Hi, everyone! My name is Carrie. I’m new here, looking for people that understand what I’m going through. I woke up one morning 4 years ago with pain in both elbows, and my health proceeded to rapidly deteriorate from there. I have severe chronic joint and bone pain that jumps around to different areas of my body, fatigue, dizziness, and brain fog. It’s a not-so-fun game to guess where it’s going to strike on any given day, and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. I have frequent flares that can completely knock me on my butt for days at a time, but even on flare-free days I live my life at a level 5-6 on the pain scale. Flare days are SO much worse! I’ve seen several doctors, including 2 rheumatologists, and all my bloodwork and scans come back normal. Doctors think I’m crazy, I even had one tell me that I should seek therapy to “learn coping skills to deal with minor aches and pains.” 🙄 My last rheumatologist tentatively diagnosed me with hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and then promptly retired, so now I get to start all over again with a new rheumatologist in September. I’m sympotomatic of rheumatoid arthritis, but my rh factor is negative. It’s all so maddening. I went from being an active mom to a shell of myself in less than 2 years, and now I battle depression on top of it. I’m a visual merchandiser for a big box retailer, so my job can be very physical, which doesn’t help my health issues, but I can’t quit my job because I have kids and a mortgage and I need the health insurance. Some days I honestly feel like I’m losing it. Sorry for the long post. I have a very supportive partner, but wanted to get to know some fellow spoonies that understand my struggles first-hand. ❤️ #HEDS #medicalmysteries #spoonielife