Long lost friend

[Guest guest]

Hello Everyone,

I was a semi-active member of this group years ago. A very sick

member at that. It has been several years of continual and constant

recovery for me. I have wanted to write the group about my recovery

but was, quite frankly, afraid to. I didn't want to jinx what was

happening to me. I am still amazed at how much better I feel on an

average day and wonder often how I survived that time.

So here is my story:

1996 was my first encounter with EN. It was a year after getting

married. I had been on birth control pills for about that long and

noticed a pain red bump on my leg. After a biopsy EN was

diagnosed. I went off birth control and was put on prednisone for

six weeks. It seemed to clear everything up and I thought I would

be all set. I became pregnant and I am not sure I can adequately

express what a miserable pregnancy that was. I was completely

exhausted, my EN flared incredibly, I vomited everyday of the entire

pregnancy (sometimes several times a day). I took no medication and

did what I could to rest during this time but I taught so there

really wasn't much rest. My daughter arrived in the world two

months early. (She is a beautiful young lady now.) After the

pregnancy the bumps went away. Although my legs looked horrible.

Two years later I had another daughter, again the bumps came back.

She too was premature, however they held off her birth with

medication. The bumps took much longer to go away after this

pregnancy and that was when I found this group. During my second

pregnancy I began to have a dull pain in my right side. It was

relentless. I went for test after test. I was also having diarrhea

on a regular basis. The doctors thought my gallbladder was the

reason. It was removed and the pain and diarrhea remained and got

worse. The leg bumps would flare up for no reason at all and seemed

to stay forever. I have had eating issues for many years of my life

and was trying to give up eating sugar. As a part of that process,

I bought sugar-free candy. I was so sick right after eating that

candy that I read up on fake sugars. The more I eliminated those

from my diet the better I felt and the less diarrhea I had. As I

began to recover from the irritable bowel syndrome my legs started

to recover as well. It was almost as though my entire body was

waking up. I am certain I have a severe reaction to artificial

sugars. But I am not certain that was what put me in EN recovery.

I would occasionally still have leg bumps pop up for no reason.

It has been probably two years now since I began working on eating a

natural - non processed diet. I am by no means good at it yet. But

I am feeling better. The leg bumps occur very rarely and when they

do or even when my body feels weak and my legs start to ache, I

immediately put on the support stockings and try to rest a bit

more. That usually will help so that the leg bumps either don't pop

out or go away quickly.

In my case, I am convinced that my body was reacting strongly to a

substance that was no good for it. Somewhat like an allergy. My

immune system was overtaxed and the EN was a by-product of a messed

up and tired system. I don't believe I am cured and I know my body

can get into that state quickly again. But for today I am just

enjoying living a healthier life without leg bumps.

I pray that maybe my story will give hope to those of you who are

still suffering.

Thanks,

Deb C.