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So there I was, smack dab in the middle of my freshman year in high school. Everything was going great, I had great friends, a great boyfriend, I was playing soccer, and thinking about going out for Crew.

December of my Freshman year, everything came to a halt. I had the flu really bad for about 2 weeks, which wasn't too out of the ordinary, I mean everyone gets the flu, right? But after the flu had gone away, I still had some lingering symptoms.

During January and February I was nauseous on and off during school. I would find myself having to lie down in the nurses office, or even go home because it was so bad. I was also getting tired and exhausted for no particular reason.

I would just keep going to school like normal as much as I could, but like I said, I went home early or came in late more frequently. In January my chorus class had a pop concert. We had been rehearsing for months and I was excited to do the show, but when the time came, after all that practicing, I was so nauseous, that I just couldn't go:( It was a real disappointment.

February 14, Valentines Day, was one of my last days at school. I had a great day getting cards and flowers and gifts from my boyfriend and other friends, and went home not feeling too bad. The days following this got worse and worse.

Along with the naseousness , I started getting bad pelvic pain. So bad that I was stuck in bed. We went to my pediatrician, and she had us get an ultra sound that same day. I was hesitating about even getting the ultra sound, because I had missed a lot of school the past week, and had told my teachers that I would meet with them after school to catch up and get the work that I had missed. Boy, am I glad that I just went to get the ultra sound, because it showed that I had a large cyst on my left ovary. Everything started to make sense then, I went home feeling sort of strange. I was just like, "Eww a cyst on my OVARY? What the heck?"

I went home, and stayed home from school for the next few days. But the pain in my pelvis just started getting really bad, and I was put in the hospital. While there, I saw different doctors. Some of them were concerned because i was in so much pain. They were worried that my cyst might have been big enough, that it could have flipped over, and the blood supply might be cut off. When this happens, your ovary eventually just like dies because of lack of blood flow. This got me pretty worried, but they couldn't be sure about this unless they did a laporoscopy . Which is where they go in my pelvis with a tube thing and look in to see what's going on in there:) So I had that done. One of the nurses told my mom that when the picture of my ovaries showed up on the screen, everyone got teary eyed, because I was only 14 then, pretty young, and my ovaries were just covered with little cysts. That's when they knew I had poly cystic ovarian syndrome. They tried to aspirate (or shrink) the larger cyst but found that they couldn't, because instead of it being a cyst filled with fluid that they could drain, it was a mass that was a bunch of little cysts all glommed together to create the large one. They closed me up and sent me home on birth control. Because BC would make my cyst go away in the long run.

I stayed home from school the next two weeks or so, because I was feeling really bad. Friends at school and my teachers started wonder and ask why I was missing so much. And it wasn't like I wanted to start talking about how I had something wrong with my ovary, I mean it was just too weird! But, one day, my chorus teacher asked what was wrong with me, and my mom told her. My mom knew the teacher and I liked her, but my mom didn't think it was that big a deal that she told her, so she didn't mention it to me. A few days later while I was online, one of my friends mentioned something about me having a cyst. I was caught off guard, because I hadn't told this person that i had had one. I asked her how she knew, and she told me that my chorus teacher had told the entire class. Now, my school is very gossipy, and in no time flat, the whole entire school knew. I was devastated. You see, the chorus class I was in, was all girls, so when I heard that the teacher told them it wasn't that bad, but then I heard from other people who weren't in chorus, that they knew why i was missing school. I called my mom on her cell phone crying and was pretty mad that she had told. But, I got over that, and went on with my life.

All my classes at school were really sweet, all of them made huge cards that all my friends had signed, which said 'Get Well Soon' and everything. It was nice to know that some people were thinking about me.

I thought everything was over now, and I could return back to my normal life! But it didn't happen like that...

I still continued to have bad stomach pains, nacousness, and being tired. I would go into my doctor and my stomach would be really swollen around my navel. Three times, she sent me to stay overnight in the hospital so that they could do tests to see what was wrong. Every time I went in, they would run a battery of tests, nothing would seem wrong, and they would send me home without any answers.

We saw...gosh it seems like MILLIONS of gastrenterolists, because my main symptom was nausea. We saw lots of people in washington who were supposed to be really great, but after the 1st appointment, they had nothing optimistic to say, and started asking questions like how was life at home, do I like school...etc..you see they were trying to suggest that I was stressed or anxious or depressed or something, and that my illnesses were faked, or that the stress or whatever was causing the symptoms. Whenever we told any doctors about the symptoms that I felt, they just sort of looked at me like I was crazy. My symptoms were just so random and didn't seem like there could be any connection..but it turned out later, that there was a connection!

After months of more tests, the doctors were still at a loss. They didn't know what was wrong with me, so they continued going down the route of...it's all in your head. My mom and I were so frustrated because the doctors were just sending us off and giving up on us, just because they couldn't find anything. We even went to Children's Hospital which is supposed to be so great and amazing you know, and I'm sure they are, but in my case, they weren't. We were very hopeful when we saw the doctor, because when we went in she was like we will find an answer...but sadly she didn't, she just sort of forgot about us, and didn't know what she was doing. Her report about me and our visit with her was put in my medical file, and when me and my mom read it, we were shocked. In the report it started talking about how my mom knew too much about medical stuff, and that she might be over exaggerating my symptoms, and that she might be putting all these ideas in my head. I learned later about a condition called Munchousen Bi Proxy Syndrome, which is where the parent makes the child sick in order to get attention for themselves. I couldn't believe what she was implying, and im glad that we left children's hospital and said good-bye to that doctor.

We went to see a psychologist just to please the doctors. After seeing her, she said straight out to us: "I am not finding anything mentally wrong with you, you aren't depressed and I don't think this is in your head. If I were you, I would keep looking for an answer." We never saw her again, we were determined to find someone who would diagnose me.

We sort of gave up on all the gastrointestinal doctors in washington, we just continued to keep going to my pediatrician, who would try her best to suggest other options or other things that could be wrong. She really did the best she could, but she's just a pediatrician, and we obviously needed a specialist of some kind, but we had no where to go.

My dad is a consultant and helps other businesses that are having problems, and coincidentally, at the time when we were just at a lose about what to do next, he met a man who did some work with Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, Maryland. My dad talked to this man about the situation I was in, and was eager to hear that this man had some connections at JHU, and that he thought it might be a good idea to go there. This place would be my saving grace. Here, they didn't just write me off as a teenager who was making symptoms up. They were just as determined and we were, as to finding an answer.

Anyway, we took this mans advice, and got an appointment with the head of the gastro department. This was a last ditch, desperate attempt. Our pediatrician got her on the phone and got us the initial appointment with her, and because of the awful situation she was in, she came into the office especially for us after hours and on her off-day. We were so excited to see her. Instead of just saying well, I don't know how I can help you...she made a list of tests that had not been done on me yet. We were so excited to get a different point of view, and to get new tests that could be done to diagnose me. There were a lot of tests on the list, and as usual they all came back normal...there was one test at the very bottom that we hadn't done yet though. It was the tilt table test. She told us about it, and sort of gave us the impression that she didn't really believe in it, but we would try just about ANYTHING at this point, so we scheduled an appointment for the test.

After just about 15 minutes, I passed out, so that was a big POSITIVE for the TTT. My heart rate went from like 70 to 154, and my blood pressure went from 120/80 to 70/40. This was the first time in 6 months that a test actually came back POSITIVE! we were SO excited! Sounds strange, huh? Being happy that I have a problem? But let me tell you, it was such a relief to know that they had found a reason for my feeling so horrible.

I was told to drink lots of fluids every day, and to take 3 salt tablets 3 times a day. I was eager to get on an actual medication as well. I didn't just want to sit around and wait to see if just the salt and water would help me. So they put me on Zoloft as well. After being on this regiment for a week, I was out of bed, and actually up and around the house, which was a BIG deal!

That summer I had planned to go to a sleep away camp that I had attended for the past 2 summers. I knew that I wouldn't be able to go, because I still didn't feel 100% good, but my mom convinced me to go. She drove me to West Virginia where the camp was located. We stayed in a hotel, and every morning we would drive to the camp, and she would drop me off there and leave, or just hang around. It was so wonderful to see my friends, and actually be out and about seeing people my own age, after being alone and bed-ridden, and just seeing my parents for the last 6 months. I actually did pretty well at the camp, although I wasn't able to stay over night, and I coudn't stay all day long, but I made it through :o)

Through Dr. Rowe, he has reffered me to other doctors at JHU, which have diagnosed the other conditions that I have. I know that my future holds endoscopies and colonoscopies at least every 2 years, and extra vein embolizations for my pelvic congestion. I will probably go through a vicious cylcle or pills, surgeries, procedures, and doctors; but I hope that in the end, it will all be worth it!

I still have a day-to-day struggle with my illnesses, but I'm hanging in there. All I have to say is, thank God for JHU, without them, we would still be searching.

Its been about 2 years now since I started this crazy journey, and although I am not back to my normal self, I am better. I hope that through the years I will feel better and better until I'm back to normal! I have been through dozens of medications, some which have worked, other which haven't. It's a process of trial and error. You go through the side effects, see if the medication actually is doing what is it supposed to do, and then reevaulate whether staying on that medication is beneficial. I think I could fill up 1 giant room with all the Rx bottles that I have gone through over the last few years. But I shouldn't complain, because it it those medications which got me out of bed, and got me to get on with my life.

If you'd like your personal story to be displayed, please click the 'contact me' link on the left bar to email me.

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