It took me almost 20 years to get diagnosed and it seems it was all for nothing
Hey there!
I've been wondering whether or not I should post all of this but there's no better place to vent ig.
I'm just really tired of all this.
I first started showing symptoms when I was around 9yo, visits to the ER with unbearable pain and a very frightened mother became a norm but no one could find what it was.
Some doctors believed it was costochondritis while others thought it was my appendix, don't really know why.
I was a sick kid from the very moment I was born so soon after they started brushing it off as an attempt to get attention on my part, not surprising for me in my teens.
Thing is, I even made peace with never getting answers, I deal with my fair share of illnesses and I somehow got really good at managing my symptoms without even knowing what it was about.
I owe my life to heat pads mostly.
But last year I moved into a new city and found this incredible doctor that went down my medical history, checked every exam and specialist that ever saw me for this condition and it's thanks to her and a really young physician that I was able to get at least a name for what has been happening to me for almost twenty years.
My physical therapist got me an appointment with one of the best thoracic surgeons in the country, really promising ig.
I saw him in April. Shook my hand right at the door. Welcomed me saying this exact words:
"weird diagnosis you have here, I had to study your case all week, I've never seen this one before"
Long story short, this man explained to me how surgery is not even an option in his opinion, how after this long living with pain, even if he could cure the cause, I would still be left feeling pain.
My 'diagnosis' somewhat came only from the hooking maneuver (i got lots of scans but it only helped discard other pathologies), as there's seemingly no way of getting a dynamic ultrasound for this reason in this forking country (Spain).
My thoracic surgeon ordered an MRI to make sure I don't have any intercostal tumors (i had this done when I was around 17 too as i have bad history with these kind of lesions) and will check up on me next year, meanwhile I'll be sent to some pain management clinic, which I hope it helps because i don't think i can do this much longer.
He didn't seem too keen to believe me, that much I could tell. I'm used to doctors treating me like that but I'm just too tired at only 27 (almost 28 if i'm able to make it to the ends of September).
That's all, I guess. Just wanted to put my story up there in somewhere, maybe to feel like someone cares when even my closest ones seem to be uninterested in my health nowadays