#spooniespotlight

#Repost @youngpeople_chronicillnesses with @repostapp ・・・ March is autoimmune disease awareness month! We've decided as a part of our #SpoonieSpotlight project to post a lot of #Autoimmunespotlight stories throughout the month! If you are interested in sharing your story please direct message us for the details on how. Entries close on March 10th. All entries after that will still be posted but as a general #spooniespotlight within the future. Our goal is to help people understand that our bodies can attack themselves. We deserve a voice and a outlet! This is your chance. Tag your friends with autoimmune diseases or # some diseases that are autoimmune or even give this a repost! . . . Thanks for your help everybody. Much love -YPCI Family. . . . . #behcetsdisease #neuromyelitisoptica #lupus #rheumatoidarthritis #addisonsdisease #autoimmunedisease #transversemyelitis #opticneuritis #crohnsdisease #Bulluspemphigoid #celiacdisease #chronicinflammatorydemyelinatingpolyneuropathy #Encephalomyelitis #gullianbarresyndrome #GravesDisease #graftversushostdisease #* Inflammatoryboweldisease #irritablebowelsyndrome #chronicillness #spoonie #invisibleillness

http://nationalpainreport.com/my-story-what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get-8833499.html #crpswarrior #chronicpainwarrior #spooniespotlight #invisibleillnessawareness #invisibledisabilities

#SpoonieSpotlight My name is Harly Rowe @harly14, I am 20 years old and am a nursing student at the community college. On January 6 2011 I had a basketball accident that lead me down a path of seeing specialist after specialist. My foot would swell up uncontrollably and bruise very easily. I could run into a counter and I would get a bruise. The pain was also not tolerable, I had pain radiating up my leg that was so bad that I was only sleeping three to four hours a night. I went from being a student who was active in golf, track, and basketball to a student who didn't play any sports and was struggling to even study. I had multiple bone scans, MRI, CAT scans, x-rays, and stressed x-rays. I was put on crutches for three months and then was in a boot for a period up to a year and a half on and off again. I went through physical therapy three days a week and extensive strengthening exercises. None of this worked so I went into a podiatrist who wanted to restructure my foot because he thought I had a Liz Frank fracture. My dad wanted a second opinion so we went to a specialist who diagnosed with me CRPS on my sixteenth birthday. They determined it was in my arch of my left foot. From there I went through desensitizing therapy and pain therapy. I also underwent four sympathetic nerve blocks. All this happened from 2012-2013. My  4th nerve block hit my motor nerve and I had to relearn how to walk so I stopped doing those. I started myofascial release and toxin release with a chiropractor. This lasted from 2013-2014. When I was a junior in high school my pain levels got severly worse. There were some days where it hurt to even take a step out of bed in the morning. They then put me on Neurontin and Lyrica. This caused me to forget almost everything under the sun. I couldn't remember what I was doing. I would sit down and study for a test and after dinner I would go back into my room and forget what I was doing in its entirety. So I weaned myself off of the medication and went through a period of withdrawals. I was sick from Thanksgiving of my Junior Year to Easter of my senior year.  Continues below.

#spooniespotlight My story is one of perseverance & positivity in spite of the struggle & challenges before me. My husband & I are fighting cancer together, he with lymphoma & myself breast cancer. All of this while being mom & dad to two very active young children who are 3 & 6. Trying yes, but at the same time extremely enlightening & strengthening. In May of last year my husband was diagnosed with Lymphoma. After a plethora of tests, scans & appointments he began treatment in July & was considered in remission as of August 2015. He tolerated treatment well & we were able to get through without much impact on the kids at all, in fact we managed never to mention the dreaded “C” word, which we were thankful for! Feeling like cancer was behind us, October was good! We celebrated our son’s 2nd birthday & our daughter’s 5th. Life seemed to be returning to normal. But in November, right around Thanksgiving I noticed a pretty prominent lump in my left breast. Since there was no history of breast cancer in my family & my husband had just battled cancer I was confident that it wasn’t anything to worry about & opted to wait until after the holidays to address it. I wanted my family to enjoy the holiday season stress free. I later wondered if that decision to wait might cost me my life. In January I made an appointment with my OBGYN, who referred me to a breast specialist & surgeon. We started with a mammogram & ultrasound. I was slightly concerned when not just one, but three people came to discuss the ultrasound findings. In a nutshell they said there was definitely something abnormal going on & recommended a biopsy which my breast surgeon handled shortly thereafter. On Monday February 22nd I received the dreaded call from my breast surgeon at work, she asked if I could speak privately. From that alone I already knew the results & I honestly couldn’t believe it. Following diagnosis, I had the standard plethora of tests & scans in which it was determined the mass in my left breast had most likely been growing for approximately two years already & they discovered an additional mass in the right breast as well.

#spooniespotlight My name is Emily and I am 17 years old from the UK. In the summer of 2015 I noticed that my hips were very squint and my shoulder blade and rib cage stuck out on my right hand side. At first I ignored it but I became quite self conscious of it so I looked online and I thought I had scoliosis so I went to the GP and I was diagnosed with scoliosis which is the curvature and twisting of the spine. From then on I met with the most amazing surgeon called Mr Tsirikos who helped me through my scoliosis journey. On my first appointment my spine was at a 50 degree curve and I was told I would need spinal fusion surgery as it was too late to do anything else as my spine was too curved, so after a hard journey of appointments, X-rays, MRIs, pain, feeling down about my body and much more, I had spinal fusion surgery on the 31st of May 2016. I was fused from t2-l2 and my spine went from 54 degrees to 6 degrees. I spent a very tough week in hospital but in the end it was the best decision of my life. Even though it was a difficult experience with a lot of pain, and I am still recovering now, it has made me such a stronger person than I was before and has made me learn about the most important things in life. Stay strong everyone 💕 . #scoliosis #scoliosissurgery #chronicillness #spoonielife #chronicpain