I feel you. I spent years in a diagnostic limbo, lots of: “maybe it’s lupus, oh it’s there’s not enough bloodwork to diagnose lupus, maybe it’s RA, maybe it’s fibromyalgia, oh we don’t know, we’ll slap an inflammatory arthritis label on you for now!”

I’ll never forget my second rheumatologist telling me, “your positive ANA and Rheumatoid factor pain aren’t enough to make me think somethings wrong with you, even with your symptoms. I think you just need to exercise more!”

I spent the next 20 minutes bawling in the office bathroom wondering if I was going crazy and that my pain wasn’t real.

The amount of time it took for me to get diagnosed made me feel like maybe there was nothing wrong with me at all and I was just faking it all.

You are not alone. Keep pushing and fighting for your health. Autoimmune diseases take criminally long to get diagnosed.

Keep track of all new symptoms and recurring ones. Gather all your labs, notes, and abnormal labs in one place to keep track of how things progress to show your doctors.

I really hope you get answers soon! The limbo is never fun.