Autoimmune Diseases

From March 27th of 2009 I have been diagnosed so far with 4 Autoimmune diseases. It all started after having a total thyroidectomy. You think, how can one organ cause so much disruption with the way the body works, but it does. That one little organ in your neck regulates the bodies immune system and without it all hell breaks loose.

From hypothyroidism to Livedo Reticularis to Raynauds and now on to Lupus and possible MS, my whole life has been turned upside down. My career of being a truck driver is over as the fatigue and pain and spasms of my muscles are to hard to bare driving and sitting all that time. My days are spent sitting in front of my computer playing Facebook and playing with my dogs, which are quite active, sometimes too much. Life has a way of slowing people down and I guess this is my cue.

My one and only love beside my husband was truck driving and now that it is gone I have no idea what to do with myself. I sleep alot, the fatigue is horrible. I have stomach ulcers that make it hard to eat, pain in my wrist and ankles and numbness off and on in my legs and sharp electrical like pain in my toes and fingers.

What a life you think? Its the worst way to live, not having enough energy to get up and do anything, being told to stay out of the sun and to stay away from extremely hot water as it can make your muscles weak. And then there is the treatment for Lupus, but not a cure, They tell you the medicine will tear your stomach up. So you ask what is it and she tells you

Plaquenil and a little research and your scared to death to take it, side effects are diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Oh boy, just makes you want to dive right in and take it, NOT. By the time I get home after getting the medicine from the pharmacy and talking with my gastroenterologist, seeing as I have ulcers right now, he says "NO, you can't take that until your stomach is healed," well its been a week and a half on Nexium and the stomach ulcers still aren't healed and so off to get an EGD now to see what the problem is with my stomach.

My appointment is set for this coming Tuesday, just hope I don't get anymore bad news. And then off I go to get an MRI of my brain and neck to look for lesions that indicate MS. I remember my husband telling me before the thyroidectomy "you will feel better after surgery, you just wait and see." And boy was he wrong!