Lori M

Please accept my condolences on your mother's passing.

It sounds as if your loss has been fairly recent: how are you holding up emotionally?

Ivy.

Oh, my goodness. Scleroderma is a frightening illness. I'm so sorry she (and you) had to go through that.

Yes, I can understand why the fears are there. It probably doesn't help that one of the symptoms of grief is the mimicking of the illnesses that killed the loved one, so I'm guessing you were / are probably displaying some symptoms that have scared you a lot, but might not actually be autoimmune and, rather, stem from grief?

Do you have people to talk to about your loss? Do you feel well supported?

No, Lori; I'm just a normal person / patient. But my Mum died fairly recently (well, just a few years ago) so am aware of how devastating loss can be, especially when a person is ill already. And I went to a fantastic grief group where we discussed physical & emotional ways of responding to grief (e.g. mimicking symptoms) and that's why I know (a bit) about this stuff.

Please know that you are surrounded with care and support on this forum. In fact, most of the Crohn's moderators lost their mothers in the last 1-3 years, and many of the regular members have experienced recent loss too.

That's sad about your mother. From what I've read, there wasn't a good understanding of AI issues a few decades ago, and things like lupus were considered to be automatic death sentences, so maybe that's why she just plugged on: maybe she felt as if she had no alternative? Either that, or she was incredibly gutsy: I'm not sure if I could ignore my symptoms and just keep going for decades; could you?

I'm really pleased to know you have a loving family and lots of support from your husband and siblings. That must make a tremendous difference.

Ivy.

Thanks Gail and Ivy. What a couple of great Mods this board has!