Who?? Me! Davea :DD I'm a 24 year old nursing student (I graduate in two semesters- woot- 'bout time)
What?? I was diagnosed with a pretty scary autoimmune disease- Dermatomyocitis (Dermaomyo what?? I thought the same thing :P) It's when one's own body starts to attack its' own muscles, which causes them to slowly degenerate (yikes! don't worry, this blog is not meant to be super depressing or anything!). This disease also causes redness of the skin. Thennn with a lot of work (you wouldn't think it would take that much work D:) and many months later I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (Thank you Dr. Auckerman- a Celiac himself. This diagnoses is controversial because unfortunately CD is hard to diagnose.) Hmmmm...and this is when things get interesting- at least from a medical perspective.
When?? These shenanigans have been going on for about a year now (when my symptoms started to really show, although I think I showed subtle symptoms for years that I took as normal). But things started to get scary starting July of 2010. But I wasn't diagnosed with Dermatomyocitis until the beginning of February of 2011 and I also was not diagnosed with Celiac Disease until mid March of 2011.
Where?? O-H-I-O :)) Yep. I'm from Ohio, from near the Cleveland/Akron area.
Why?? Good questioooon!!! Why the heck did my body start to go super crazy all of the sudden?? That would be the main point of this blog.
And also I've learned too much during these escapades to not share. I want to encourage people to fight for their health, to not lose hope, and to form a partnership with their doctor. I also think it's important to have someone else to who can understand to talk with and to support one with their health. I would love to talk to anybody about their health. Even those who have a different diagnoses than I. The information in this blog, especially the information concerning autoimmune disorders has been giving me my life back, and it would be morally wrong for me not to share this vital information. I'm living proof that at least for me thus far I am heading toward remission. Just look at my labs (I will be sharing them :))
And last but not least. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?? I am currently not on corticosteroids. I am not telling anybody with an autoimmune disease to stop taking their corticosteroids, but I am not a fan of those drugs because they do not treat the underlying cause of the disease. They just treat the symptoms. And they can have such awful and scary side effects. Although I suppose it's a double edge sword because they have thrown people's disease into remission. But generally the longer one is on them, the more the dose has to be raised, and the worse the side effects are. Plus generally you do not reach long term remission with them. And I am living proof that thus far without the corticosteroids plus the proper diet and supplements that my symptoms have improved tremendously and I have the lab tests to prove it. I see no reason that I should not get full remission. My doctor specializes in nutrigenics. Gene testing and then placing a patient on a diet according to their genes. Yes the diet is tough to follow, but thus far it was been completely worth it. I am also on a long term antibiotic to fight the strept throat that my weakened immune system could not fight off.
...Aside from Celiac Disease being a possible underlying cause of autoimmune disorders, there is another form of treatment that has caught my eye. That is Dr. Brown's antibiotic therapy. That form of treatment is also being incorporated into my healing process. But I'll be getting into that later. I have read about some getting remission just on the antibiotic therapy, some with just a gluten free diet, and others with a combination of both.
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