Tag: rare disease

Health, mental health, Unveiling Invisible Illnesses

Rare Disease Day

mistibludream

It is Rare Disease Day so obviously I am jumping on this moment to raise awareness. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and a rare type, called cardiac-valvular EDS or cvEDS.

Hypermobility is very common with EDS. There are many, many other health issues that fall under the umbrella due to this collagen defect. Imagine your joints are like rubber, frequently popping out of place from even just a hug or rolling over in bed. Sometimes these joints stay out of place or wear down. It is a painful disease to many.

This does not only affect joints but can also affect your organs.

We are all different and we call ourselves Zebras because in the medical field, doctors and nurses are trained that when they hear hooves to look for horses not zebras. This mentality has caused me to go undiagnosed and medically neglected for my entire life, up until I had genetic testing last year. Despite my heart issues and frequent ER visits, being young and seemingly healthy has had me labeled as drug seeking or having anxiety attacks.

The reason why is because EDS and dysautonomia (dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system) does not show up on routine blood work. I have never done drugs, besides cannabis, and even after open heart surgery and a broken sternum I did not even finish my pain meds prescription. I have been treated as if I were an IV drug user, because in my area that is the only reason someone of my age would have this extent of damage to their heart. I am so incredibly thankful to now be taken seriously with a diagnosis, but it is bittersweet because this syndrome is progressive and for me, my heart is always at risk. In my recent echo, I have developed a dilated aortic root. This is beyond scary to me because EDS, especially cvEDS comes with aneurisms. Dealing with this type of diagnosis as well as chronic pain and illness is mentally exhausting.

I am passionate about awareness is because it took so fucking long to be heard. I suffered for so long not taking proper care of myself and not knowing the correct treatments. I have been called a hypochondriac by exes and have hidden behind a mask for years. I want others to know they are not alone and I want medical professionals to see us.

Health

The Bendy Life – Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

mistibludream

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of inherited disorders that weaken connective tissues.  Connective tissues are proteins that support skin, bones, blood vessels, and other organs.

My childhood consisted of chronic stomach issues with pain and constipation, never ending growing pains, Supraventricular Tachycardia, easy bruising, joint hyper mobility, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, abdominal wall hernia, autonomic dysfunction such as temperature and blood pressure regulation, headaches, frequent urination, mouth ulcers, heat intolerance, just to name a few!

I could pop my hips out of place like it was nothing. I could twist my arms over 360 degrees and freak people out. Once, I bent my arm around in my physical education class and showed the teacher, asking if I could see the nurse. I often tried getting out of gym class due to my heart rate in the 250 bpm range from Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) that did not get discovered or diagnosed until I was 15. So, I am in 3rd grade and when the teacher sees my arm, she was horrified! Guilt set in and I instantly said I was kidding and ran off.

I was also an expert and hide and seek. I could bend and fold into any tiny space and would always hear everyone give up on finding me because I would fit into such unexpected places.

When I got to my teens, you can also add that I had sleep paralysis, migraines with aura, vertigo, dizziness, POTS, adrenal surges and crashes, sleeping in school, ADD, brain fog, endometriosis, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia, depression, IBS, MCAS, and anxiety.

However, I was a healthy young girl. Everything was missed and overlooked because this was all normal to me and having such a rare disease is always too far outside of the box for most doctors.

It was not until I had 4 cardiac ablations, 1 endometrial ablation, 1 open heart surgery for aortic valve repair and a pacemaker for neurocardiogenic syncope and sick sinus syndrome, hundreds of ER visits and dozens of hospitalizations later that I got diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. After desperation and never any answers, I was the one who asked the doctors to diagnose me after I stumbled upon this rare diagnosis from research and from my Mother in law suggesting that I look into it. My entire life I was told that I was young and healthy and a hypochondriac. When I saw the Beighton Score and had 8/9 I knew this was me. This all finally made sense. Then, I presented it to my doctors. 33 years.

My goal for this blog is to share my story and daily life hacks and struggles. I want to support others and inspire people to advocate for themselves. If I did not research and push for tests and get copies of my medical records I would still be lost because no doctor took the time to dig and most won’t.

When they hear hooves, they assume it’s a horse but rarely it is a zebra. We are the zebras and we need to raise awareness for EDS so that we are not dismissed anymore. We are in an unfortunate gray area in the medical field where we have no specialist to go to, just multiple doctors for each of our many  ailments and most doctors have to google it.

I plan to have many more blog posts on specific health issues that come with EDS and to share as much information as I can.