This is me on the left, trying not to chunky barf on my longtime ladybud Gretchen. We’re at a flower farm where I can just barely stumble around and pick pretty blooms.
My chronic pain story starts in first grade, climaxes when I spent all of 2016 in the worst long-term pain imaginable, turns into a chronic illness story sometime in 2017, and doesn't end, because DUH that's what chronic means.
This blog started because I always wanted to have a blog where I would get 100% better and then tell everyone how I did it. It continued because I got worse.
But I can say, I learned a lot. The hard way. Steal my lessons so you maybe you don't have to.
Pentad syndrome. Such a pain in the neck.
Currently professionally diagnosed with:
ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, intestinal permeability, orthostatic intolerance, histamine intolerance, gastroparesis, biliary dyskinesia, hEDS, severe chronic pain, interstitial cystitis and suspected craniocervical instability. (Actually not all of them, but the main ones.) Currently investigating tethered cord and intracranial hypotension.
It looks like a lot, but I’m almost positive it’s all one disease that effs up a lot of different bodily symptoms. I’m pretty sure that one thing is a lot like Long Covid. Dr. Andrew Holman calls it “Pentad Syndrome.” My money’s on spines, microbiomes, connective tissues, and mast cells currently.
Yes, I’ve tried that one thing that worked for your aunt.