Young man from SC discovers three autoimmune diseases in just 6 months: ‘I felt very scared’ | Santa Catarina

Young man from SC discovers three autoimmune diseases in just 6 months

A 22-year-old woman needed to adapt her routine after discovering three autoimmune diseases in just six months in Florianópolis. The discovery initially brought her “a lot of fear.”

Isabella Piscetta O’Keefe was diagnosed with Crohn’s diseasea chronic inflammatory condition that can harm any part of the digestive tract, psoriasis It is psoriatic arthritis.

The diseases may be interconnected, however, their simultaneous manifestation is rare, according to rheumatologist Bruna Giusto (see below).

Since learning about the condition, Isabella began sharing her experiences with the disease with her friends. 55 thousand followers on Tiktok (see more about them below).

In one of her videos, she shows changes in her life since her first symptom, in 2022, which include leaving college, failed treatments, hair loss, weight loss and iron infusions. More than 230 thousand people had viewed the publication by Thursday afternoon (25).

“I made a compilation of some of my troubles, thank God my life was normal until I was 20 [anos]”, jokes in the caption (watch part of the video at the top of the article).

According to rheumatologist Bruna Giusto, the three diseases may be interconnected. She states, however, that it is rare all of them manifest simultaneouslyas in the case of the young woman.

“What is common, sometimes, in patients who have psoriatic arthritis, are inflammatory bowel diseases, intestinal disorders”, he states.

While the Psoriasis is a skin disease that affects 2% of the population worldwideaccording to the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology, psoriatic arthritis (which combines cutaneous and joint manifestations) It occurs in about 30% of patients with psoriasis.

Depending on the association, skin involvement generally precedes or accompanies joint involvement, and the severity of both are not correlated.

• Crohn’s disease: Inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract that predominantly affects the lower part of the small intestine and large intestine, but can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Psoriasis: Characterized by red, scaly lesions, it is an inflammatory skin disease that has no cure, and which may be genetic or related to intense stress. It is not contagious and can attack, in addition to the skin, scalp and nails.
• Psoriatic arthritis: A form of arthritis that affects people with psoriasis. According to the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology, between 5% and 40% of people who have psoriasis may experience pain and inflammation in the joints, thus developing psoriatic arthritis.

To the g1, Bell, as she is known on social media, says she felt “very scared” after her first diagnosis. Just over a year later, the word she prefers to use is “hope.”

She was diagnosed with Crohn’s in March 2023after the onset of persistent diarrhea, which began in October 2022 and progressed to cramps, loss of appetite and weight. In September of the same year, she discovered the other two autoimmune diseases.

“Until 2022 my life was completely normal, I had never had any health problems, thank God, I had a very good life”, he comments.

“Until one fine morning, in October 2022, I woke up, went to the bathroom and saw that I had diarrhea. At first, I wasn’t scared because I thought I might have eaten something that wasn’t good. But the days went by. passing and the diarrhea didn’t improve, quite the opposite”, he reported.

After a battery of exams and a series of frustrated diagnoses, such as anxiety, she discovered the inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract about five months after the first symptom.

“I started my treatment in March 2023 with a loading dose of corticosteroids that managed to control my inflammation initially. I managed to stop having diarrhea, but it brought me countless other side effects. So, from the beginning, I started suffering a lot”, he reports.

With the reduction in the use of corticosteroids, the young woman began treatment with specific medications for the diagnosed diseases, she told g1. Look:

1. In April 2023, it began with the adalimumab. “I gave the injection every two weeks and kept using it for five, six months. It had no effect,” she reports.
2. Afterwards, she left for the ustekinumab, an immunosuppressant used to treat moderately to severely active Crohn’s. It also had no effect, according to her.
3. Since February this year, treatment has consisted of applying infliximab in association with azathioprine. He serves all three diseases.

“I’ve been fine for a month and a half with just the help of these two medications, so I’m very, very, very happy. I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. So, if I could leave a message for anyone reading, That’s it: not losing hope”, he celebrated.

The attempt to get the medication right came along with the diagnosis of the other two autoimmune diseases, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, just a few days apart.

“At the beginning of September [de 2023], I started to feel pain in my chest bone when I breathed. I thought it might have gone wrong, something like that, so I went to see the orthopedist. He examined me, asked if I had an autoimmune disease, and told me to see a rheumatologist”, he comments.

The diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis came after a series of tests, during a period of intense hip pain. “This pain started to get worse and it got to the point where I could no longer walk properly. I was just limping, I was crying in pain, I needed help getting up, getting into bed. I did all the tests and received the diagnosis”, he reports.

In the same month, the young woman began to notice redness in her navel and pubic area, and initially thought it was an allergy. “I felt like I had some kind of cut, that I was peeling,” she says.

“I went to a dermatologist, but without even thinking about it being anything other than dermatitis or something like that. When I got there again, the doctor looked at me, examined me and asked if I had any autoimmune disease. I said yes and he gave me the inverted psoriasis diagnosiswhich normally occurs in folds of the body”, he says.