The search for a diagnosis continues

Guest Post Written By Elysha Ludwig

So I’ve dealt with chronic illness for over 3 years now. So it’s safe for you to assume that I’ve seen A LOT of different doctors!! I’m still going to doctors to try to figure things out. I thought for awhile I can just deal with the pain and stop seeing doctors. I was so discouraged that we couldn’t find anything or we would try a new med and it didn’t help. It wasn’t just the pain bothering me though. Because of the pain along came other things, like depression, giving up, and self hate. I realized that I don’t want to live like this so I need to keep searching. Keep testing. Keep faith that I wasn’t going to be like this forever.

After another ugly flare up that sent me to the hospital my mom talked to her friend that’s a GI doc. He agreed to see me. My mom also works with this guy so she knows he hates to be stumped and will do anything to try to figure things out. So I was excited to see what he had to say.

My biggest problem with seeing new doctors is not knowing where to start!! I start listing a few things, which leads to other things and then the “oh did I mention I lived in Haiti?”, then we look stuff up in Haiti, then they want to know what I did there and it just keeps going.

It can be emotionally draining!! You talk about all these things that never worked, your body isn’t the same, your social life is different, you can’t do as much as you did before, you’re tired, and it goes on. I love talking about Haiti but sometimes it’s sad. It’s the main reason I’m sick. Sorry guys, this is me venting. I really love this new doctor and we’re doing some more testing, but it’s hard sometimes. So hopefully we can find something and try to improve things. If not, I will continue seeking answers and try not to get discouraged. Through this venting I hope you can be encouraged some how. Don’t forget… Keep the faith!