Get to Know Me

My name is Crystal and I was diagnosed with EDS Type 3 of late November, early December of 2011. Most people are unsure of what exactly EDS is. I'm not going to sugar coat this, EDS is a disability that isn't recognized as much as it should be. EDS is a connective tissue disorder which greatly effects your daily life. Type 3 or the hyper-mobility type is basically me being able to hyper-extend all of my joints. The exact distance you can extend them varies on the person and how badly they have it. In my case I have anywhere between moderate and severe. Most people don't understand what EDS is like because it is considered an "invisible disease." The hardest thing about having EDS is the daily struggle. People are often accused of faking, just doing it to get out of things, a liar, and told to suck it up that everyone has pain. 

My freshman year of high school I was forced to switch schools because of the rumors and horrible things being said about me. These started because I missed school from chronic back pain to the point of me not being able to move. Not being able to be a NORMAL teenager is incredible difficult and a challenge most face. I have been struggling with who I am and how to really deal with these accusations I've been getting from everyone. 

EDS patients are warriors. We fight the daily struggle of getting up, getting on with our lives every day! We run out of steam after 2 hours of trying to be "normal". I want to inform friends, family, and anyone that is also struggling with EDS. I want to share my experiences in the hopes of helping others with their struggles. I have had to struggle with this disease by myself and I don't with that upon any teen, parent, adult, and anyone basically. Not having support or someone that understands makes the struggle 10 times harder. So to all EDS sufferers that may be reading this, we can do it if we take it one day at a time. 

Getting to know me will continue on in another post, if you have any questions on my struggle so far leave them in the comments and I will try to answer them in the next post. 

Have a wonderful day and stay strong.

Crys :)