Recovery from Autoimmune Diseases and Addictions

[Seraffa]

I'd like to start a thread on this; get the gist of who is out there dealing with "what" if they want to step forward.

I'm in a dedicated "remission" from one addiction now, and "into partial reversal" of the other (Graves Disease), and no improvement yet on the third, which is some kind of sleeping disorder that grew out of the Graves Disease (or, perhaps, is a 3rd thing that goers on by itself -- no clue yet.) I'm very proud of the partial reversal and the "remission" although it seems like everything else in life, practically, is crashing and burning.......*terrifying, to me*.......

 

[Nixie]

I have no addictions.

I do have rheumatoid arthritis though. I was diagnosed when I was in my mid 30's. I despise being sick with a passion (almost as much as I despise doctors). It does not run in my family. Luckily my case is mild (or maybe I refuse to think of it as anything but mild) but I like to torture myself and go off my medication which causes it to flare up. You know you are a stubborn bitch when you wait until you can barely walk before you make an appointment to see the doctor. I take a medication that is designed to "suppress" my immune system since it is those pesky overactve white blood cells attacking my healthy joints that causes all the symptoms. I dunno, but a medication that is so strong that you should only take it once a week and oh, yea, we have to make sure it isn't shutting your liver down sucks and I hate it. My rule is that if I can't walk (joints in my feet, knees still pretty good) or turn my head (shoulder joint), I don't go to work. Otherwise I got too much sh*t to do and not enough time to do it anyway.

 

[Chamomile]

Keep your head up! I know how hard those can be Congrats on your remission! That must be a load off your mind. The best advice I can give is keep yourself stress free and laugh as much as you can. Its so good for combatting disease!

I guess what I'm dealing with is a bit of a list, but here goes:
I'm bad with emotional addictions or addictions that make me feel more in control. For example, anorexia. Been a looooooong long struggle with that and I still have to fight with myself to eat more than 500 calories per day. Far from cured, but in my life it makes me feel much more in control somehow. I was raised in a very emotionally abusive home, so after years of therapy at least I know where the control need is coming from. Getting there

Also, I have Addison's disease. Its an adrenal disease and can be very dangerous. I have to eat a lot of salt and other strange things to help. Makes life pretty much hell if I get remotely stressed. Sadly my family doesn't 'believe' in it (wtf, i know) so there's a lot of pressure on me to still perform like some kind of in-great-health extrovert. It becomes a vicious circle.

I had heart surgery last summer for a heart condition that, according to my cardiologist, should have killed me a couple years ago. I'm really lucky to have made it through that, and so far the surgery is successful. I'd had it for about 13 years and ignored it because my dad told me it wasn't real. I was very young when he said this and believed him, and then it just grew in my mind and I was convinced it was my fault.

I was more recently diagnosed with a type of dysautonomia. This is a neurological disorder in the part of your brain that controls things like blood pressure, heart rate, and other things that are involuntary. So basically, when I stand, lie down, hold my hands above my head, my blood pressure plummets and my heart rate jumps to 230-250 and I get very light-headed and sometimes faint. Its made doing a lot of things I love impossible, like riding my bike, riding my horse, sex (I miss you) and hiking. Also, being in humid places makes it very hard for me to breathe with this, so living in the south really sucks. Hopefully I can get somewhere less humid for grad school.

Being only 22 and otherwise very healthy makes this really confusing and frustrating. I get a lot of 'why me' episodes and look at my healthy family and think what the hell is going on? I think part of why I have been so much sicker than them is that they're extroverts, I'm an introvert, and social stress is incredibly hard on me. Plus, I've been trying to behave like an extrovert my entire life. Obviously this all has come crashing down on me and I finally realized who I am and I stick up for myself now. I'll never heal if I keep inflicting that kind of stress on me. I guess when your own family won't protect you like that, you have to be your parent and protect yourself. I'm much happier now that I can accept who I am, but its still really hard. All my dreams about what I wanted to do with my life are in shambles and Im trying to find new ones, but I can't figure out what would be right for me with these limitations. Being a junior in college and having to make decisions very soon, this is a lot of stress for me. I don't know what I want anymore, but I do want to be happy. I think my first big step to remission and healing has been to accept who I really am and how rejecting it hurts my physically and emotionally. I think I'm on my way, little by little

 

[Peppermint]

Recently I went to a dermatologist for a few scaly patches of skin and was diagnosed with eczema. Not sure what to to think of it, the doctor was very brief and gave me nearly no information, but the internet makes it out to be all kinds of dramatic. :x

 

[flight]

addictions and autoimmune disorders are random things to pair together. i wasn't sure if you actually meant drug addiction or not but people are postin about that.

i used to be addicted to alcohol. i haven't drank anything in ten years.

 

[arbygil]

Recently I went to a dermatologist for a few scaly patches of skin and was diagnosed with eczema. Not sure what to to think of it, the doctor was very brief and gave me nearly no information, but the internet makes it out to be all kinds of dramatic. :x

Heh.

My eczema is fairly severe - enough so that it has caused major scarring and (I'd say) extreme hyperpigmentation on my face, neck, and arms. Sometimes I need prednisone to keep it under control, but I hate doing that.

I also have severe hay fever and asthma, but I just started getting allergy shots and I have a regular inhaler/regular drugs, so for the first time since age ten it actually feels as if my hay fever and asthma are being managed correctly.

I was afraid my immune system was breaking down, since every part of me on the allergy spectrum has steadily been going downhill - but I also learned that I've been severely deficient in all the B-vitamins too, and Omega-3s. I'm trying hemp seed and hemp milk as an alternative treatment, as well as Holy Basil for inflammation. I've also just ordered Maca root supplements to try and help with hormonal issues (because I honestly feel they're playing a part in all this).

I'm feeling a bit better - but some of that was also due to the prednisone for two weeks.

Meh, it's a battle. Other physicians saw my skin and have diagnosed me from everything from lupus to vitiligo. Obviously, clueless ones.

Alcoholism runs in my family, but if I feel like drinking it's usually socially. I can't really drink more than three or four drinks in an evening. Gives me a headache.

 

[Norton]

For autoimmune diseases look for current and future TNF-α inhibitors such as etanercept, infliximab, pirfenidone, etc.

 

[Seraffa]

I have no addictions.

I do have rheumatoid arthritis though. I was diagnosed when I was in my mid 30's. I despise being sick with a passion (almost as much as I despise doctors). It does not run in my family. Luckily my case is mild (or maybe I refuse to think of it as anything but mild) but I like to torture myself and go off my medication which causes it to flare up. You know you are a stubborn bitch when you wait until you can barely walk before you make an appointment to see the doctor. I take a medication that is designed to "suppress" my immune system since it is those pesky overactve white blood cells attacking my healthy joints that causes all the symptoms. I dunno, but a medication that is so strong that you should only take it once a week and oh, yea, we have to make sure it isn't shutting your liver down sucks and I hate it. My rule is that if I can't walk (joints in my feet, knees still pretty good) or turn my head (shoulder joint), I don't go to work. Otherwise I got too much sh*t to do and not enough time to do it anyway.

I'm sorry to hear about that but in awe that you stepped forward, Sonyab. I had to do copious reading and trying to eliminate stuff I ingested and around me before my autoimmune started making improvement....

 

[Seraffa]

Keep your head up! I know how hard those can be Congrats on your remission! That must be a load off your mind. The best advice I can give is keep yourself stress free and laugh as much as you can. Its so good for combatting disease!

I guess what I'm dealing with is a bit of a list, but here goes:
I'm bad with emotional addictions or addictions that make me feel more in control. For example, anorexia. Been a looooooong long struggle with that and I still have to fight with myself to eat more than 500 calories per day. Far from cured, but in my life it makes me feel much more in control somehow. I was raised in a very emotionally abusive home, so after years of therapy at least I know where the control need is coming from. Getting there

Also, I have Addison's disease. Its an adrenal disease and can be very dangerous. I have to eat a lot of salt and other strange things to help. Makes life pretty much hell if I get remotely stressed. Sadly my family doesn't 'believe' in it (wtf, i know) so there's a lot of pressure on me to still perform like some kind of in-great-health extrovert. It becomes a vicious circle.

I had heart surgery last summer for a heart condition that, according to my cardiologist, should have killed me a couple years ago. I'm really lucky to have made it through that, and so far the surgery is successful. I'd had it for about 13 years and ignored it because my dad told me it wasn't real. I was very young when he said this and believed him, and then it just grew in my mind and I was convinced it was my fault.

I was more recently diagnosed with a type of dysautonomia. This is a neurological disorder in the part of your brain that controls things like blood pressure, heart rate, and other things that are involuntary. So basically, when I stand, lie down, hold my hands above my head, my blood pressure plummets and my heart rate jumps to 230-250 and I get very light-headed and sometimes faint. Its made doing a lot of things I love impossible, like riding my bike, riding my horse, sex (I miss you) and hiking. Also, being in humid places makes it very hard for me to breathe with this, so living in the south really sucks. Hopefully I can get somewhere less humid for grad school.

Being only 22 and otherwise very healthy makes this really confusing and frustrating. I get a lot of 'why me' episodes and look at my healthy family and think what the hell is going on? I think part of why I have been so much sicker than them is that they're extroverts, I'm an introvert, and social stress is incredibly hard on me. Plus, I've been trying to behave like an extrovert my entire life. Obviously this all has come crashing down on me and I finally realized who I am and I stick up for myself now. I'll never heal if I keep inflicting that kind of stress on me. I guess when your own family won't protect you like that, you have to be your parent and protect yourself. I'm much happier now that I can accept who I am, but its still really hard. All my dreams about what I wanted to do with my life are in shambles and Im trying to find new ones, but I can't figure out what would be right for me with these limitations. Being a junior in college and having to make decisions very soon, this is a lot of stress for me. I don't know what I want anymore, but I do want to be happy. I think my first big step to remission and healing has been to accept who I really am and how rejecting it hurts my physically and emotionally. I think I'm on my way, little by little

I was anorexic for a brief period of life; 2 years in my early twenties. Know how it is......

 

[Seraffa]

addictions and autoimmune disorders are random things to pair together. i wasn't sure if you actually meant drug addiction or not but people are postin about that.

i used to be addicted to alcohol. i haven't drank anything in ten years.

Bulimia's autoimmune roots, pathways in the brain of suffererers, and ensuing addictions are NOT randomly thrown together. They go hand in hand. Clinical studies are now available to prove it in 75% of bulimics tested.

 

[Seraffa]

Bulimia's autoimmune roots, pathways in the brain of suffererers, and ensuing addictions are NOT randomly thrown together. They go hand in hand. Clinical studies are now available to prove it in 75% of bulimics tested.

Congratulations on your sobriety. Your body cannot metabolise alcohol - just like mine cannot metabolise starch, soy fructose and honey - resulting in a reaction that makes a binge uncontrolable, additive, bodily destructive and spiritually debilitating - just like alcoholism.

 

[Seraffa]

Heh.

My eczema is fairly severe - enough so that it has caused major scarring and (I'd say) extreme hyperpigmentation on my face, neck, and arms. Sometimes I need prednisone to keep it under control, but I hate doing that.

I also have severe hay fever and asthma, but I just started getting allergy shots and I have a regular inhaler/regular drugs, so for the first time since age ten it actually feels as if my hay fever and asthma are being managed correctly.

I was afraid my immune system was breaking down, since every part of me on the allergy spectrum has steadily been going downhill - but I also learned that I've been severely deficient in all the B-vitamins too, and Omega-3s. I'm trying hemp seed and hemp milk as an alternative treatment, as well as Holy Basil for inflammation. I've also just ordered Maca root supplements to try and help with hormonal issues (because I honestly feel they're playing a part in all this).

I'm feeling a bit better - but some of that was also due to the prednisone for two weeks.

Meh, it's a battle. Other physicians saw my skin and have diagnosed me from everything from lupus to vitiligo. Obviously, clueless ones.

Alcoholism runs in my family, but if I feel like drinking it's usually socially. I can't really drink more than three or four drinks in an evening. Gives me a headache.

It's not unusual for autoimmune disorders and diseases to make great demands, vitaminwise, on the body at the same time.