GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

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Those of us dealing with a chronic illness/pain are all to familiar with the whole "Good News/Bad News challenge and while good news is really great you just know there is that per-verbally shoe that is about to drop.

My lower back/hip pain has gotten so bad that I can not walk a block or stand long enough to make something to eat without extreme pain, numbness and losing the ability to walk without holding onto something. Had a bone density test done to rule out osteoporosis and osteopenia. Good news that my test came out normal, Bad news is we still don't know what is causing it. Could it be my Rheumatoid Disorder/Disease? Could it be Ankylosing Spondylitis? By the time anyone get's this all figured out it will probably be to late because:

A). I'm a woman-It is a known fact that when it comes to anything medical they either think a woman can't get the same illnesses as a man or because when it comes to their medical studies that's how they learn, by using the male form. Men and women are biologically different, if we weren't then why aren't the men having the babies?

B) A "White" person is also biologically different than a "Black" person and if you are of mixed race like I am then you are really screwed. Again when it comes to many years of medical science and studies all baselines are that of a white person. Granted we are all "HUMANS" however their are differences in our DNA structure.

Take Ankylosing Spondylitis for instance, according to medical professionals it's a predominately "Male" disease and this is not the case. A.S presents differently in women just like signs of a heart attack is different in women so it's harder to diagnose and is often overlooked. 

The blood test HLA-B27 is not the same in white people as in black people. More blacks are diagnosed with A.S without having the HLA-B27 gene where as the majority of whites that have the HLA-B27 gene have A.S.

So not only are "Autoimmune Disorders" difficult to diagnose as a whole no matter what race you are it's even that much harder to diagnose in a female/female of African-American decent or a female of mixed race. I have genes from both parents, don't the doctors ever take that in consideration?

To read more please visit: Ankylosing Spondylitis

CHRONIC ILLNESS/PAIN STOLE MY DREAMS...

I'm not going to dwell on the past or give a life long story of why I say this but I will say I had my life mapped out before I got sick.

I finally got a great paying job with benefits working for Grainger in Janesville, WI. 401K, life insurance, awesome health care, etc...even had my dream car, 2010 Nissan Rogue. It was red, roomy and beautiful!! Just what I wanted to haul my minions (grandkids) around in, haul groceries and go on trips. I even went back to school and got my associates degree in business so I could move up in the company.

I wanted to have everything planned and payed for in the event of my death so my kids didn't have to deal with it like I did with my parents and I wanted to be able to leave them something behind. I only have one parent left and that is my step-mom, I don't call her that because to me she is my Mama. I was blessed to have two Mamas and I wanted to be able to help her and take care of her now that my Daddy has passed away.

Sadly all of my dreams have died because of my illness and I have lost everything. I don't get to see my kids and grandkids like I used to anymore, I have to rely on everyone else to help me and give me rides to where I need to go. My Mama, bless her heart, helps take care of me the best she can and she is still working. I had to go on public assistance and I have to rely on the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation System to get me to my appointments, and there is a lot of them.

Working from home is a hit or miss at best and I have been denied SSDI three times, the third time I had a lawyer and it was still denied by the adjudicator at my hearing. Now we are appealing the decision, someone like myself shouldn't have to go through this while people who are drug addicts get the benefits. That is a story for another time though.

So while everyone may look at me as being a "MALINGERER" I am not. I didn't screw up for all this to happen to me, my body failed me and I got to sick to work. I had to give up everything, what wasn't taken from me, just to survive this far.