What Everyone Needs to Know about Autoimmune Disease

This is a long post, but I’m publishing it all at once, because I really want to keep the information together. You may want to bookmark this post because even if you don’t have these problems someone you know or love might need this information. 

Looking back over my entire life, there had been glaring clues that I might have an AI issue (I’m going to use AI from now on just as a shortcut). Diagnosed with Anemia from my early childhood, Chronic Constipation and Bowel Immobility since I was a toddler, Chronic Eczema that covered my hands up to my elbows and feet up to my ankles, most of my childhood, teens and early adulthood. About 6th grade, a lengthy outbreak of Chicken Pox that looked like smallpox and Mononucleosis that took me out of my last semester of my Freshman year of High School. (I slept about 19 hours a day for months)

I had several very scary and strange occurring illnesses that caused partial numbness and paralysis for a period of several days, not long after I would have the flu or a virus. I remember falling down the stairs when I was in Junior High when my leg gave out on me without notice. I was plagued with fatigue that was abnormal. I would be ok for several weeks, then collapse in bed for a day or two to just recover from “life” or stress.

My first pregnancy was iffy when I spotted every month until my second trimester. My second baby was a very difficult pregnancy and she was delivered 5 weeks early. I had to have a Hysterectomy when I was 30 because I would have a 10 day period every 2 weeks that I couldn’t get off the couch because the flow was so heavy. Then when I was about 38 the extreme fatigue came to a head with a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This is when your body attacks the Thyroid tissue and begins to destroy it. Thyroid meds never seemed to work well, but it was better than before the diagnosis. Hashimoto’s is a real indicator that a person has AI, but no one ever mentioned that to me or asked questions concerning other possible AI illnesses. Then in my mid 40’s I started having headaches and odd dizzy spells that felt like the room was spinning out of control. Going to bed for the rest of the day was the only thing that helped. Gastric issues became increasingly worse. After a meal, I would feel like I was going to explode even if I ate very little.

Then came the Heart Disease which was a complete and utter surprise. My only hint was that the hill I walked with my husband every evening was becoming impossible. He would have to pull me up the sidewalk till we reached the top, then I would be fine. I had 3 heart attacks in one weekend. My life changed forever and everything else about my health took a backseat to dealing with it. Nothing was as important as that diagnosis. To the doctors, Heart Disease was the cause and answer to anything else I might have questions about.

Almost 5 years ago, I had several heart attacks once again because of several blood clots that have still not been clearly explained. Then about 2 and a half years ago I started having dizzy spells everyday. I would be so dizzy that I’d have to sit down on the floor in hopes of avoiding falling over. My cats would stare at me like “Mom? what’s your problem?” (my kitties talk, don’t yours?) I would discuss it with my husband and we figured this was a manifestation of my heart issues, since that was getting worse. Like I said, everything was blamed on heart problems.

In May of 2016 I had a new heart procedure that took care of my major heart blockages, but it was a lengthy procedure under anesthesia, with a boatload of blood thinner. I emerged from that with less heart pain, but severely anemic and within a few days feeling like I was having a nervous breakdown. My neck hurt, my head was killing me, and I felt like I’d been hit by a massive truck. I just chalked how I was feeling up to different meds and the trauma I’d experienced during the 4-5 hour procedure. But it didn’t get better, it just got worse.

I found a new Primary Care Physician and she was pretty thorough, but we headed the route of looking at my neck, seeing several neurologists, having MRIs and CT Scans and injections. I remember her saying that first appointment. “You know, about half of people who have dizziness never find out what is causing it.” I said that wasn’t going to work with me, that I had to find out because it was just getting worse. I tried several pain meds, but there’s only one that works for me. It dulls the pain, but never made it go completely away. The meds would stomp it down so I could get out every once in awhile to be a “normal” person, but it was always looming over me.  I vowed that I would find the answer. My daily prayer was, “God please, tell me what is happening… tell me what I need to do to get better.”

At that same time my joints, especially my wrists and right hand, started swelling and becoming very painful. My left hip pain, that had been manageable before, became more and more painful. I started having ulcerations in the lacrimal ducts of my eyes, nose and mouth. I was thirsty all the time and no matter how much water I drank my mouth was always dry. I felt like someone was strangling me. My eyes felt like they had sand in them, and I couldn’t wear my contact lenses anymore. Then the swelling and cysts in my Lymph Nodes, sweat glands, and ALL my lubricating glands (if you know what I mean). That really started to scare me and knew something really weird was happening.

The worst was the headache and neck pain; it was relentless and never went away. It wasn’t a migraine, but the pain was just as debilitating. I started doing research not long after my heart procedure. I Googled and looked up everything on neck and head pain and was presented with 4 possible categories of causes… Trauma (Injury), Bone problems with Vertebra, (which I did have some degree of), Bacterial or Viral Infections, or AutoImmune Disease. …what?