In my last post I made a list of my health issues and I forgot a huge one. Maybe it’s because I’ve had it for so long that I forgot about it! When I was 14 years old my left pointer finger and middle finger became painful and swollen. I was playing a lot of softball at the time and I was a catcher so my parents and I assumed that I must have hurt my hand playing softball. After the pain and swelling wasn’t going away for months, I went to the doctor. The doctor said it’s juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and said the swelling will never go away. My mom took me to other doctors and then a rheumatologist. This rheumatologist said he believed it was CREST Syndrome, which is a type of Scleroderma. At that time he didn’t give me a “for sure” diagnosis but later after I lived in Iowa City and saw a new rheumatologist she said it was Scleroderma and that my body was just staying at the beginning stages of it for a long time. 

Since the swelling began in my two fingers, it has progressed to the other fingers on my left hand. When I was in college it also went to my left ankle and top of my right foot. When something begins to swell for the first time there is pain for about a month or two then the swelling stays but the pain goes away. I do have minimal pain with the swelling still but it’s something I don’t even notice. So I have a few areas that are a little swollen and it’s something that no one else notices. Doctors, now that they’re saying I don’t have Scleroderma, have no idea what the swelling is. To me, the swelling is an indication that something is wrong and I believe that just about everything can be cured, so I want to fix it. First I should find out what it really is.

For 21 years I thought I had inflammation which would have explained the swelling. Recently I got an ultrasound on my hand which is a newer test that they’re doing to detect inflammation. This test showed that I do not have inflammation but they still don’t know what the swelling is. I was on the anti-inflammatory diet forever to try to “cure” myself. It is a huge relief finding out that I do not have inflammation because it can be a really bad thing that causes a host of problems on it’s own. I’m still eating a reasonably healthy diet but it is awesome to enjoy foods that I didn’t eat literally for years. It’s like my reason for eating healthy for 21 years suddenly went away and I had to find new reasons to eat healthy again. But now I’m not as angry about it as I used to be. Thinking I had a potentially life threatening disease since I was 14 caused me to sometimes be bitter about the fact that I had to eat healthy when other people could eat whatever they want and be “normal”. Not to mention the staying up late and partying that others my age were doing, I was jealous of that and felt like I couldn’t partake in those things because I had to cure and take care of myself.

The swelling isn’t much of a bother but it is something I want to figure out and alleviate. The last rheumatologist I saw, said to go back to my Primary Care Doctor and see what he thinks I should do next. It feels like I’m back to square one but at least I’m healthier than I used to be and have ruled out Scleroderma!