Nichola’s Medical Journey

A family doctor, a dermatologist, a rheumatologist, an allergist, and a respirologist walk into a bar to work on a patient case. What do they say to each other? Absolutely nothing! The functional medicine doctor walks in, talks to the patient sitting there and works with the patient to figure out the root cause of her health problems!

Hi everyone! I’m raising funds to manage my health symptoms and dive into working with a naturopath that specializes in functional medicine, to get to the root cause! My goal is to do testing through my naturopath to see what's really happening with my gut and hormones. Along with continued healthy eating, adding supplements, medications, alternative health practitioners, and personal care sessions that will help support my healing.

It is a loooong story! So, if you want to know more, please read below.

Thanks so much for your time and consideration. :)

This isn’t something I’ve shared with many people. My body is constantly covered in a rash that looks contagious…but isn’t! It’s okay people. Haha. My thick & long hair got so thin and fell out daily, that I just cut it all off. It may sound silly, but that was a hard thing for me to do. Positive: I was planning on cutting my hair into a mohawk when I turned 50! I guess the universe is setting me on the path to my much desired hair style! Lesson: Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it! Hahaha

A dermatologist diagnosed psoriasis based on 2 skin biopsies taken during a flare up. During a flare up, my scalp is so scaly and itchy and sometimes oozes. I pretty much keep it covered when I’m in public. I’m even self conscious at home. Pretty much my whole body is covered either with little bumps or scaly patches (it changes depending on the flare up that month.)

Some days are rough and I have little energy. I can barely look after Lily, engage with Bob, or do the housework. Bob is doing everything he can, but its a lot. We are overwhelmed. We do our best, but we can only do so much and me being sick is hard on us all. Sometimes I feel so sad and defeated that it makes the overwhelm feel more intense. Luckily my body usually feels strong, so that’s another plus.

I started having unexplained skin issues in August 2023. I shaved and somehow my body reacted to it and freaked out. It was first suspected to be hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).

FAMILY DOCTOR

My family doctor in Toronto prescribed a 10 day course of antibiotic's and referred me to a dermatologist. I asked for blood work to see what was out of whack, but was told there as no need at that moment. I had a horrible reaction to taking the antibiotics, and stopped after 7 days. Nausea so bad that I could barely drink water let alone eat anything. Then after stopping, a painful full body rash and light sensitivity. They cleared up after a week, but original area got worse.

TORONTO DERMATOLOGIST

One month later it was time for my appointment with the Toronto dermatologist. He also suspected HS or Folliculitis. Prescribed different antibiotics (knowing I had a reaction before). A 90 day course of antibiotics and took a swab only after I asked him to! When the results came back a week later, he said… “Yes. That is the right antibiotic”. I had already asked to be referred to a local dermatologist in KW because we felt it would be better for future follow up appointments.

INTENSIVE CARE

After 1 week of taking the medications, I had a reaction worse than the first time. This time it also included heavy painful legs and difficulty breathing. We had cancelled Thanksgiving and my birthday celebrations because I was so sick. At 2am the day after my birthday, I woke Bob because I could barely breathe. He called an ambulance. I ended up in ICU for 3 days and the cardiac unit for 2 days.

They did a schlew of bloodwork (finally) and a scan that showed a little bit of fluid on my lungs. The bloodwork showed my electrolytes were extremely low but there were signs my body was fighting something else. I was given penicillin. The ER doctor said they might never know what originally caused the issue. They and my family doctor believed the antibiotics were killing all the bad bacteria which accumulated in my body, creating the symptoms I experienced. In the other hand the doctor on the cardiac unit said she thought I had “medication induced lupus" based on my bloodwork and symptoms. Basically once I stopped the medication, the reaction would stop.

I felt better when I left the hospital, just a bit weak. And way better within a month.

As you can imagine... this story is very long! I'll keep it short-ish!

GENERAL INTERNAL MEDICINE

I had to go to a special clinic to review my possible "medication induced lupus" diagnosis. In the end they referred me to an allergist, rheumatologist and respirologist. All whom agreed that I likely did not have "medication induced lupus".

KW DERMATOLOGIST

In mid 2024 my appointment came up with the local dermatologist. He looks at my weeping, oozing scalp, says “That’s Folliculitis, and HS in your underarms.” The photos I showed him from my past issue, he said was also HS. He prescribes me a bunch of meds. I cut sugar, and 1

week later have a rash all over my body. My head is literally dripping from my oozing scalp and I have to wear gauze pads to soak it up. I go back to see him. He tells me to stop using everything he gave me before, take Predisone and a topical cream. It clears up in about a month!

Since then, I've many flare ups, that ease, but don’t go away.

I still use topical medications prescribed by my dermatologist, and have gone on a couple of antibiotics which have helped. Once being on prednisone helped so quickly!

In the end I guess it doesn't really matter what the diagnosis is. It's autoimmune and I need to get rid of it! Well, kick it into remission! Haha. I know I’m on the right path now. I could just use a little financial help to do the testing.

In an ideal world I'd like to reintroduce some of the health supporting things I used to do while working in a health spa. Regular Halotherapy/ Salt Therapy sessions (bye bye respirologist! Haha), and Floatation sessions.

Thank you for anything you’re able to contribute. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart!

Much love and many hugs,

Nichola