Introduction

Hello all! I'm new to the world of blogging, but I felt that I had to take my recent experiences and make something productive out of them. The past year has been the most trying, scary, and difficult time of my life. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. This would be a blow to anyone, but I am 22 years old. What frustrates me the most is that in all of the books I read, I keep coming across the same stories over and over again. Twenty-something’s who start having pain that they attribute to working out. They don't think much of it until they pretty much hit bottom and then have to go to multiple doctors until someone is able to figure things out. This is, needless to say, a lesson in frustration. And I've determined that if you can survive that part of the process, you can survive anything. It's crazy that this happens because over 20 million people in America suffer from autoimmune diseases of various sorts. And little research or funding is given to this class of illnesses, for which many are often horrible, debilitating, and have no cure. While most of this blog will focus on my illness and subsequent journey through the medical system, I didn't want to have the name focus solely on that. I hope that for those who know me, this will keep them updated and help to answer some questions that they may have been left with over the past few months. For those who don't know me, I hope this will provide some type of education, as I, in my limited blogging experience, have come across few blogs that deal with autoimmune diseases. I hope that this will empower people to be their own advocates when it comes to medical care. This is probably the greatest lesson I have learned this year. When it comes to medical care you are your own best friend and worst enemy. It is easy to shut down, but in the end, the only one you are hurting is yourself. I haven't gone into much detail here about how I got to where I am today, but I hope to do that in the very near future... Anyway, happy reading!!!