Why is my body so completely messed up

Ive always had an assortment of little conditions through my life, chronic knee and ankle pain all through out my child hood and mild microscopic colitis that caused occasional diarrhoea bouts.

It was early January and I had travelled to the tropics just before school had started and developed a very mild sickness of some sort, initially I thought it was a Flu of some sort, with the general aches, cough and tiredness. However it started getting progressively worse so we decided to go a doctor, after a little bit of testing we got some results and I got told I had Typhus, two days after that I was hospitalised with a severe case of pneumonia. I got administered 6 weeks of oral antibiotics and was bed bound for at least 2 months.

I finished my course of antibiotics and came out feeling better but not 100% as you would expect after a long fight like that. After about a month my body just started crashing, I was getting joint pain in every single joint, muscle pain, extreme fatigue, constant diarrhoea and constipation, night sweats and countless other symptoms.

Long story short it go so bad that after taking a hot shower I couldn’t physically stand up, my body felt severely weak, I had diarrhoea up to twenty times a day, I had an array of nervous and neurological issues ranging from parasthesia to severe light headed ness. Consistent whole body pain, hyperhidrosis, GERD, the list continues.

the first step was to see a psychologist which i was explicitly un happy about because i knew it was no a psychological illness. One session there and I was out, told I was 100% and good to go the next step.

After countless specialists, medical bills and suffering we found the problem. Effectively the Typhus had caused an autoimmune reaction that sparked up Hashimotos disease which in turn sparked up another autoimmune defect which is a benign episodal form of Multiple Sclerosis which has given me transitive myelitis and multiple food intolerances.

now i am still in that episode, suffering, I feel some what better but refuse to take most medications because of their detrimental effects. The type of ms it is I may never get it again after this episode, fingers crossed.

now to my point, I feel where you come from, your body feels broken, no one takes you serious and all the other fun stuff.

biggest pieces of advise I can offer are, do not take a doctors word, push for more results you are your own professional, you know yourself better than the doctors so if you feel there is something wrong, keep pushing for an answer.

secondly, don’t be scared of the psychologist, even if nothing is wrong they can help keep your head in the right spot so you don’t become unhinged. Also if it is a social issue and you think people will judge you differently for going to a psych, just don’t tell them.

and just a side note here’s a common situation I come across, people often think you are just complaining and are fine or better than you say you are. This situation I am about to describe portrays especially how ignorant people can be.

about a month after the ms diagnoses and having some treatment for my hashimotos I decided to catch up with some mates now that I was feeling more able to do things. First thing said to me was “oh you don’t look sick” effectively I replied “no I’m only 55KG and 6”4, not don’t look sick at all” next comment I received was “I think you’re exaggerating your sickness’s too much, my brother has Leukemia and was able to be back school within a year, what he had was much worse than what you had” that really  set me off I replied with “no what I have is worse than early stage leukemia, your brother would have felt like he had a flu, leukemia is one of the most asymptomatic cancers and really when in severe cases just has high rates of acute fatality which previous to that acute attack really has no suffering, however what I have is a permanent life long disease that literally affects every single system of my body in which it correlates symptoms. So would you rather have a disease that last 1-5 years with mild symtoms and small fatality rate or have a debilitating disease for 80 years with no cure and a large array of painful symptoms” 

i left and never spoke to him again, supportive friends are good friends, non supportive friends really aren’t friends.

ultimately, stand up for yourself, your points, don’t be shy, don’t listen people who don’t know what it’s like and the quicker you find help the better in the case it is something severe.

Have you been tested for Lyme disease? My family of 9 and I reside in Pennsylvania, a deer tick hot spot. Both my parents and two of my sisters had \have the disease. Only one of my sisters has fully "recovered". All of them showed symptoms very similar to yours.

I fully understand what jai3158 means when s/he said about how others don't understand. Most people have no clue what it means to have chronic illness and disease. One of the most painful things is being misunderstood and judged by others. The feelings of loneliness and hopelessness can at times be overwhelming.

My advice to you is be your own advocate. You are the one who must live in your body. Never give up! You where placed on this earth for purpose.