Health

So, I promised I'd post about my health issues.  It's a roller coaster!

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease via emergency surgery due to bowel perforation in August 2004.  I have now had two bowel resections. My last one was in August 2015, but I had been hospitalized from mid-July until that surgery.  Currently, as of September 4, 2018, this is in remission.  I still have symptom flares, but they have also been attributed to other diagnoses like IBS and confirmed food allergies. (I know; as if the list of food I'm not allowed to eat due to the ileitis wasn't already extremely long, I get to add foods I'm allergic to.  I'll post that list lower in the post.)

I was officially diagnosed with endometriosis in January of 2017.  I now have to avoid soy as well.

Some endometriosis diets recommend eliminating soy from your diet. This is because soy contains phytoestrogens, which are plant compounds that can mimic estrogen.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is also tied in with the endometriosis.  Originally all of that was just labeled as "dysmenorrhea", or "painful periods".... They have both also helped cause issues with iron deficiency anemia. (THAT however is under control.)  We tried the six month Lupron injections, chaste tree berry, and I'm now starting to go back on The Pill (orthocyclen) and will be taking it so that I only have periods every three months. Supposedly that should help with the cysts/endometriosis/"dysmenorrhea".

 I also suffer from PTSD due to childhood abuse, some that my family doesn't know or remember, some still due to being raped in December 2012. I'd thought I'd "gotten over" that but then something happened to my daughter and brought it back.  I've suffered from depression my whole life, but it turned to postpartum depression and I attempted suicide when my oldest was 6 weeks old.  I was officially diagnosed with anxiety a few years back too. Maybe more than a few years, but it's been within the last decade.

As if all of that isn't bad enough, I also suffer hidradenitis suppurativa (and just "regular" hidradenitis).  It isn't fun.  Currently I'm fighting constant cysts under my left arm. Originally they were in my right one.  Rarely I get them in my lower regions, but they do happen.  (The regular "hidradenitis" and cysts occur occasionally in random places around my body, but aren't in the HS regions.)  With the cysts, I also have been fighting a MRSA diagnosis.  (The docs all say that it's still okay for me to be crafting/teaching as long as I'm not fighting an "active drainage," even though open wound or not I'm placed in quarantine if I'm in the hospital.)  I'm allergic to the sulfa-antibiotics that are most responsive. I'm waiting for the day they decide to hospitalize me to give an IV treatment to be rid of MRSA for good.

That's enough skin issues, right? NOPE. I also have psoriasis.  It's mainly on the back of my head and neck. It ranges from a tiny speck of red to a five inch or longer streak of scaly scabs and inflamed skin.  I also have the dry patches on my elbows, knees, and ankles.  It's been around since I was a kid.  (My kids then inherited eczema from me. YAY.)

I've been officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia and also arthritis in my lower lumbar region.  Hip dysplasia and I get regular cortisone injections in my knees.  The hip dysplasia doesn't help that I also suffer from "hypermobility;" the tendons get stuck inside the joints if I'm in certain positions for too long. Sometimes they give me problems even just moving wrong to get comfortable in bed.

I've got horrid eye sight and hearing, which also leads to migraines, vertigo, and migraine induced vertigo.  Did I mention I'm asthmatic as well? I'm also allergic to a lot of pollen. Some of our local, native trees, molds, and particular herbs that people sometimes smoke.  (I am mostly okay with their oils though.  YoungLiving essential oils have been a blessing as well.)  I wear hearing aids now.  The doctor said my hearing/nerve damage is worse than the average 80 year old.

What have I left out?  I feel like I'm forgetting something.. I no longer have that cyst on pituitary gland, though I'm still fighting a deficiency with it. They are slowly weaning me off of the hydrocortisone (Cortef, SoluCortef) pills now.

I also have high blood pressure, which is mostly due to the constant pain.  I also get to suffer from orthostatic HYPOtension, due to the blood pressure meds and moving too quickly between different positions.

I currently receive 2 hour infusions of Remicade every six weeks for the Crohn's/IBS/HS/psoriasis.  I didn't respond well to the Humira.

Am I forgetting anything?

• Crohn's Disease
• IBS
• endometriosis
• PCOS
• arthritis
• fibromyalgia
• hip dysplasia
• hypermobility
• hypertension
• orthostatic hypotension
• food allergies
• environmental allergies
• asthma
• psoriasis
• HS
• iron deficiency anemia, vitamin D deficiency, pituitary disorder/cyst/adrenal microadenoma
• PTSD
• depression
• anxiety
• poor vision and hearing (glasses and hearing aids)

I checked MyChart, and they've also added hyperparathyroidism and hyperprolactinemia.  I don't even know what those are or when/how/why they were added.

Hyperparathyroidism is a disorder in which the parathyroid glands in your neck produce too much parathyroid hormone (PTH).

Hmm.. Okay.

Hyperprolactinemia is a condition in which a person has higher-than-normal levels of the hormone prolactin in the blood. The main function of prolactin is to stimulate breast milk production after childbirth, so high prolactin levels are normal in pregnancy. Prolactin also affects the levels of sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) in both women and men. Prolactin is made by the pituitary gland, a pea-sized organ found at the base of the brain.

Looks like a lot of the other conditions I fight and medications for them can lead to they hyperprolactinemia too.  That's interesting.  Thank you, internet, for this information.

Looking back over the list, and I STILL feel like I'm forgetting something! It may just because I have so many diagnoses.


Did you go through and check out how badly restricted my diet is unless I take medications just for food intake? My food allergies include:

• dairy AND lactose, I can't even get away with goat or sheep products
• egg whites, but I'm okay with egg YOLK
• pork
• tomatoes and peppers, they're in the nightshade family same as potatoes, but I'm okay with potatoes?

I'm okay with gluten, though.  But that was my entire diet (excluding pork; I've been avoiding red meat since the first bowel resection) for a while. It also explains why the elimination diets didn't work for me.  I was always still on at least one of those foods.  It also explains why the IBS medications weren't working or why I was still having symptoms although the Crohn's Disease was/is in remission.