Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
I went to my regular doc and she said it was shingles minus the rash.
Shingles at age 21?? I've never heard of that!! How did they confirm the shingles diagnosis? Do you remember having chicken pox as a kid?
I've developed a bumpy, insanely itchy right elbow now, yet another sign of Dermatomyositis. The rash on my chest is now creeping up my left shoulder. Makes me think a bacteria is involved. Ugh. I hate my skin!!!!!!!!
The similarities between your experience and mine are fascinating! I've decided that costochondritis doesn't adequately explain what I've got. When I was at the doctor's office that day, the pain was mostly along one rib - but it seems to be more often below my rib cage. It does vary a bit - sometimes worse in the front, sometimes around in the back - but it always hurts more when I press on it. I think it is related to the MC, though I'm not sure exactly how. It's definitely not a gas pain, and I'm not sure it's intestinal at all. It's very similar to the pains I get on the other side from my hiatal hernia, only it's on the wrong side.
Shingles minus the rash sounds strange. I've never heard of that. Did they do some sort of blood test or biopsy or something to confirm it?
Interesting that your ANA was also exactly what mine was. I hope Kaiser takes this seriously enough to send me to someone (a rheumatologist or immunologist or whatever) who will work through it with me (even if just means monitoring every 6 months). Kaiser sometimes has a tendency to dismiss unusual things. So what has happened with your ANA? Did it go back down?
