My Behcet's diagnosis

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 I was diagnosed in 2016. I was 54 and had recently lost my son-in-law and sister. I initially thought I was just depressed, but I couldn't get any energy and I felt physically weak and had a lot of pain in my joints (especially my knees and hips). I would break out in "hives" but I thought it was stress. Then I developed oral ulcers and they kept increasing in number and size, and they never went away. My eyes became very red and they hurt...A LOT. My glands were swollen and I sounded hoarse all the time. I went to several doctors. Everyone agreed I had some sort of infection and that there was something going on with my autoimmune system.  I underwent lots of bloodwork and diagnostic evaluation but no one could figure it out. One day, I developed a genital sore. I decided to enter every symptom and medical condition I had (I also had chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia) into Google. There was a list of conditions but I had already tested negative for all but one... Behcet's Syndrome. I did some research and went back to the Rheumatologist I was treating with. He said I didn't fit the profile because of my heritage (I'm Hispanic). He also told me that he had never in 30 years treated a case and that the only place that did treat it in the Midwest was at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Given that I live in the Chicago area, that wouldn't work for me. I explained that I had done some research and there were two hospitals in Chicago that treat it (Northwestern Memorial and Rush). He immediately wrote a letter and faxed all of my diagnostics over to Northwestern where after more bloodwork to rule out a few more issues, I was ultimately diagnosed with Behcet's. Since then, some of the symptoms have decreased in severity, but the pain has at times been excruciating and I've recently developed nosebleeds as well. I can't measure how much time I've spent at the hospital since I was diagnosed six months ago, but the longest I've gone without a visit is two months (just recently) and I can't even count the vials of blood I've donated during this time. This is definitely a day-by-day experience. I'm constantly trying to learn more about this wretched disease and how I can best combat it without creating new problems. I'm especially interested in finding holistic ways to treat it as I'm fundamentally against introducing medications into my system since I often experience negative side effects.  The only thing that keeps me strong and positive is my faith.