New to forum and very depressed

[echogal]

Hello everyone. I am not only new to the forum, but new to MCTD. I was diagnosed about 2 months ago and have my second appointment with the Rheumatologist this week. I have another autoimmune disease called Barraquer-Simons Syndrome (common name is acquired partial lipodystrophy.) I got this between the ages of 5 and 6 and what it means is that my body metabolizes fat differently than normal. I have NO fat from the waist up and excess fat from the waist down. Other diseases can go along with this (Lupus being one of them). There is no cure or treatment for it. Barraquer-Simons is very rare, about 250 cases worldwide have been identified since the 1800's. I find it incredible that I am one of the 250!
I have had a difficult time dealing with the Barraquer-Simons my whole life because I look so different from other people and over the years, people have made rude comments to me about how I look. My self-esteem is very low, my self-image is terrible and I constantly fight to improve both. I've been in therapy for longer than I can remember and sometimes it seems to help...other times it seems to make things worse.
I have Ranaud's (sp) syndrome, fibromyalgia, and now I'm diagnosed with MCTD. I'm scared and I'm depressed. When I read about MCTD one of the first things it says is that it is RARE. So is the Barraquer-Simons. Are they connected? I have a sleep disorder (documented by 3 different sleep studies) and have restless leg syndrome. I have adult ADD. I've had two major back surgeries for discs that disintegrated, so now I have bone grafts and metal rods in two different places in my back. My second surgery was this past May. I have Cardiac Syndrome X (meaning, I have terrible chest pain that radiates down my left arm, which is caused by a problem in the microcirculation in my heart.) I went to the ER in Feb of last year with severe chest pain radiating down my left arm, nausea...classic signs of a heart attack, and I was blown off by the nurses and ER doc. This past August, I had a heart attack and was cathed where it showed that one of my major arteries was 100% blocked. Thank God, the doctor got the blockage opened and inserted a stent, so I was fortunate that I didn't sustain major damage to my heart. Oh, by the way, I am 57 years old.
So, I hope that someone within this community can help lift my spirits and tell me how you cope with your auto-immune disease. Don't worry about me, I am on anti-depressants but am going to see my Doctor tomorrow about the depression.
Thanks for letting a "newbie" ramble on.....
Echogal
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Echogal
"No one ever said life is fair" Unknown