The Moving Forward Podcast - Solutions with Coach KJ and Dr. Felecia

Kelly Aldrich had so many different diagnoses until she cannot count them all.  At age 51, she was finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). 

Kelly was born in Seattle, Washington.  During her early years, she realized she was different. She suffered from bad rashes, eczema, peptic ulcers, panic attacks, and physical challenges.  At the same time, she was caring for her siblings after her mother’s health challenges.  Her intolerance of strong chemicals led to wheezing, breathing issues, migraines, rashes, and more.  Despite wearing leg braces for a brief period of time, she did join her high school softball team.

After experiencing 26 migraine headaches a month, and severe burning pains in her hands and feet, her rheumatologist ran tests and told her, “That is just connective tissue.  There is nothing to hurt.” She tried to ignore her pain until she began to experience seizure like episodes. Her neurologist ran seizure tests, a brain MRI scan, and blood, urine, plus stool tests.  Everything came back normal. She did not know where to go next.  Pain medicines and migraine prevention medicines were advancing the side effects of her MCAS.   At the same time, doctors and family members were telling her to stop thinking about it.  One doctor even dismissed her until he realized he had mistakenly overlooked a positive test result. 

Today, Kelly is the administrator of an EDS Facebook group.  She feels it is one of the best things she has done for her own help.  It has helped her transition from saying, “Suck it up buttercup.” to believing “This is it! Not tomorrow, not a year from now, live your life NOW because this is it.”