My battle with autoimmune diseases

Hello.

My name is Stephanie and I’m 29. I’m a mother and a girlfriend to my boyfriend of 6 years! I had a normal healthy life growing up till I was 22 years old.

My autoimmune battle begins

I started to feel very ill and I just knew something was wrong with my body because it wasn’t functioning the same way and I went to the doctors and they had no idea what the problem was. I had to do so much blood work and do so many treatments till we found answers and they finally diagnosed me with my first autoimmune disease which is hyperthyroidism/Graves disease and I never heard of it. It was very confusing how this happened to me! I started treatment for it and finally, after 6 years, it’s been under control! But around the time I found out I had this disease I was pregnant as well so I had a high-risk pregnancy which was very stressful but fortunately my son came out very healthy and strong which was a big blessing!

My autoimmune battle continues

When I turned 27, I started to feel very ill again and had pain in my bones and muscles and couldn’t understand why? I tried everything over-the-counter and nothing worked so finally, my doctor did tests and he told me I had inflammation in my blood work so I got scared and said what do we do! And he said ima send you to the rheumatologist so from the sound of that it was pretty serious. I went with my rheumatologist and she said I came out positive for lupus. My mouth just dropped to the floor and I didn’t know what to say and she said don’t worry you're going to live and there are treatments for it! But I had to go do more testings for lupus. Finally, she told me the lupus was not active so she believes I have psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia but I had to go through so much bloodwork and testing to verify, which took 2 years! I started treatment for it and so far 3 treatments have not worked for me and at this moment I’m waiting to start a new treatment!

Psoriatic arthritis and other autoimmune diseases

So my journey with psoriatic arthritis is very hard and difficult for me. I don’t know how it happened to me and every day I’m still learning! I also have Crohn’s disease and I've gone through so many procedures and bloodwork! Started treatments and it finally under control! I also have a lower back injury and mild scoliosis. I also have mild uveitis in my right eye. I’m taking eye drops so it hasn’t come back yet! I also deal with migraines which they are severe! But I know and understand my body will never be the same and I have to keep my journey going and keep fighting! And would also would like to help others and advocate for all my autoimmune diseases that are attacking me! I hope you like my story for any more questions you could write to me or leave me a comment thanks! And GOD BLESS!