It Makes the Doctor 30 Years to Diagnose My Autoimmune Diseases

It Makes the Doctor 30 Years to Diagnose My Autoimmune Diseases

It Makes the Doctor 30 Years to Diagnose My Autoimmune Diseases

55-year-old Mollie Carman, when she was a teenager, developed psoriatic arthritis, but it took three decades to get a formal diagnosis. Along the way, the doctor suspects she may have fibromyalgia or lupus. When she finally saw the rheumatologist, everything changed. Now, Kaman is working to raise awareness of this painful disease.

When I do not have psoriasis, it's hard to remember. As a child, my scalp has psoriasis - it's really sad that this disease can affect the kids.

Then when I was about 13 years old, I developed a kind of psoriasis called drip psoriasis, which may have been caused by a few weeks ago streptococcus. About 90% of the body has a small pink lesion - my husband compares it with a poisonous rubber rash.

At about this time, I also began to suffer pain. I can hardly describe this feeling; it's like a muscle spasm, I will wake up and keep feeling the whole day. But when I was soon diagnosed with psoriasis, it seemed that no one knew what had caused my back pain.

Walk the long way to diagnose

In the twenties and thirties, my symptoms worsened, and even at the age of 33, I managed to have four children in some way. The pain began to affect my neck and other joints, but I continued to do all the things I had been doing - walking with me on the young children, running, swimming in Lake Michigan.

 I have a physical problem in my life, so I just think I'm weak. At the same time, my dermatologist, primary care physician and other experts told me that I could have fibromyalgia, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. It seems that every visit will have a different diagnosis.

I started reading all the medical books I could get with both hands and were familiar with psoriatic arthritis. I even have a "diagnosed" a sausage finger with a swelling of the toes and fingers of the common psoriasis arthritis symptoms of the neighbors. I told him, "I think you should see a rheumatologist because you may have psoriatic arthritis." He does.

I also need to find the right doctor

But until 2002, when I was in the early '40s, I did not follow my advice to see rheumatologists. My husband and I are busy with our children and are moving from Wisconsin to Idaho. But once we solved it, I found one of the best rheumatologists in Boise that was considered to be the Northwest. He accepted my pelvic X-ray examination, and finally got my diagnosis. I had a disease called spondylitis, psoriasis that could affect the pelvic bones. In my case, some of my lower spines are fused.

At that time, there is a lot of damage has been completed. The treatment of psoriatic arthritis can not reverse the existing injury. In addition, many of them are not good for me, because my disease is already very advanced. My pubis has been hardened and my joints are stiff. I had to undergo cervical surgery and hip arthroplasty. Every year will get worse, especially in the winter, when I feel I'm fasting through the beach.

I urge anyone to think they may have psoriasis arthritis to find a good rheumatologist. I advocate the National Psoriasis Foundation can help you find some in your area. The Facebook team can also be a good resource to track rheumatologists. Fortunately, it is now easier to find a genetically trained rheumatologist who is specialized in the disease than ever before.