Andrea's Story

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Hello Everyone,
My name is Andrea and I am going on 45 years old in just a month and half. I have been diagnosed with Lupus for 16 years and for the last 3 years have been in remission. I have been to hell and back with this medical illness and I pray for anyone who has it. My Great-Grandmother had it and it was not diagnosed until just before she passed away but she was a very tough woman and that has given me strength. When I was 21 we found out that my mother also has SLE and she has gone through many many problems most of them with her stomach and her joints. She had to have 18 inches of intestine's removed and then she suffered with TIAs and now she is down to 122lbs and the doctor's can't figure out why she is not able to keep any food in her stomach so they have arranged for her to go to the Mayo Clinic next month and she is afraid to find out that there is nothing they can do. I have had to go through Lung Biopsies due to the fact that they found blood clots in both lungs and then I suffered bowel obstructions and Heart defects due to this illness. I was on Steroid's for over 5 years and the weight came on like a lion and now I am not able to lose all of it. I have gained over 200lbs and lost 100 of that but I have not given up on that right now. My husband has been my life line through all of this and I would not trade him in for anything. When I was in and out of the hospital due to infections he was the one who took care of our two little children one with Down's Syndrome and the other a wild child of her own free will.
I am now on Plaquenil only for the Lupus but was once on Methotrexate and Prednisone for a long time. I had to have 8 port-a-cath's put in and replaced due to the fact that after so long they finally figured out that I was a carrier of Staph and every time they put something in my body it would cause me to have a major reaction and I would be back in the hospital. I lost my eye site back in 1993 due to Psuedotumor Cerebri and I had to undergo four eye surgeries to have the optical nerve cut open then when that didn't work they had to implant a shunt in my lower lumbar to cut the spinal fluid down. So far that has helped but I still suffer major headaches that can't be controlled. Now I am having problems with my Vit. D. level and my bones are hurting so bad that I can't stand it. They doctor's don't want to put me on any heavy pain meds because I became addicted to them 4 years ago and now we are very careful with anything that I take. Well, now that I have rambled on I will close and pray for all of us who suffer with this horrible illness.

Thank you for listening.

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