New Cardiologist Was Great!

After a lot of contemplation, my husband and I decided I should make an appointment with a new cardiologist. Even though I started to feel better, my better half convinced me it was worthwhile to just make sure everything was OK. I dug through my records and it's been like 3 years since my last echo, holter and EKG. The first nightmare office cancelled my echocardiogram on me at the last minute which was a blessing in disguise. They wanted me to re-schedule, but I just cancelled everything with their office. I am not about to go back to some lady who had no respect for me at all. It was maddening.

I wasn't expecting much with this new doctor because why in the world would I let myself down again? Well everything went so much better than expected. First off the doctor was male and younger, which sadly I think usually helps me. I think in the very least they feel empathy. I don't normally do so well with women doctors.

The Tide is Turning!

Finally I am getting better. The swelling and nodules are almost completely gone. There is still some slight discomfort in my ankles, but I think things are getting back to my normal. :)

I don't wish EN onto anyone. It was so excruciating and uncomfortable.

Erythema Nodosum: The Journey Continues

Here's the latest pictures of my feet. Check out the swelling! The picture on the left is from 3-4 days ago. The one on the right is from this morning.I called the rheumy and they seemed mad at me because I wasn't taking the NSAID. /sigh so I took it last night and today just to prove to them that the swelling is far beyond just some swelling on the nodules. I actually have full leg edema. I have gained 6 pounds in the past few days from this!

I got all of the labs back and it is quite interesting! I am definitely a weird one and I actually find it hilarious. Labs don't add up to a connective tissue disorder at all. The one thing that I keep coming back to Rheumatic fever and the PCP and her assistant agreed. They are sending me off to a cardiologist tomorrow. She would have had me seen today but I couldn't get in. I guess they will be checking my heart to see if anything shows up. At this point, even if not, I think I want to try some antibiotics and see what happens. I'll be sure to load up on the probiotics of course. 

I also have no idea how the hell my CRP and Sed Rate is normal. I am soo inflamed it is not even funny.

ANA Positive 1:320 Speckled 
SED Rate 10 (0-20)
CRP 0.1 (0.0-0.7)
ASO 182 (0-168) HIGH This is the strep infection titers, so I definitely had strep in December.
RA <15.0 (0-30) Negative
DNA AB Double 1 (<4) Negative
SM Antibody <1.0 (<1.0) Negative
RNP Antibody <1.0 (<1.0) Negative

C3 Complement 122 (90-180) Normal
C4 Complement 33 (16-47) Normal
CH50 Complement  >60 (11-60) HIGH  This is low in SLE, Sjogren's etc, so I think I've ruled those out with this result. Can be high in rheumatic fever! Not many conditions make this one high.

Sjogren's Antibodies:
SS-A/Ro AB <1.00 (<1.0) Negative
SS-B/La AB <1.00 (<1.0) Negative
Histone antibodies 1.3 (1.0-1.5=Weak Positive)

Chlamydia Antibodies:
C Pneumon IGM, IGG, IGA  All Negative
C Trachomat IGM, IGG, IGA All Negative
C Psittaci IGM, IGG, IGA All Negative

Mycoplasma Antibodies:
Mycoplasma IGG <0.90 Negative
Mycoplasma IGM 176 (<770) Negative

EBV antibodies: These are always high for me because I had EBV when I was 16.
EBV Capsid IGG 3.76 Positive
EBV Nuclear  IGG 2.80 Positive
EBV Capsid IGM <0.91 Negative

Acute rheumatic fever can account for both the high ANA and the high CH50. Also I posted on Jan 22, that was getting terrible chest pains and PVC's. I told the PCP this and she said I just have so much going on, that I absolutely need to see the specialists. Wow I couldn't agree with her more. Wish me luck tomorrow at the cardiologists.

Erythema Nodosum More Pics

As this progresses, the red hot, painful nodules are now becoming large, bruised nodules. Unfortunately right when I thought I was getting better, new ones formed the other day. Tonight I am feeling better again, but who is to say that a new crop of them won't form tonight.

The main symptoms associated with Erythema Nodosum is pain, swelling, joint pain, an overall sick feeling, pain, pain, pain and more pain. I have not been able to wear shoes for at least a week and have been sporting my lovely slippers everywhere I go. Sleeping is not easy either. If the sheets touch the spots, it hurts like hell.

I have been researching and these painful lumps may very well give me the answers I have been looking for for the past 11 years of my life. I almost feel like crying in a way. Lately my husband and I have been praying a lot for healing, guidance, hope and strength to get through these times. I asked God to show me anything that may help me to find out what is really going on. I kid you not, but just a few days later these bumps showed up. When I realized what they were, it was like a brick of information struck me upside the head (haha). Maybe I won't get all of the answers I am looking for, but it very well is leading me down a new path. For a very long time I have not had any new leads and have been just chugging along doing mostly nothing new.

Tomorrow I may find out what is going on, or not. Two diseases that can cause these bumps are two diseases that can also cause POTS. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. For once in the past 3 years I am actually feeling a bit of hope of finding some answers. Then in another 5-6 weeks I will have the genetic test results back as well. It is exciting times for me.

Just to note. My heart is skipping beats left and right and I'm getting a lot of shortness of breath today as well. Not fun.

Erythema Nodosum: Confirmed

I managed to get in to see a dermatologist really fast. If you tell them you have a very painful nodule on your skin, they think it's shingles and will see you right away! Well I did not have shingles, but he was glad to see me any way. He said this is definitely erythema nodosum (yay for google!) and that he had only seen it a few times in his years as a dermatologist. Online it states he has been practicing for over 30 years...

Erythema Nodosum: Yet another "skin" ailment

Well this is my first health update in a long time, but I feel I need to come out of my break and document this here.

I have developed what I believe is erythema nodosum. Here's the most sensible description I have found on it.

Erythema nodosum is a type of panniculitis that affects subcutaneous fat in the skin, usually first evident as an outcropping of erythematous nodules that are highly sensitive to touch.1 Most nodules are located symmetrically on the ventral aspect of the lower extremities. (Source)

I will be calling the docs tomorrow or Tuesday.. I want to get an official diagnosis and then get the followup labs/xrays done to make sure there aren't any more serious underlying issues.

How did all of this come about?

It came out of no where. I am not chelating or do anything special for my health at the moment.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a terrible pain in my ankles and in my wrist. It's been really cold, so I thought that maybe I was shivering in the middle of the night and I had strained a muscle. All day I was thinking, "wow my ankles are killing me", but I didn't even take a good look at them...

Right before bed, they were hurting so bad, I finally had enough of it and took my socks off and saw what looked like bruises. I pushed on them a bit because I'm apparently sadistic and I nearly jump through the ceiling. I ran into the other room to turn the light on to take a closer look. The areas on my feet/ankles that were sore, were bright red, swollen and hot to the touch. My husband immediately thought of gout and I went to bed thinking maybe that was it. I was too tired to do any research.

I woke up and started my journey. I ruled out gout pretty much right away because what I had was symmetrical on both sides of my feet. I had 2 red, swollen, hot, lumps just under the skin on the tops of my feet and on the side near my ankle bone. I also have one on my shin. Gout just does not present itself like that at all.

Eventually after some more reading I found Erythema Nodosum and I believe with great certainty that is exactly what I have now. Why? Who the hell knows? lol This is what happens when your body is falling apart and no one knows what is wrong. You start to manifest more problems as your body desparate tries to communicate to you that something is seriously wrong.

I know something is wrong, but I need help here!

The prognosis for this isn't bad. It's just a lot of pain, swelling and uncomfortable days ahead. Once it is out of the pain stage, these spots will turn dark like a bruise and stay like that for months. It is a slow healing condition and I hope I don't get them again. This is awful!

Some serious conditions can be an underlying result of the EN, so it's important to have everything ruled out and that's why I need to go to the docs for this one.

Causes

Common
Idiopathic (up to 55 percent)
Infections: streptococcal pharyngitis (28 to 48 percent), Yersinia spp. (in Europe), mycoplasma, chlamydia, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, mycobacteria
Sarcoidosis (11 to 25 percent) with bilateral hilar adenopathy
Drugs (3 to 10 percent): antibiotics (e.g., sulfonamides, amoxicillin), oral contraceptives
Pregnancy (2 to 5 percent)
Enteropathies (1 to 4 percent): regional enteritis, ulcerative colitis
Rare (less than 1 percent)
Infections
	Viral: herpes simplex virus, Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus
	Bacterial: Campylobacter spp., rickettsiae, Salmonella spp., psittacosis, Bartonella spp., syphilis
	Parasitic: amoebiasis, giardiasis
Miscellaneous: lymphoma, other malignancies

Mine will likely turn out to be Epstein Barr virus (because I had a flareup with that nasty bronchitis I had around Christmas) or nothing at all. But I just have to make sure and rule out some of the others like strep, sarcoidosis, lupus or anything else like that. It's never dull!