What’s Wrong with Nezu?
Since I talk about being sick so often, here's the list of reasons I have so few spoons to play with:
CVID — Common Variable Immune Deficiency. This is a Primary Immune Deficiency, something fundamental in my immune system that just doesn't work right. I was probably born with it, although I wasn't diagnosed until I was over 30. In the immune system, B cells in the bone marrow make antibodies called immumoglobulins, or Igs. This is how your body recognizes and fights infection. They are the bouncers that check IDs to see if, for example, pneumococcus bacteria are on the banned-for-life list. There are several types of Igs, like IgA, IgM, IgG, and IgE. My B cells make defective antibodies, especially defective IgG, and it doesn't make enough of them, so my bouncers are either off having a cigarette, or they are taking bribes, or they just can't be assed to check the list. They are like, "Sure, bro, party is down in the lungs, go on in," when they ought to be calling the cops. Because of this, I don't make antibodies to a lot of vaccines, and I get a lot of infections, especially in my lungs and sinuses. I have done so all my life. I have scarring in my lungs as a result. CVID also causes chronic fatigue and joint pain, often pals around with autoimmune diseases but makes it hard to detect them, and can make you susceptible to lymphatic cancers.
Bronchiectasis — Scarred areas in my lungs from repeated infections where mucus collects and becomes a reservoir for further infection.
Tenacious Sputum — Sounds like a nasty MC, but really it just means the mucus in my lungs is particularly sticky and hard to clear. When I was a baby they thought I had cystic fibrosis, but I tested negative for it. Yet another factor in my many lung infections.
Asthma — Diagnosed when I was only 9 months old. Complicated by the CVID, because every time I get a chest infection I also get an asthma flare, and every time I get an asthma flare it takes weeks to recover.
Bronchomalacia — Weak, flimsy cartilage in my lungs, so when I exhale the small airways don't hold their shape. It's like having to use cooked spaghetti as a straw with your juice box. Contributes to infection because it makes airways harder to clear. Causes occasional lung pain.
Allergies — Because while my IgGs might be shit, my IgEs, which have basically no use in most modern humans, are in overdrive, declaring all kinds of innocuous things to be dire threats. They are like the FOX News of the immune system. OMG pollen! OMG bell peppers! OMG shellfish! OMG cat dander! OMG dust mites! OMG mold spores! OMG sulfa drugs! We're all gonna die! Panic! Panic now!
Fibromyalgia — Widespread chronic pain and fatigue. Recent science suggests it's a nerve disorder. Comes with brain fog that makes me forget words and space out mid-sentence, and generally makes my tendency to distractibility worse.
Joint problems — Some kind of arthritis that causes redness, pain and swelling, but since I have CVID, which causes false negatives on a lot of tests for autoimmune problems, it's hard to diagnose. Plus it could be the CVID itself causing it, as CVID is a known cause of joint pain. Worst joints: hands, feet, shoulders, hips, and knees. I also have damaged cartilage and osteoarthritis in some joints, because why have only one problem when you can have two or three?
Migraines — Headaches with, in my case, some really irritating related symptoms like blurred vision that lasts for days, nausea, or the phantom smell of stale cigarettes. I don't get bad ones often, but when I get one with all the trimmings, it can be disabling.
Hypothyroidism — Maybe autoimmune, maybe not. I've had it for years and am on a stable dose of replacement thyroid hormone, so I mostly don't worry about it.
Sleep Apnea — I sleep with a CPAP. It's unsexy, but it's better then snoring so loud you wake your housemate on a different floor.
SSS-type dyslexia — I see moving letters, and black text on a white background tends to get weird colored shadows. Especially bad when I'm tired. When the words start turning blue as I'm reading them, that's when I know it's time to close the book and go to bed. It means I have a really slow reading speed, and reading is tiring. Ironic in a writer who loves to read.
Endometriosis — it was extremely bad when I was living in my birth-assigned sex. It ate through my large intestine, so I have had a couple of bowel resections. It destroyed my ovaries and fallopian tubes and uterus, and damaged my bladder. It's even on the exterior of my left lung. Four laser surgeries and a hysterectomy later, I transitioned to male. Testosterone seems to have helped a lot, but I still get pelvic pain.
Also I often get light-headed when I stand up, and get a racing heart, so that is probably something I ought to get looked at but so many other problems take precedence, and it's mostly a minor annoyance.
Also I'm kind of ADHD, but I've never been formally diagnosed. Pretty sure I'd meet the criteria if I wanted to get treatment, but I'm on disability due to all of the above, so I can sort of live with being distractible and scattered. Even if it annoys my friends.
Anyway, that's what's wrong (medically) with me. Now you know. Feel free to ask if you have questions.
