Hi Liz,
Just want to let you know that you are not alone. I have a connective tissue disorder and now it seems I am coping with myasthenia gravis.
I am not a doctor or any kind of health care professional. So, do not take anything I say here as "medical advice". But, you may want to do your own research as I have done on the effects of environmental toxins. Which ones? Specifically two....1. Copper Copper causes a host of connective tissue disorders. If you have ever been raised by smokers, smoked, lived in an old house with copper piping, cooked in copper clad cookware or been on the birth control pill or under long term trauma or stress, been a vegan or vegetarian..... a hair mineral analysis may be in order to determine if you have an excess of this metal in your system. 2. If you routinely brush and rinse your mouth with fluoridated water and drink unfiltered tap water, that too can cause connective tissue disorders as that fluoride kills lysl-hydroxylase, a key enzyme in the synthesis of collagen tissue. If these two are not your case, there is a rare chance you may have ehler's danlos, a genetic syndrome that alters the connective tissue causing hypermobililty, joint dislocations and easy bruising and fragile organs. Lucky me, I have suffered from all three!
I found this forum while looking for info on how to calm myasthenia gravis down. My lungs are on the verge of crisis as I type this but I have no medical insurance. I am able to go to the university clinic but my appointment with the pulmonologist is not until the end of the year. I am counting the days and every breath I take.
If you wish to talk outside of here about this more, please feel free to contact me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wittesea
BIG thanks to DocJohn for adding an Autoimmune forum. 
Hello to the other autoimmune folks...
I'm Liz (30-something, female, married, no kids, 3 cats) with a Dx of UCTD - Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease.
Big mouthfull of words meaning it's something autoimune and it's something wrong with your connective tissue, but we don't know exactly what it is, so we'll just give you a big mouthful of words as your diagnosis.
I also have a few of the so-called "minor" autoimmune problems... Sicca syndrome, Raynauds, etc...
To top everything off is fibromyalgia, chronic myofascial pain, anxiety, hypermobility with chronic tendon injuries, TMJ, endometriosis, blah, blah, blah, etc....
Persoanlly, I think there is a bigger picture - one main medical issue that has yet to be diagnosed that will explain why I have so many diagnoses. I think all my current diagnoses are all meant to explain symptoms, not a diagnosis that will explain the problem.... and without knowing the big picture diagnosis I am stuck treating symptoms instead of treating the source.
So that's me in a nutshell. Anyone else care to introduce themselves?
Liz |