Autoimmune Warrior

Lisa Diven was a 23-year old athlete and recent university graduate when she first began what would become a long battle against chronic illness. Armed with a degree in mechanical engineering, she was ready to take on the world. Her health, however, had other plans.

Lisa was running 10 miles a day in preparation for a marathon race when she began to experience pain in her foot. Thinking that it was just a stress fracture, she avoided seeing a doctor until the pain worsened. When she finally did see her physician, he also thought it was just a stress fracture. Six months later, however, the pain had gotten even worse, and Lisa was forced to see a Rheumatologist, who diagnosed her with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease causing painful inflammation in one’s joints.

Although Lisa was relieved to put a name to her pain, she encountered another uphill battle. As a result of step therapy, her medical insurance required her to use less expensive treatments to prove they didn’t work until she could take the more expensive biologic medications that her doctor recommended. Consequently, Lisa was forced to take medications for six months, during which time her symptoms worsened and she experienced irreversible joint damage. Once Lisa finally started taking the biologics, her symptoms began to improve.

For the next 10 years of her life, rheumatoid arthritis continued to ravage Lisa’s every joint. Though she was able to control the disease with treatment, pain was still a major aspect of her life.

Eventually, Lisa and her husband decided to start a family. Due to the high-risk nature of the pregnancy, Lisa went to a high-risk obstetrics practice. Though she got through the pregnancy okay, she experienced a massive flare three months post delivery, and the medications that she had used with success previously no longer worked. She lost her appetite and lost weight, and she experienced migraines, vertigo, anxiety and depression. Lisa was forced to go on an extended medical leave, and later left her job completely. After seeing various specialists, Lisa was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), another autoimmune disease that causes widespread damage to the body’s vital organs, skin and joints.

Lisa is now being actively treated for lupus, all while controlling her existing RA symptoms. She is happy to report that she finally feels like she is returning to being ‘herself’ again. One of the things that helped Lisa the most was connecting with other patients through the Arthritis Foundation, through which she later started a local support group to help others living with the disease. These days, Lisa feels healthy more often than sick, and given her tumultuous health history, that’s a win she’ll take.

To read more about Lisa’s battle with autoimmune disease, visit healthywomen.org.