[Note: This post may be updated in the future if more information is available.]
I started having new symptoms when I was around 14-years-old. At this age, I developed a skin rash on my scalp that was diagnosed as “just dandruff” by doctors for many years. I also began having more sinus infections, heavy menstrual cycles, and more moles pop up on my stomach and back. I also had my first antibiotic-related vaginal yeast infection while I was on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Doctors prescribed hormonal birth control pills in an attempt to lighten my menstrual cycle bleeding. I didn’t think much of any of these things, and doctors were not concerned. At some point, I also became more sensitive to personal hygiene products and detergents.
When I was 16-years-old, I started noticing fatigue. Again, doctors were not concerned, and didn’t find anything of note.
Around age 19, a little more than my usual amount of hair started coming out in the shower, but I had thick hair, so I didn’t think much of it. I do remember that my roommate at the time would comment on how much hair I left in the shower. I also started getting more acute upper respiratory infections. The fatigue also worsened. (Last month, I read an old journal entry from around this time in my life, and I had written that I was going to the doctor to try to figure out why I was so tired, but nothing else was written about it after that.)
Doctors weren’t concerned at the time, so I wasn’t either. I just thought that I was a tired college student–even though I was an old soul and not out partying all of the time.
Were these clues that were missed along the way? According to some of my doctors, yes. Will we ever know for sure? I don’t know.
What I do know is that everything adds up in life to create illness (pathogens, environmental stressors, emotional stressors, trauma of any kind, etc.). Illness doesn’t happen in a day.
Just another day of . . . This Brutiful Life: The Brutal & Beautiful Moments of My Life.
This Brutiful Life 