Dermatomyositis: Personal Survival

This is my own personal history of Dermatomyositis. This is my personal survival story in dealing with this disease. Do not worry; it has a happy ending!

I was not born with the disease. I got it around the age of three. Huge calcium deposits started forming on my hips. Then huge absesses which would erupt, complete with quarter-size holes revealing hard and liquid calcium, would form. Calcium deposits started forming on the backs of my thighs, my knees, my ankles and my elbows. Calcium down into the joint of my elbow and, at age nine, I could not straighten my left arm past a 90-degree angle. Calcium would work its way out of the joints in my fingers so that I could pull it out, as well as digging it out of my hips through the quarter-size holes. The biggest calcium deposit was on my bum. There were three openings, and sometimes, my mom and brother would have me lay face down on the bed and they would push on the area around my deposits and drain the liquid calcium and calcium grit out of my body. They pushed really hard, it was really painful, and so much calcium came out that they used up fourteen rolls of toilet paper just soaking up all of the liquid calcium.

Due to the deposits on my thighs, hips and bum, everywhere I went I had to sit down on the edge of something or not sit at all. I was in a lot discomfort (think sandpaper under your skin) and sometimes, when the calcium would come out through a calcium deposit, it would be very painful. If I tripped, I could not fall like other kids. I would fall straight down like a board, skidding along the ground as I went, ripping up skin on my face, elbows, knees and legs. Every single time I fell down this would happen. I got to where I was terrified of falling, the consequences were so bad.

Every month or so, I would get sick with a calcium deposit. My body would focus on that particular one, it would get even more red and inflamed than before, and my body would push tons of calcium through the surface of the skin. It was so painful that if you blew on it, it would hurt. Dermatomyositis is not a fun disease!

My flexibility was greatly impacted, due to high inflammation, calcification of my joints and overall discomfort. I was soon where I could not bend either of my legs to a right angle, my hips would not bend to a right angle, and I could not move my ankles at all. Dermatomyositis frequently brings food allergies, and I had more food allergies than anyone I have ever heard of. I was reduced to nothing but certain raw fruits, certain raw vegetables, nuts, seeds and water for 8 years of my childhood. No juice, no wheat, no pancakes for breakfast. My body perpetually broke out in 3-dimensional, bright red rash if I was allergic to anything. Later on, I found out that I was extremely allergic to cotton, so my mom's faithful attempts to keep me in only the best were actually detrimental.

My Dermatomyositis itself went into remission at age twelve, and I only got sick with an inflamed calcium deposit once after that. At age fourteen, my specialist doctor told me there was nothing else he could do for me, so I was happy about that. I hated medical treatment because it always made me feel worse, and it never did me any good. After that, my deposits and scar tissue all remained as they were, and that confused me because I know that the body has an innate ability to heal itself. Why weren't my deposits getting any smaller?

At age nineteen, I met Connie Danner, N.D. here in Amarillo, TX. She's a certified NAET (Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique) technician and she has a high turnover rate of clients. Everyone wants to know where their friends got their amazing and permanent treatments! She helped me to identify why my deposits were not lessening. My body was still feeding them calcium while, at the same time, it was drawing calcium out of them! That meant that they staid the same size. We turned off the calcium-producing mechanism and started eliminating physical and emotional allergies to everything: people, foods, calcium, scar tissue, emotions, hang-ups, mental blocks, not getting well, getting well, etc. I had a lot of them, but we treated me every day.

Within four months, about half of my quarter-size to baseball-size calcium deposits had melted down to nothing.

Yes, you read that correctly. Over the next four years, scar tissue started working out, and emotions started coming out, and pretty soon, I was a happy, normal, healthy adult going to college! I owe a lot to Connie Danner. Dermatomyositis was no match for her.

Today, I work out to build up my atrophied and never-used muscles. I am pain-free, comfortable and flexible. People walk up to me and say, "You don't move like a robot anymore. What happened?" and I happily tell them about the years of hard work and strong mentality that were put into fighting Dermatomyositis. If you have this disease, keep your chin up. As my mom always said, "Someday you'll be able to run and jump and play, just like all the other kids."