Hi there. I am 58 yo and don’t really remember life without pain. I had burns on my arms from pulling the iron down on myself at 14 months resulting in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Thankfully it landed on my arms. There was no understanding that at this young age the neuropathways for processing pain are very fragile. An injury like that and the following treatment is now understood to blow apart neuropathways. That set me up for experiencing pain differently.
I was constantly ill with bronchitis. Well maybe not constantly but 3 times a year. And many other illnesses. I became aware of subluxing knee caps at the age of 6. Reactive low blood sugar that has a 1969 understanding of like blood sugar at 6. My brother started punching and kicking me at 6. He is 5 years older than me. My parents never told him to not hit s a girl. He figured it out as an adult and informed me very clearly he taught his boys to never hit a female. I am proud of him for learning on his own. We all learned alot on our own.
I had surgery on my knees in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980. I was rushed to the ER for allergies at 14 with what was thought to be anaphylaxis and again in 1980 with dehydration from mono. But I managed to be in band during some of these years, swim for 8 months on a city league team and do white 3 water after trips with a youth group over 3 years. I worked at 14. Had to stop at 16 and couldn’t manage college until 20 years after graduating due to needing a break from school after graduating. I had 2 employment goals: 1. Work in the arts. 2. Help people. These were kind of broad. I became a photo printer in 1985 and graduated to custom photo printing in a darkroom. I worked in Human Resources for a few years as an intake specialist helping people without disabilities train for specific jobs and gain employment in the same company. I became a phlebotomist then moved into medical assisting working in a large clinic. We had practitioners who did family practice and ob, internal medicine and even geriatrics. I helped with newborns literally all the way through doing from old age. My final job was to care for my sister who has early onset dementia. She passed in 2017. My body gave out a month later.
I had developed a lot of diagnosises over the years including Dysautonomia and either Ehlers Danlos or Hypermobile Joint Syndrome. I have many comorbidities of both. I have a condition that no one has yet to be able to diagnose. It causes lumps that grow from within my muscles and make my muscles spasm. Some are visible, others are palpable. They seem to grow from minor trauma. One thought is that the connective tissue’s started to grow and grow and grow uncontrollably. Without a biopsy we will not know. I see a neuromuscular neurologist in October. I also need to be checked for Amyloidosis and Sarcoidosis.
I do get that life is very hard. But I love to enjoy everything possible anyways. Color, beauty, sensation. Life.