Mark, age 28, Melbourne, Australia, Spondyloarthropathy with Enthesitis Getting Diagnosed As a teenager, I was probably just as healthy as anyone else. I played basketball and tennis, and I was active pretty much every day – I could run and jump and do lots of things. As far as family history goes, my maternal grandfather had rheumatoid arthritis. When I turned 18, I fit some chronic fatigue, then the flu, then plantar fasciitis. From that point on, I just had chronic pain that never went away. So I went to some doctors and nothing came back positive. It probably took about three months of doc ..read more

Billy, age 43, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, Crohn’s Disease Pre-Diagnosis So I’ve had Crohn’s disease all of my life, but I didn’t find out until I was twenty. For my whole childhood I was raised to do the whole biomedical thing, doctors and medications. But even so, I never got diagnosed. My mum remembers so many times when I was a kid my belly would get all big, and she would rush me to the doctor, but nobody knew what was wrong. When I was twenty, I went in for an emergency surgery that was initially thought to be my appendix; but it wasn’t my appendix at all. Once they went in to do th ..read more

Cindy, age 49, Sacramento, California, USA, Type 1 Diabetes Getting diagnosed I was sick a lot as a kid and I was on antibiotics a ton as a result. I got pneumonia like every other year until I was thirteen, and I got strep throat at least twice every year (if not three or four times!). I almost died of influenza when I was three. I didn’t have a great immune system, even as a child, but the doctors never suggested an autoimmune issue. When I was seventeen, there was this period of time when I was really tired a lot and fairly lethargic. My mum (who was a nurse at the time) noticed that I was ..read more

Stacy, age 39, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Life Before MS Before I was diagnosed with MS I was a competitive tennis player and athlete, and I was pretty healthy growing up. I think the worst I had was mono in high school. That was it The first time I noticed any symptoms was in the spring of 2008, when I was 28 years old. At the time, I was preparing for a move to Florida, and I was having very strange fatigue issues. I would have crazy fatigue attacks, but I attributed it to the packing I was doing, getting ready to move and all of the stresses associated with that. Unfort ..read more

Gina, age 38, Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA, mixed connective tissue disease Low-Level Symptoms in Early Life Around age 9 or 10, I vividly remember waiting at the bus stop, and my hands started turning purple. I remember looking at the other kids, and their hands weren’t purple. I told my parents, but I guess it didn’t seem that severe – they didn’t think much of it. Soon after that, my primary care doctor noticed, and he diagnosed me with Raynaud’s disease. Because the symptoms were uncomfortable and a bit embarrassing, he put me on a calcium blocker. That medication didn’t work, though, so ..read more

Bonus interview with Katy as per Andy from Oxford’s suggestion Name – Katy Age – 28 Location – Oregon USA Diagnosis – Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis Question. How old were you when you were diagnosed? Answer. 10 months old Question Can you describe the onset of symptoms? Answer. Upon waking up one morning, my mother noticed my ankles were swollen so badly she couldn’t even get my shoes on. I was constantly crying, eventually, I stopped crawling, and every movement hurt. Question. Do you have any family history of autoimmune diseases? Answer. No Question.  Did you try adjusting your diet ..read more

Ayesha Nauth, age 42, Brighton, United Kingdom, Rheumatoid Arthritis A Fast Fall from Youthful Health to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis I was born in Guyana, South America, and my parents brought us over to England when I was 12. I went to school and had a perfectly good childhood. Then I went to university and was quite involved in everything going on sports wise, including basketball and hockey. In my final year in university, my feet and hands started to swell. So I went to the doctor the next day at the university. They sent me for blood tests at the hospital and they said it was arthritic. T ..read more

Jennifer, age 41, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, Lupus Pre-Diagnosis If you had asked me about my health history in my early thirties, I would have said very average. I suffered with a few things like seasonal allergies, sinus infections, and random viruses. I had mono as a teenager. I never had and sports injuries or accidents. My only official medical diagnosis was chronic urticaria, more commonly known as hives, that can on suddenly in 1997 when I was 21 years old. My hives were an everyday occurrence so I had been instructed by a doctor to take an antihistamine. The hives persisted, and as s ..read more

See below 3 Yoga Nidra Files for you to enjoy and practise, but these must not be listened to whilst driving or operating machinery. Yoga Nidra for High Level Living Yoga Nidra for Inner StrengthYoga Nidra for unshakable Peace & Joy   The post Yoga Nidra Audio Files free for use appeared first on Lionheart Hot Yoga Hull ..read more

Name – Andy Age – 66 Location – Oxford UK Diagnosis – Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis and Osteoarthritis.   Life as I Know It.   Prior to my recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, I had lived for many years as a vegetarian. Through most of my adult life I have done walking, swimming, badminton, mainly as a social activity. Never any yoga of any sort. I just never considered yoga, that is, until my arthritis became really bad. I’ve had arthritis for over 40 years, and throughout that time it was relatively stable. My first symptoms back when I was 23, started after I went ..read more