewing and it all kind of hit at once

That is very interesting and worth mentioning to your physicians. I would describe to the doctors what you stated above. I have not heard of chiropractic adjustments leading to MALS, however there is more to be learned about MALS. The vascular disease that I have is called Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD), and there has not been an established correction between MALS and FMD. I found it interesting about the chiropractic adjustment, because patients with FMD have to be careful with adjustments, especially around the neck area, as there is a greater risk for arterial dissection. It does make you wonder how many MALS patients use Chiropractors and if anyone else has had a similar event. One question I have is what brought her into the chiropractor to begin with? I believe some people will experience MALS pain with exercise. My pain would show up after I ate a meal or while running.

My 16 year old lost a little weight due to being in Indoor Track which triggered the pain to be worse than usual. I feel it is through weight loss that it causes a major flare that once you get to that point, you can't eat, and the MALS takes on a life of its own until surgery.