I went to a new Rheumatologist (mine has retired and I hadn’t seen her in almost 3 years [which is NOT a practice of self-care…]). They believe I do not have Scleroderma as we previously thought. This is kind of huge and a major relief. In the past I have had a positive ANA test (antinuclear-antibody). But my last few tests it has shown to be negative. My last Rheumatologist said she believed my auto-immune disease was at the beginning stages. Now they are saying it is not Scleroderma and might not turn into it. I am lead to believe/wonder if my drastically changing my lifestyle, health, nutrition, self-care, therapy etc. has improved my condition. Perhaps the way I was living was leading me down a path of disease, but I have worked my ass off to be healthier.

When I first read about Scleroderma and other people’s experience with it, it was pretty scary. I definitely let it get me down for years, thinking I have this terrible condition. But I began to try to not think of the worst, I noticed that if I treated myself very well (diet, exercise, stress relief) that I usually felt okay enough to function and some days pretty good. I started to question whether or not that’s what I had, the doctors have been saying since I was 16 that mine was progressing very slowly, which gave me hope. The symptoms of a lot of people with Scleroderma are more extreme than what I was experiencing, yet the one Rheumatologist said mine was still at the beginning stages…

I am thrilled to hear that they do not believe I have Scleroderma and there is a chance it will not turn into that. I think it could go that way, but with this condition some people randomly get better and some get worse. What they do say that I have is Hypermobility Athralgia and connective tissue disease. This makes my more susceptible to dislocations (which is likely my chronic hip pain) and overstretching which can lead to all sorts of fun down the road. On my medical chart I see I have Arthropathy which is likely referring to my hip pain that I’ve had surgery for but it didn’t cure it…

Sometimes I am a slow processor of information so, after the appointment I had numerous questions for my Rheumatologist that I have yet to ask. I plan to send an email and I will blog about my findings.

I am taking this as a win that I have improved my health with all of the work that I’ve put in over the last 20 years of my symptoms emerging. I’m going to continue blogging about my journey and what I learn along the way…