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My Health

aka, Why is so much wrong with you?

A friend recently asked me "Why is there so much wrong with you?"  Well, not a very polite way to put the question :) but anyway, here goes.

I have some allergies.  Specifically, bee stings, ant bites, onions, berries, aspartame, penicillin, aspirin,  and sulfur/sulfonamides, as well as a bunch of environmental stuff.  Plus, a mild nickel/metal allergy that means jewelery is irritating and I can only wear non-gold/silver/titanium earrings for a few hours at a time.   Now, allergies and asthma are caused by the same things.  So, that explains that sniffling/sneezing and asthma.  As for the more specific allergies, I have some vague theories.  For example, I know I'm allergic to sulfur.  So being allergic to drugs that contain sulfur or sulfonamides makes sense.  Onions have a compound containing sulfur.  As does aspirin.   I think my sinus issues come from this place, as well.  My skin is insanely sensitive.  I believe this comes from the same chemical sensitivity that causes my other allergies.  So, that's what that's about.

I have some hearing loss, caused by chronic ear infections.*  There was something weird about my head not growing properly (when you are a kid you get ear aches 'cause your ear canal is shaped differently. As you grow, the shape changes and ear infections stop happening. This normally happens around 5 but didn't happen for me until I was around 14ish, which is why I had frequent ear infections until then.  I don't know why this change didn't happen to me earlier, but maybe it's linked in some way to the fact that I still have some baby teeth.  Seems my whole head just didn't mature very quickly :) )   I also get severely car sick.  Car sickness is a middle ear disturbance, quite likely related to the middle ear infections.  So, that's what that's about.

I'm face blind.   I also have very poor vision, I'm legally blind w/ out my glasses.  Neither of these seem to be linked to anything else.

I had pneumonia many times throughout my life.  I had scarlet fever as a child.  I seem to recall something about scarlet fever and a sulfur allergy being linked... but I can't remember what.  Maybe just one of the treatments for scarlet fever involved sulfur in some way.  ::shrug::

Depression/PTSD - due to some violent assaults, I suffer from PTSD.  I take medication to control this and my clinical depression.   I also have chronic insomnia and social anxiety disorder.  These things are all related.  I'm very clumsy.  I feel 100% this is linked to the PTSD, which causes an enhanced flight-or-fight response - I'm clumsy because I am always ODing on adrenaline.

I have all sorts of headaches.  Migraines, tension headaches, and CPH.   When my sinuses are giving me trouble, I get sinus headaches.  I don't know if all the different headaches stem from the same place or what.  My mother had migraines, and there is a genetic link. 

I have another chronic condition that I don't like to talk about or name.  But it causes many various symptoms, everything from dry skin (my skin gets so dry it flakes off in patches and my lips crack) to fingernails and hair that won't grow or breaks/rips easily, to anemia, to shaking, bruising easily, all the way to liver, kidney, pancreas and heart damage.   I throw up a lot.  I have frequently tummy aches that means a lot of time in the bathroom.  I get random dizzy spells, nausea, fatigue, etc.  The majority of the "not feeling well" stuff is from this.

Then there are the meds I take for this, and for the CPH, depression and other things.  My meds are a balancing act.  One raises my blood pressure.  I then need something to lower my blood pressure.  One helps my pancreas and damages my liver.  I need something to help my liver repair itself.  This causes kidney strain.  I take pain meds and sleeping pills, more liver issues.  I take tons of stuff every day, to combat everything from insomnia to nausea.  And everything causes it's own fun little side effects.

I have restless leg syndrome.  This appears to be linked to none of my other issues.  Nor does my shy bladder.  I have 2 bad shoulders, these are easy to explain, they were dislocated several times when I was a child.

So, I guess that's about it.  Most of what's wrong with me is explained by 2 illnesses (CPH and the other chronic thing) and the meds for them.  There are a few random things lingering from childhood, but it's really those two big things.  So, I'm not crazy or a hypochondriac.  That's all it is :)

* I found out a couple of years ago that my hearing loss was almost certainly caused by repeated blows to the head. The doctors who looked at me thought it was so obvious it was ludicrous I didn't know.  I believed what my parents and childhood doctors had told me.  In this little history I didn't really get into all the physical injuries I still have because of my abusive parents.  I have trouble sitting for more than a couple of hours because both my hips were dislocated and my pelvis broken when I was sexually assaulted (this also left me unable to have children, which is good, because I have NEVER wanted children).  My right knee was injured (in an actual accident) and required surgery.  Less than a week after the surgery, my step-father hit me, very deliberately, across that knee with a broom.  It has not recovered.  I've had broken ribs, I can't turn my neck very far either direction, I have very limited range of motion in my shoulders because they were frequently dislocated.  Several broken bones, but those don't seem to have any lasting effects, I can't even predict the weather.