Hello everyone, I’m new at all of this. I am 34 years old. It has been very scary these few months but finally I got diagnosed. At moments I’m just so happy that at least I have an answer finally even though I have suffered so much mentally. I started with numbness on my fingers and toes from October 2017. I work as a Medical Assistant in a hospital clinic. Checking my own sugar, blood pressure and pulse at work when I could to find out if something was wrong. Nothing was coming out bad. I ended up asking one of the doctors that I work with to see me for a physical. My pulse was around 117 I remember but nothing else was weird. Doctor didn’t see anything abnormal in the labs either. She diagnosed me with mental stress because of work, and sent me to a Psychologist. After 3 months, signs of anxiety at night, pain on my chest, numbness on toes and hands and ear pain. I went to a walking clinic after I couldn’t with my ear pain no more. I had positive Strep. Lord... what a mistake having that, they treated me for that for a long time before they came with Wegeners. Because strep never left my system after months. So it threw everyone off. On May 2018 i remember I was dragging myself to work, at this point, my knees were in a lot of pain, stiffness I couldn’t bent. One day I tried going down the stairs at the end of my day and I just gave up and started crying. Mentally this was it, I literally couldn’t walk! I called my husband and asked him to please come for me that I couldn’t give one more step. When I got home and guys I was very mentally strong to keep going. I was so scared to think I was so sick that I pushed myself until the end. He got me into bed and when I turned my elbows were full of lesions, red dots all over. This was in one day. So quick. We rushed to the hospital I couldn’t walk, now my neck and shoulders were stiff and if someone tried to carry me I would scream of pain. They gave me steroids in IV and pain meds. Hospitalized for 7 days and still no signs of Vasculitis. So they treated me for Strep and RA until they sort it out. After they did the Anca test it took 15 days for an answer I’m not sure why. After I came out of the hospital I had to go see a Rheumatologist, he said I’m sorry you might have Wegeners but maybe the strep is throwing it off and it’s a false positive sent me to a Infection disease specialist and she put me in penicillin shot once a month for strep. Now I was stable, but bleeding through my nose at time. He also referred me to another doctor because he said if it turned to be really Wegeners, it was a rare disease and he knew very little of it. Dr. Ariel Teitel in Manhattan, New York. What an excellent Rheumatologist in weird diseases. I actually didn’t believe him at first. I was more focused on having strep and that all was going to be okay soon. I never had a big flair again but continued with pain until September 2018. When my eye got red, but still able to walk and be okay, I saw Dr Teitel and he said my labs were crazy now, and kidneys were at risk and to have a biopsy. I said no, I’m feeling fine, I have gotten a little of high diabetes now maybe protein is in my kidneys for that. No one is taking care of my sugar. I was debating Bc I was in such denial, no one had given me a straight answer for months and I was just so tired of it. But he said please listen to me, that eye is red. I said, a kid had pink eye 2 days ago at work, it’s pink eye. He said please go to the hospital, get the biopsy done! He said to me “if you don’t listen to me, you might have top 6 months of living time this Wegeners is NOT A JOKE” I cried like a baby! I listened to him I went to the hospital again. They did the biopsy of the kidneys, and checked my eyes. He was right. I had positive Wegeners Vasculitis. Biopsy was positive. They rushed me to quimo. At this time I couldn’t even have time to breathe, the look on my husbands eyes was unforgettable, we were all at shocked. Family all scared and no one understood what was going on. Was I going to die tomorrow, next week? What was going on, I was so healthy before this! They explained to me a few treatments, thankfully Rtx was the best that I could choose from since it has no effects like the other ones. I took it well. 6 hours of Infusion. I was just mentally stressed that i was going through so much but physically I was okay. Two weeks later on Nov 3 was the second infusion and now I have to wait 6 months for my next. How have I been feeling? GREAT! 60mg of Prednisone, now i am down to 40mg and every 2 weeks he will keep tapping down until he sees I’m doing better. Omeprazole for stomach, Lisinopril, 3 x a week antibiotics and very important Vitamin D3 for your bones. Now I have been feeling for the past 2 weeks a lil tired IÂ’m not sure if it’s the tapping down of the prednisone. IÂ’ve been moody and crying again. I’m not seeing any other doctors but I’m thinking I should go see a Pshycologist just for everything I’ve been through, sometimes I feel so down and scared but I have to look into that still. This has been a very hard process for me. I have a 9 yr old princess that has no idea and I just look at her so little still and I cannot give up. I have to give everything of me and get up. I still need strength and I’m learning as I go. I read some of your posts guys, you guys are so great keep it going. We the weak ones need you. Best of luck to all.

Veronica