the autoimmune professor

At this point, I have had a few wins in understanding why I felt the way I did, but I still didn’t feel I was to the bottom of my issues. About two weeks had passed since I had my blood overnighted to California for a plethora of tests and it was getting to the point where it was time to return to work and school as Christmas break was coming to an end. Thankfully, the program that I am in is online and because of the pandemic and the increase in numbers, the first four weeks of school where I am a professor was also moved online. Because I am tired all the time and it is hard for me to function as a normal person, this was the best scenario that I could have imagined. One of the funny things to me is that throughout this entire process, I never had made any notes of how tired I was, because I am and have always been tired. I can take a nap at any moment throughout the day and I don’t take those 45-minute cat naps. If I am laying down for a nap, I am sleeping for 3 hours minimum. Two naps a day? Even better! But again, I have always been like that since I was little. My mom even used to tell me that I was the one kid that LOVED naps and I did. So, I never really thought about how tired I was all the time, because it was completely normal. But I had a huge sigh of relief when I found out that I didn’t have to get up in the morning to get ready and instead could sleep until a half hour before class started, brush my hair, and jump on zoom to teach. I also was able to nap in between classes.

I had noticed that I had a little more energy than previous, but I chalked it up to the change in my diet with my nutritionist and the fact that I made a conscious effort to go to the gym every single day even if all I did was walk slow on the treadmill. So, I figured, the increase in energy and the nutrition that I was finally getting was the answer to while still being tired, I definitely had a little more energy and could get things done.

Advertising plug here – If you need a nutritionist or any help with nutrition or exercise… please visit www.lifeelevatednutrition.com. These girls are absolutely AMAZING!! They have helped me so much and it is not just the autoimmune disease – I am down 34 pounds total. They will help you understand what nutrition is, how to use it to your advantage, and why you are eating less than you should. YES, I actually got to eat more calories and still lost that much weight. I see Taylor (link to her Instagram) specifically, but worked with Danielle (link to Instagram) to lose 20 lbs. two years ago before I knew any of this. Even my doctor recommended that I stay with the nutritionist throughout at least the first six months of my diagnosis because she is so absolutely amazing and honestly they have changed my life!

January 7^th is the day… the day that my test results got posted to MyChart. Because of my background, I am able to read and understand most of my test results, even before the doctor puts the notes in. So, I get a notice that I have new test results and I am excited and nervous all at the same time, because I know that the AVISE test and whatever else the rheumatologist tested for is all that I am waiting on. I open up MyChart and there it is staring right at me… I have lupus. My ANA IgG and my EC4d are positive and not just positive, high positive. However, it says page 1 of 5, but for some reason, I cannot see any other pages of the scan. From researching the AVISE test, I knew that it tested for all kinds of other diseases, but I cannot seem to get my results to download or to flip to the next page. I spent about 3 hours on this by the way because I wanted to see the results so darn bad. I sent an email through MyChart to the doctor to see what the next step is. The doctor’s office called me the next day to make my next appointment, but couldn’t get me in for a full month!!! I was so freaked out by this point; I couldn’t believe that I had to wait another month. The doctor’s office was amazing as she said that she knew I needed to get in sooner, so she put me on the waitlist if anyone cancelled and then I asked if she could give me the rest of the test results or put me in touch with someone who could as I was not able to view them. Unfortunately, the answer I got was that I had to wait and come in to talk to the doctor. Of course, that is the answer that means this is not going to be good news.