When I have a discussion about anything related to health subjects, I want to share my medical background with you first. I spent well over 30 years practicing as a R.N. in the hospital setting, with 4 more spent in home care and a vein clinic before I retired. My health was pushing me little by little to retire early, since things became quite painful for me. Knowing what I know, I questioned myself and wondered if I had a series of overlapping autoimmune disorders.
Besides my regular R.N. license in the state of michigan, I also carried a Exercise specialist degree from American College of Sports Medicine. Including some fun certifications, such as group fitness instructor and personal trainer.
Being active, and exercising was always a way of life for me. Then one day I just hit the wall. It felt like I fell down a mountain and hit every rock on the way down. For many years I had tender spots all over my body, with numbness and tingling down my legs. This feeling was different, it came with overwhelming fatigue during the day and unbearable pain during my nights. After many years of telling the doctors about these symptoms, I finally did get an answer. My lab levels finally changed showing a few things. The few things that meant I was going to live with over lapping Auto Immune disorders.
What is a over lapping autoimmune disorder?
Basically it is having your own body attack your healthy cells. A inflammatory process sets up and bombards your body. Instead of healing you it just creates more damage and destruction, that can eventually affect your functioning. There are well over 100 forms of overlapping autoimmune disorders that can occur in a persons body. It can affect many different body parts and systems. Unfortunately, this is a chronic disease that can not be cured. You learn to live with it and try to control stressors that cause flairs of inflammation. A combination of medications are used to help reduce the inflammatory aspect of the disease, and reduce destruction that occurs within the body.
Another unfortunate aspect of these 100 forms is, sometimes a person can have all kinds of vague and odd symptoms with no answers. Sjogrens syndrome is one of these, that can give you dry eyes, and dry mouth. That’s all you might notice, as it causes all kinds of damage within your organs. It typically used to take around 5 years to get a solid diagnosis on this one. Meaning, a person can suffer from some type of symptom but your lab draws don’t show this as positive until your years into the disease and its destruction. A good physician will listen to your symptoms and realize it could be something morphing into a overlapping autoimmune disorder.
Appropriate labs should be ordered, and repeated routinely to make sure your body isn’t going in the direction of that chronic illness. When I finally had a physician look at my cells, the report was, “speckled pattern, with acute inflammation superimposed on chronic inflammation”. WOW!, I had current inflammation causing pain loaded on top of a chronic set of damage causing pain.
How do you get overlapping autoimmune disorders?
Genetics play the biggest role here, so take a look at your parents and any inflammatory diseases they may have suffered from or are suffering from. It doesn’t always mean you will automatically get it, but more than likely if you turn the right toggles on within your system it will happen. These toggles can be many different environmental factors. The many things you expose yourself to on a daily basis can flip your switch on and start the process. There are many things you have no control over, but there are also many things that you do have control over. Name of the game here is, all things in moderation and live a healthy life style before, during, and after a autoimmune diagnosis.
How do you treat this
You have to stop the inflammation. The constant irritation will erode away at your body systems. Depending on what type or overlapping types you have, will dictate your prognosis. Unfortunately the types I personally have states 80% of the people will die within 10 years after diagnosis. It’s pushing 10 years now for me, plus the docs feel I may have actually had some form of rheumatoid disease as a kid. The plan is to fight all I am worth, but the hip replacements are coming up soon. I will share the experience with all of you from start to finish.
Your aim of treatment is to stop the inflammation before it does damage to your connective tissue and organs. You work with your Dr. for the right medication routine that is good for you. Medications are adjusted based on your lab levels. There are many different labs that look at different types of inflammation in the body. It is important to find a doctor you can work with, who listens to your symptoms. More than likely you will be given a cocktail of steriods, and various anti-inflammatory meds. If severe enough, they could throw in a low dose of a chemo drug to knock your over active immune system down so it stops attacking your own body.
To live with overlapping autoimmune disorders, you have to play by the rules.
Along with this, you must play by the rules. Leading a healthy lifestyle the best way you can. I think most of us know these things, but it is putting them into action. No smoking or drinking, eating right, and trying to get some daily exercise in as well. The one aspect of life that most of us find difficult to handle is stress! When things are extremely stressful for people that have auto immune disorders, they can have what is called a flair. Things just go out of control for what ever reason. Lack of sleep, working to hard at something, emotional stress from multiple things around you. What ever current symptoms you experience can become 10 times worse. To much physical activity when you have Rheumatoid arthritis or Lupus, can mean your next day is going to feel like you performed in a triathlon.
You will learn to say “No”, to stop adding to your pile of stuff you need to do. You may only have enough energy to get through your daily activities. Once you figure out what causes flairs in your body you try to modify or eliminate the attack. Finding out what calms you is one way to fight. Personally I love to create things, and share the beauty among us. Finding a hobby can help as well.
Here is a wonderful phrase, “It is what it is”. It causes less stress once you accept that you will need to modify things in your life. I am 58, and will have my first hip replacement done, once healed enough the second one will follow. Because of overlapping autoimmune disorders, the connective tissue between 2 bones is completely gone. I will post a article on this, just in case someone has to face this as well. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have by comment. Also, always talk with your doctor about any concerns you have in regards to autoimmune disorders. This blog information is coming from my own experiences.
My personal journey started with, Rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogrens syndrome, and Lupus. To sum up the rest of my overlapping, its easier to just say severe connective tissue disease and systemic sclerosis. Feel free to contact me with any comments or questions!
