Random question... anyone here have RH- blood? or a mother with RH- blood? I was born with Rhesus disease (Hemolytic disease of the newborn) due to the fact that my mother is B- and I am O+ .... I was also second born (first born is not nearly as affected). Before having children, my mother did receive the immunoglobulin injection used to block the disease, but for some strange reason, it was ineffective. So in essence, my mother's body saw me as an alien or threat of sorts, and released certain antibodies to "attack" me in the womb. I cannot help but think that this caused an autoimmune response in me, making me extremely susceptible to an autoimmune disorder that would extend beyond the RH disease. I've mentioned this idea to a couple of doctors, but they did not think much of it. I don't know.... it actually sounds pretty plausible to me. Does anyone else have any experience or knowledge on this? Thanks all, and be well.
Hi! I've heard of that before…and I have no doubt that would make you susceptible to an autoimmune disease. I wonder if doctors blow this off because they don't know, or don't want to get into it.
Sorry, I know you were looking for people who have knowledge about this, but I figured I'd chime in anyway ;-)
Hi Nichole! Please, no apologies! I thank you so much for replying and giving your opinion - it was quite validating. It's so funny to me how patients with weird diseases are able to make these connections, yet such ideas are so easily blown off by doctors. And, yes, I do think that most of the time it is because they don't know, but they cannot admit it because most doctors, at least from my experience, seem to carry some narcissistic God complex. As such, when they do not know the answer, they often make patients feel like hysterical hypochondriacs. Sorry for sounding so negative. It's just that I have gone through this so many times over the past several years. Sometimes I feel like I am in the twilight zone. Example of a conversation between me and a typical doctor:
Me: "I get this pain in my neck and at the base of my skull that gets so bad, sometimes it makes me cry. And then I go into cervical dystonia.... I get these crazy neck and head movements that I can't control and are very painful. When that happens, I can't even sit up straight in a chair or drive."
Doctor: "Well, I looked at the MRI of your neck and saw the four herniations from C3 to C7, but those shouldn't bother you at all because they're not exactly hitting your spinal cord. So I'm really not concerned about it."
Me: "Umm, OK, then what is causing this chronic severe pain?"
Doctor: "Wellllllllll, you know, I see you have a history of depression, etc., and anxiety can cause a lot of psychosomatic pain. Plus, you know... um... humans weren't meant to walk upright."
Me: *speechless* followed by, "OK, you are clearly a moron, and I'm sorry I wasted my time with this appointment. I hope that karma comes for you, and transfers my illness to you. It would give me no greater pleasure than to revisit you then just to laugh at you and tell you it's all in your head. Good luck, and I hope being a massive A-hole takes you far in life."
.............HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!........ but I can say that I am now fortunate enough to have found a GP who takes me very seriously, as well as a new neurologist who immediately saw a problem. In fact, I did mention to him my ideas about Rhesus disease, and though he did not have an exact answer, he did not at all discount it. Sooooo... (sorry rambling)... it is comforting to be able to voice such opinions to people going through similar illnesses because they are always the ones who can truly empathize and tell you you're not just a whacko. So, thank you very much!
Humans weren't meant to walk upright? I'm glad you no longer see that crazy loon. If you had herniations, shouldn't they be bothering you somehow though? Did he talk about a way to fix those?
I went to my Rheumy for my shingles the other day and while I was there he did his normal "strength" test for me (which are a joke) and asked how I was doing. So I told him my hands and wrists hurt so bad that it's hard to drive and I'm afraid to shake peoples hands. One guy shook my hand and sent me through the roof!! So the doc did a little poking and proding in some spots he felt necessary and no pain. So he says, "They seem fine." I wanted to scream. If I try to open a milk carton I think I'm going to die that's how bad it hurts. So he went to shake my hand and when he squeezed that's when it hurt. You think he gave me a solution? No. I go back on the 29th. I'm going to tell him he needs to fix it and if not he can take his strength and pain tests and stick them up his a**.