I had just graduated from a vocational school, earning the title of valedictorian with a 4.1 GPA. My internship was at William Beaumont Medical Center at Ft Bliss TX, and where I decided to enlist in the military and expand on my medical career. None of these things did I ever imagine could happen to me. I didn’t even finish high school and got rather poor grades there. I aced the ASVAB and my physical, though being quite older than the other women. Most were in their late teens or early twenties and I was near thirty. Track was my best subject throughout school. It was a savior to me. I was a tutor at Mansfield College and I began tutoring soldiers to help them raise their GT score to enter a different MOS. So, here I was, in some ways at the best place I’d ever been in my life, then everything came to a screeching halt.

This is personal for me.

My name is Kimberly and I’ve been on a journey of discovery that began in my youth. All forks in the road led back to the trailhead, where they melded into a single path. Now we can get somewhere.

I started this blog to share my story and give you space to tell me yours. Chronic illness can be isolating and we need to voice what has happened to us. It’s part of the healing process.

I’ll share what I discovered in my research. Some avenues of study led me away from the answers I sought, and seemingly unrelated things brought me back to my purpose. I discovered everything was connected.

I may not know the precise beginning, but I have a better understanding of how things got started and escalated.

Stay with me. This will make sense as the story unfolds.

Our body’s systems belong to a single entity, which is often dissected and examined in parts. This is especially true in the healthcare industry.

You can go to various specialists who’ll each run different tests and have a different diagnosis for your symptoms.

Psychologists, cardiologists, rheumatologists, neurologists, etc., don’t get together for a view of the complete picture. There is a reason for that. But we’ll talk more about it later.

We have to look at the whole to find and understand the root cause of a chronic condition.

Okay, so here we go.

A couple of years ago, someone asked me to write what I was dealing with. This is what I wrote:

My 1st incident, that I am aware of, with an autoimmune condition, happened when I was 18-years-old. I had rheumatic fever after a bout of strep throat that left me with rheumatic heart disease. Not long after that, I developed severe toxemia during my pregnancies. I didn’t know at the time that both things were autoimmune related.

Within the next two years, doctors diagnosed me with bipolar disorder, unaware at the time that it resulted from my autoimmune problems.

I had my first heart attack at 23.

When I was 30, I was in a serious car accident, and suffered TBI, definitely not helping the situation.

Many other things followed, which I’ll get to. Ultimately, I was diagnosed with multiple autoimmune conditions. So here’s what I was dealing with:

• Fibromyalgia
• Degenerative Disk Disease
• Scoliosis
• 5 types of arthritis (psoriatic, rheumatic, an osteoarthritis are the ones I remember)
• CIDP (Chronic Inflammation Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy)
• MS (Multiple Sclerosis)
• Dystonia (A neuromuscular condition) muscle spasms and contractions in various parts of my body
• Widespread Chronic Pain (Varying Kinds of Pain)
• Migraines
• Seizures
• Cognitive Issues (Hard to focus or concentrate or stay on task) non-dementia related
• Vision Issues (complete vision loss for short periods)
• Weakness in my extremities and paralysis in parts of my body
• Bladder Problems
• Gall Bladder Attacks
• Heart Issues
• Fatigue
• Speech Problems
• Problems Swallowing
• Multiple Vitamin Deficiencies
• Dental Problems (loss of several teeth because of the Dystonia)

That is all that I remembered while writing. Of course, each of these things causes their own set of problems on top of everything else. I don’t have time or space to explain each one. (The End)

I’ve never met face to face with another human with Dystonia or CIDP. They are rare conditions.

15 in 100,000 have cervical dystonia, 1 in 100,000 has CIDP, and 1 in 10,000 has MS. These are but a few reasons for the experience of isolation.

So, next time I will talk about some things I’ve found that helped me. I would like to hear from you, please leave a comment if you want more information on a post.

P.S. I made edits to this post to add something I forgot to include in the symptom list. It’s added because it will matter as we get into this story. I suffered severe sensory problems, and as I am writing, I’m remembering other things that I will leave for now. I still wear earplugs regularly throughout my day.