This is out of my comfort zone for me, but if I didn’t think it was important or relevant I would not have shared my personal health problems. Maybe my sharing what I am going through will help so many moms who are doing a nearly impossible feat raising (or even recovering) their child with autism and they are under the impression that their poor state of health is due to lack of sleep and stress. But for many moms it is much more than that.
My story begins in 1998, when I was a senior in High School, I came down with a weird illness and the doctor was not sure what was wrong with me. A number of tests were done to rule out Leukemia, Mononucleosis or pneumonia. I was eventually diagnosed with Epstein Barr Viral Infection. I was told I would recover on my own with rest. My lymph nodes in my neck never went back to their normal size, and for years I would suffer recurrent strep infections and mysterious illnesses that would surface whenever I was under stress.
Shortly after Kaylee was born, I went to my doctor and told him I was so tired and achy. I felt like something was wrong with me. He decided to check my thyroid for an underactive thyroid and also rule out anemia, both tests came out within normal limits. After that nothing else was discussed and soon after I was expecting my 2nd child and then my 3rd child, and believe it or not, I actually felt better during my pregnancies. Now that it has been 3 years since I had my last child, my health has been steadily declining.
Here is my list of symptoms for some time now, with periods of remission (during pregnancies):
• Swollen, painful lymph nodes in my neck
• Constant fatigue, sometimes to the point where I feel sick
• Daily headaches
• Migraines in the middle of the night
• Food allergies
• Achy all over
• Difficulty concentrating, especially for long periods of time
• Stress intolerance
• Exercise Intolerance
• Sleep Disturbances, insomnia
• Unrefreshing sleep (waking up tired and sore)
A few months ago I went to a new doctor and I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Right now there is nothing my doctor can (or WILL) do for my symptoms. If I am careful about what I eat (no wheat or dairy, just like Kaylee), and if I make sure I am always taking Aleve, if I get plenty of sleep and do not push myself too hard physically, I feel relatively ok. But the truth is most of the time I feel sick. There are many more “bad” days than “good”. Everyday is a battle for me, I constantly need rest and I have to be careful about the foods I eat, take Aleve and coffee certainly helps too.
But most importantly, I truly believe that my poor health is definitely a piece of Kaylee’s Autism puzzle. I believe I am sick with the same thing that is affecting Kaylee.
I will explain more about this in my posts to come. I have so much information that I have been working on for many months now and because of my health problems I have found it difficult to organize my thoughts but I will do my best. Please be patient with me as I try to explain what is going on and please ask me questions...email me…anything!
My new email address is itsnotautism@gmail.com for anyone that wants to ask me questions, etc.
Be blessed!
