I had issues with my right hand and arm before. It would curl up—like I was having a stroke—followed by about a week of pain and swelling. Movement tests, Nerve Conduction Studies, and CT scans showed nothing. Consequently, I was told it was "all in my head"—probably just stress. Because, apparently, stress makes your hand swell up like a balloon. I eventually gave up investigating. I assumed it was a flaw in my makeup, much like the buzzing in my ears that doctors also dismi

For 10 years I knew I was getting weaker, my legs not being as strong as they should be despite lots of Pilates and cycling. But no one else really believed me until I was strength tested on an exercise machine. Then began the rounds of doctors and tests, everyone still flummoxed.  A respected specialist eventually clinically diagnosed me with the Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy but at the time genetic tests were very expensive and there was no treatment for this dystrophy an

In 2012 at the age of 15 I was finally diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension after years of doctors dismissing my parents concern of headaches and at some point, vision concerns from the age of 8-9 years old. It took far too long to have a diagnosis but all it took was one doctor to listen. They did the relevant testing and found that I had too much cerebrospinal fluid. As the years went on I progressively got sicker unfortunately. I was in and out of doctors o