But You Don't Look sick

Fibromyalgia and autoimmune illnesses have become a part of my life.

13 yrs ago this month (12th) I lost my mother to lupus. She had suffered for sometime with an illness no one could name. She had raynauds, and scleraderma and alopecia.....and she died....without knowing what she had. She did not even have a positive ANA test that would have alerted her doctor to her illness. She also had Graves disease.

20 yrs ago after the birth of my 3rd child I began having problems of my own. I became exhaused and I had pain in my muscles and joints. My doctor said that I had 3 small chilldren and that was the reason and not to worry. I also developed rashes on my head, eyes, legs, hands, face and chest.

The pain has gotten progressively worse over the years. It has affected every part of my life.

My brother is also affected my two autoimmune illnesses. He was originally diagnosed with hashimotos. But recently he was also diagnosed with sjogrens.....and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome because it has destroyed his pituitary gland.

So, I decided to do some research of my own.

I discovered that my maternal grandfather had type 1 diabetes. My maternal grandmother had myasthenia gravis.

Along with my mom, one of her brothers has epilepsy, one died from type one diabetes, 2 sisters had myasthenia gravis and another has autoimmune ear problems.

Out of 33 cousins...half suffer with some sort of autoimmune issues...or fibromyalgia.

Now, I ask......is there a connection?

Seems like it to me.......................

We also seem to suffer from anxiety disorders.

What worries me is that I am also seeing some symptoms in my children..

It is very frustrating that physcians have trouble diagnosing these diseases. And I am not sure why.

What hurts the most is when they think it is all "in your head". We look pretty good......for feeling like crap.
Its hard when even your own family doesn't understand how you feel.....how bad you feel.....how depressing it is......how you feel like a failure because you can't hold down a job anymore......that even normal everyday activities are difficult. The joy of living is gone.

Why? Why can't more be done? Why is it like this? what causes it?

So many questions........no answers.