The beginning...

With this post, I'll try and explain what has gone on with me, up until this point.
When I was 14, in the summer of 2007, I fell down some stairs in my house, and soon after I came down with terrible severe back pain. It was a couple of months before we saw a doctor about it, because we'd just assumed that it was due to the fall and would go away, but it didn't, and still hasn't 3 and a half years on. We had always assumed the pain I was having was related to the fall, but now we're not so sure. We're thinking it may have just been a coincidence.

After a long while, I had an MRI scan, which diagnosed me with a minor slipped disc, and wasn't until I was admitted to the hospital that one of the consultants noted that the pain I was in was disproportionate to the supposed injury. From there I was referred to about 17 people at once, all of whom found nothing. From there I was sent to physiotherapy (again) and the pain clinic. The pain clinic manages all the people who are in pain, but no-one can do very much about it, which includes chronic pain syndromes, and things like fibromyalgia.

As all the investigations for my back problems were slowing down, I went on a trip around India for 3 weeks. While I was there, I developed an odd rash on the backs of my hands, which given the temperature, I assumed it was just an odd heat rash. Before I left I'd been diagnosed with Reynaud's phenomenon, costochondritis and a few other joints had been painful. 3 weeks after I returned, I fell very ill, with a high temperature, extreme fatigue, hair loss, mouth ulcers and nausea. I was immediately referred to a rheumatologist who did a battery of tests which revealed my ANA was positive, a marker for lupus, and along with all the symptoms it seemed very likely. They've started me on some medication which takes 3 months to have any effect, but it doesn't cover up other diseases, as they still think there is a possibility of a tropical infection/disease from India. If I had lupus from before I went to India, as it would seem from the symptoms I had before I left, the conditions and bugs probably made it worse for it to be affecting me this much now. Since I've been ill, I've missed 3 months of school and I'll still miss another while yet.

Since we have seen the rheumatologist, the idea has arisen that some variation of rheumatoid arthritis is affecting my back and other joints, and I have a worrying suspicion that I share a lot of the symptoms of Hughes syndrome, one of the associated conditions of lupus, and possibly sjogren's as well... It may sound like I'm a hypochondriac but once you see the symptoms in yourself, and so many other people with lupus have these things as well.

I'm seeing an intensive care unit doctor, with an interest in tropical diseases in the medical assessment unit tomorrow. Hmmm.