It's a Roller Coaster of Emotions...

Just to update you, for those of you who are just jumping on-board, I had my first flare in three years back in January of this year. It was a fairly minor flare and consisted of  a couple dozen ulcers on the inside of my lips. It still was very painful, of course I was tired, and my mouth looked awful, but it was nothing compared to what it was three years ago when my immune system was out of control. THEN in February I battled some upper respiratory infection basically all month. Granted, I was much better off than some people in the office - we had people with Pneumonia, Bronchitis...it was crazy in our office!
THEN in March I had my second flare. This time my mouth wasn't affected, but my skin was and this was the worst case of skin lesions I had ever had. I looked like I was covered in large chicken pox. They itched and were painful just like chicken pox too!

Now it's mid-March, and I finally physically feel like I am progressing to some sort of normal state. My upper respiratory infection is gone, I'm not fatigued, and I haven't had any more sores pop up on my body in the last week. But emotionally, I'm a roller coaster of emotions. I've never been sick for such a long period and I'm a little depressed because of it.

That was a Long Hiatus!

So good news, bad news, then more good news...
Good News: For the past three years I have been (pretty much) flare free!! I've had a couple minor "was that a flare or wasn't it?" moments, but overall the Hydroxychloroquine my rheumy gave me seemed to help manage my symptoms.
Bad News: In January of this year I had my first official flare in 3 years, this one consisted of mouth lesions and skin lesions on my arms. THEN in March I had another, and although this one did not affect my mouth my body was pretty much covered in ugly spots.
Good News: This reminded me that I had once started a blog, with the best intentions to provide the world information about the unpredictable symptoms of Behcet's, new research about Behcet's, and first hand experience from a typical female living with this disorder/disease.
So, I'm back! :)

So why, after being under control for three years did I have two flares in a row? I have a couple ideas:

Informative Information

Have you ever watched 'Mystery Diagnosis' and thought, "Hey! I could be on there!"
My boyfriend and I joked many times about nominating me for the show. Just for the record, my boyfriend won't admit it, but I do believe he may have even written a letter to the producers asking them to allow me on the show! ;)

Well, a Behcet's episode has already been done. (Too bad it wasn't shown while I was at home on the couch wondering what was wrong with me! HaHa). Joanne Zeis, a women who experienced Behcet's symptoms 17 years without being diagnosed, was the women on the Behcet's episode of 'Mystery Diagnosis'. From her website, http://www.behcetsdisease.com/basics.htm (this is actually her older website, but it still has very good information on it) there is a link to the 'Mystery Diagnosis' website. Or, I can just copy and paste the link here! Here it is: http://www.muzility.com/videoviewer.php?mech_id=8d34201a5b85900908db6cae92723617
(But seriously, go to her site, has some good info on it.)
Her newest site is http://behcets.blogspot.com/.

Johanne Zeis is not just 'some women' doing research in her spare time, she is creditable, has achieved recognition from various institutes, and has dedicated her life to informing people on Behcet's. Most importantly, she is just a normal person, like me and you, who is going above and beyond to try and raise awareness for this disease. Definitely a great source.

Journey to the Diagnosis

I have always been incredibly healthy. The few times I did get sick was when I was in college, and both times I had the flu.

Flash forward through college, to 2007. I was 24, and not much had changed. I still worked out every day, I had a few beers here and there, just a typical 20-something, but I was probably the healthiest I'd been since high school!
So in July when my lips 'broke out', for lack of a better word, I just assumed I was having an allergic reaction to a new lip product. I took a few Benadryl and Advil (for the pain) , drank a lot of smoothies (because I couldn't eat normal food) and spent some time convincing my boyfriend that no, my lips weren't melting off (although that is exactly what it looked like).
Within about two weeks my lips cleared up and I went about my normal business...

Until right before Thanksgiving of the same year, 2007.