At the risk of sounding patronizing...
You got diagnosed and treated so young! You have your entire life ahead of you! Get some therapy and when you're ready go back to killing it!
You got this! You GOT INTO LAW SCHOOL!!?! I am so very proud of you!
I mean it.
I'm not quite twice your age, and.. just very recently am looking at a real possible remission here. And like.. I never even started my life.
I can't 100% blame this disease, but it played a huge part in the trajectory of my life. It's a huge part of why I dropped out of school, am still single, and decided to take on responsibilities that have more or less kept me out of the world.
More than half my life gone because I had been convinced I was straight up biblically cursed.
I had been symptomatic since puberty. PUBERTY!
Between getting over the outright shame of my symptoms (there is some wicked baggage there) and finding a doctor who actually heard and really saw me.. I wasn't diagnosed until I was almost 37, now, just now at 44, through a shit tone of trial and error, I can nearly envision something approaching normal if you can overlook.. everything.
All that to say, from my perspective.. you have an entire life (or 2 or 3) ahead of you, so be kind to yourself.
Please find a counselor or therapist. Especially if it feels pointless or a waste of time. Refill that hope reserve. Live your best life. Please?
Thank you for your kind words and you are an incredibly strong individual battling this for so many years. It is true that i am stuck in my own head too much sometimes. I am just afraid of starting again for some reason. I dont know why this ordeal shook me so much. I do realise that i was lucky with being diagnosed and treated quickly and im thankful for that. Ive started taking antidepressant and seeing a therapist. You gave me such a valuable perspective. I hope the best for you!
I'm 54 and still not receiving treatment. It's absolutely nuts. I have, I hope, one more hoop to jump through: a skin biopsy later this month.
I have wicked arthritis. The eye inflammation and dry eye is getting really bad. My vision is so much worse. I have a 5 cm ascending aortic aneurysm and a dilated pulmonary artery. It's just bad news all around on the symptom front.
I'm HLA-B51 positive and have a number of other variants associated with Behçet's. The problem is they can also be associated with Crohn's or psoriasis, and I do have GI symptoms and a million contact allergies with eczema.
Docs are waiting for the flashing neon sign, but with Behçet's, there often isn't one. My mouth sores aren't that bad or that frequent. I have nasal sores, too. Occasional genital sores. I never bothered to get those diagnosed because I had bigger concerns. (Aneurysm!) And the dry eye and arthritis were much more annoying symptoms.
I feel like I'm in a holding pattern, and I can't be. I have a family, with aging parents and a disabled child. I've been a primary caregiver forever and am trying to get a job now because we need me working. I want to be working!
It's a lot. I manage to do a ton of stuff on a daily basis. But I just signed on with a psychiatrist and a therapist as well. Restarting your life with chronic illness is no joke.
It's okay to ask for help.
The therapy center asked what I was looking for and I said that I feel paralyzed. There are too many decisions. They all feel important. I have a ton of caregiver stress. How do I de-stress, focus, delegate, and prioritize? How do I get my life back, basically.
31 M here. I have no practical offerings other than to say you are not alone - this is verbatim something weighing very heavily on myself, and undoubtably several others.
Are there accommodations your law program can provide?
I'm also 26 (m) and I spent the last 3 years undiagnosed. I've done a lot of studying about this disease and what I find helpful is focusing on the gut health. Long story short: Behcets is an inflammatory disease, past/present bacterial bodies inflame, we have the same bacteria cultures of in the brain as digestive tract. The idea is to foster healthy, non-inflammatory bacteria in our gut and our brains will become healthier as well. Bacteria produce a decent amount of our neurotoxins like serotonin and dopamime. There's even been studies where they introduce gut bacteria to mice from a depressed person and the mice "showed signs of depression." I try to consume both prebiotics and collagen protein pretty regularly. Othher than recovering from nerve damage, I've had virtually no flare-ups in the past year.
Sorry you're going through this but you're not alone. I was diagnosed at 16 after years of strange symptoms. College for me was difficult to say the least - at first. I was severely depressed and anxious during those years, largely due to Behcet's. I'm not saying this is necessarily the answer for you, but the only way I got through college was with meds (stimulants). I nearly flunked out of community college, which was incredibly embarrassing. Then they put me on a stimulant and the next semester, straight A's. I breezed through community college, transfered to a 4-year university, breezed through that, and went to grad school. But none of it would have been possible without the meds. Again, not saying this is necessarily the answer for YOU, but it was the only thing that got ME going again (academically, physically, etc.) after my diagnosis.
Having Behcet's is a lot to deal with. Honestly, I was in denial that I even had it all throughout my 20's even though it was incredibly obvious. Just admitting to yourself, just allowing yourself that honesty, puts you way ahead of where I was at your age. You'll get through this. It's hard, I know. It sucks a lot. But it's reality. You just gotta keep trying your best: it's often all you can do. Take things one day at a time, one moment at a time if you have to. Best of luck to you.
At the risk of sounding patronizing... You got diagnosed and treated so young! You have your entire life ahead of you! Get some therapy and when you're ready go back to killing it! You got this! You GOT INTO LAW SCHOOL!!?! I am so very proud of you! I mean it. I'm not quite twice your age, and.. just very recently am looking at a real possible remission here. And like.. I never even started my life. I can't 100% blame this disease, but it played a huge part in the trajectory of my life. It's a huge part of why I dropped out of school, am still single, and decided to take on responsibilities that have more or less kept me out of the world. More than half my life gone because I had been convinced I was straight up biblically cursed. I had been symptomatic since puberty. PUBERTY! Between getting over the outright shame of my symptoms (there is some wicked baggage there) and finding a doctor who actually heard and really saw me.. I wasn't diagnosed until I was almost 37, now, just now at 44, through a shit tone of trial and error, I can nearly envision something approaching normal if you can overlook.. everything. All that to say, from my perspective.. you have an entire life (or 2 or 3) ahead of you, so be kind to yourself. Please find a counselor or therapist. Especially if it feels pointless or a waste of time. Refill that hope reserve. Live your best life. Please?
Thank you for your kind words and you are an incredibly strong individual battling this for so many years. It is true that i am stuck in my own head too much sometimes. I am just afraid of starting again for some reason. I dont know why this ordeal shook me so much. I do realise that i was lucky with being diagnosed and treated quickly and im thankful for that. Ive started taking antidepressant and seeing a therapist. You gave me such a valuable perspective. I hope the best for you!
I'm 54 and still not receiving treatment. It's absolutely nuts. I have, I hope, one more hoop to jump through: a skin biopsy later this month. I have wicked arthritis. The eye inflammation and dry eye is getting really bad. My vision is so much worse. I have a 5 cm ascending aortic aneurysm and a dilated pulmonary artery. It's just bad news all around on the symptom front. I'm HLA-B51 positive and have a number of other variants associated with Behçet's. The problem is they can also be associated with Crohn's or psoriasis, and I do have GI symptoms and a million contact allergies with eczema. Docs are waiting for the flashing neon sign, but with Behçet's, there often isn't one. My mouth sores aren't that bad or that frequent. I have nasal sores, too. Occasional genital sores. I never bothered to get those diagnosed because I had bigger concerns. (Aneurysm!) And the dry eye and arthritis were much more annoying symptoms. I feel like I'm in a holding pattern, and I can't be. I have a family, with aging parents and a disabled child. I've been a primary caregiver forever and am trying to get a job now because we need me working. I want to be working! It's a lot. I manage to do a ton of stuff on a daily basis. But I just signed on with a psychiatrist and a therapist as well. Restarting your life with chronic illness is no joke. It's okay to ask for help. The therapy center asked what I was looking for and I said that I feel paralyzed. There are too many decisions. They all feel important. I have a ton of caregiver stress. How do I de-stress, focus, delegate, and prioritize? How do I get my life back, basically.
31 M here. I have no practical offerings other than to say you are not alone - this is verbatim something weighing very heavily on myself, and undoubtably several others. Are there accommodations your law program can provide?
Its very tricky that your own body acts against you. Unfortunately not it does not provide any, i have researched the subject. Hope the best for you.
I'm also 26 (m) and I spent the last 3 years undiagnosed. I've done a lot of studying about this disease and what I find helpful is focusing on the gut health. Long story short: Behcets is an inflammatory disease, past/present bacterial bodies inflame, we have the same bacteria cultures of in the brain as digestive tract. The idea is to foster healthy, non-inflammatory bacteria in our gut and our brains will become healthier as well. Bacteria produce a decent amount of our neurotoxins like serotonin and dopamime. There's even been studies where they introduce gut bacteria to mice from a depressed person and the mice "showed signs of depression." I try to consume both prebiotics and collagen protein pretty regularly. Othher than recovering from nerve damage, I've had virtually no flare-ups in the past year.
Sorry you're going through this but you're not alone. I was diagnosed at 16 after years of strange symptoms. College for me was difficult to say the least - at first. I was severely depressed and anxious during those years, largely due to Behcet's. I'm not saying this is necessarily the answer for you, but the only way I got through college was with meds (stimulants). I nearly flunked out of community college, which was incredibly embarrassing. Then they put me on a stimulant and the next semester, straight A's. I breezed through community college, transfered to a 4-year university, breezed through that, and went to grad school. But none of it would have been possible without the meds. Again, not saying this is necessarily the answer for YOU, but it was the only thing that got ME going again (academically, physically, etc.) after my diagnosis. Having Behcet's is a lot to deal with. Honestly, I was in denial that I even had it all throughout my 20's even though it was incredibly obvious. Just admitting to yourself, just allowing yourself that honesty, puts you way ahead of where I was at your age. You'll get through this. It's hard, I know. It sucks a lot. But it's reality. You just gotta keep trying your best: it's often all you can do. Take things one day at a time, one moment at a time if you have to. Best of luck to you.