Speaker 1: My name is Lauren Sholl.
Speaker 2: I pushed through pain for fifteen years before being diagnosed
Speaker 2: with siatic arthritis at the age of twenty eight. I
Speaker 2: was young when I started having skin irritation, skin rashes.
Speaker 2: That's when I went to a dermatologist, and the dermatologist
Speaker 2: diagnosed me with what they called at that point dermatitisty.
Speaker 2: So when I got to college, my skin did actually
Speaker 2: get worse, but I did also start having issues where
Speaker 2: I couldn't do the things that I like to do
Speaker 2: as much anymore. So I started to feel like stiffness
Speaker 2: in my legs. The bottoms of my feet would hurt
Speaker 2: when i'd go run. I was dancing in college, and
Speaker 2: so there were times where I would just have to
Speaker 2: take a break from practice because my body didn't feel good.
Speaker 3: For years, Lauren attributed her pain to the intense training
Speaker 3: she endured as a professional dancer, but after having to
Speaker 3: give up her career due to a difficult battle with MRSA,
Speaker 3: Lauren's symptoms escalated.
Speaker 2: Finally, it got to a point where I was doing
Speaker 2: laundry and like my husband's like, you are limping to
Speaker 2: the laundry machine, Like there is no way that you
Speaker 2: are actually okay, and I thought I broke my toe,
Speaker 2: and we went into the podiatrist.
Speaker 1: I got X rays.
Speaker 2: He's like, well, your toe's not broken, but you're not
Speaker 2: even thirty years old, and we're seeing like advanced arthritis
Speaker 2: patterns in your joints. He was the first person to
Speaker 2: actually notice my patches on my skin. Then he said,
Speaker 2: have you had this for a long time? That looks
Speaker 2: like psiias's.
Speaker 3: As a former professional dancer deeply in tune with her body,
Speaker 3: Lauren became increasingly fearful as she watched it slowly break down.
Speaker 3: Despite being die diagnosed with psoriasis, her doctors hadn't been
Speaker 3: able to piece together all of the clues until she
Speaker 3: found doctor Aaron Arnold.
Speaker 2: I went in there in tears, on crutches, unable to
Speaker 2: live my life the way that I wanted to live
Speaker 2: at that point was twenty six, twenty seven years old.
Speaker 2: And she made me feel like we were not going
Speaker 2: to stop trying until we could find an option that worked,
Speaker 2: being very very communicative of me, like really retracing what
Speaker 2: these past years have looked like, looking at my history,
Speaker 2: looking at all of my symptoms, she said, sometimes it's
Speaker 2: almost just as important or even more important to look
Speaker 2: at the symptoms and to be able to really evaluate
Speaker 2: the progression of how things have moved along, and she
Speaker 2: diagnosed me with siatic arthritis.
Speaker 3: Welcome to House Calls. I'm Lauren Bribe Pacheco. On these
Speaker 3: special segments, we'll check in with friends from former Symptomatic
Speaker 3: episodes for updates on their health and live since we
Speaker 3: last connected.
Speaker 1: Hi, Hi, Lauren, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm all right. How have you been.
Speaker 1: I've been good. We've been very busy around here.
Speaker 3: And you just got out of baseball season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my eight year old is playing with the ten
Speaker 2: year olds and it's scary being the mom.
Speaker 3: You know what. I miss those days though, Enjoy them,
Speaker 3: enjoy them. They go so fast. So before we even
Speaker 3: dive in, I'm sure that most people have had a
Speaker 3: chance to listen to your episode, but I wanted to
Speaker 3: give them just a little recap basically for those who
Speaker 3: might have missed your episode, which is a great listen.
Speaker 3: You endured fifteen years of pain before you were properly
Speaker 3: diagnosed with soriatic arthritis at the age of twenty, and
Speaker 3: dance wasn't just a passion for you, it was actually
Speaker 3: a profession. You were a professional dancer, but along the
Speaker 3: way in your health journey, you had a ton of misdiagnoses,
Speaker 3: including dermatitis and psoriasis, before finally finding a doctor who
Speaker 3: identified you with the correct condition. For people who just
Speaker 3: want to hear it from you, walk me through what
Speaker 3: you went through over that fifteen year period.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I went through a lot of question mentally.
Speaker 2: It was really hard because I was feeling pain. I
Speaker 2: had crazy patches all over my body that wouldn't go
Speaker 2: away with any of the typical treatments. After going to
Speaker 2: doctor beyond doctor beyond doctor, I started to feel like
Speaker 2: a little bit crazy myself because you get questioned, there's
Speaker 2: no answers to points you in what the problem is
Speaker 2: or that the problem is even a real problem, and
Speaker 2: you just start to feel like it's hopeless. This will
Speaker 2: never change, this will never go away. You know, I
Speaker 2: had to change my career path because of the damage
Speaker 2: and the pain that I was feeling. It was a
Speaker 2: blessing in disguise, I will say that because I was
Speaker 2: able to find a new career path that literally still
Speaker 2: to this day fills me up incredibly well.
Speaker 3: Your personal trainer and also nutritionist and I think that
Speaker 3: that's wonderful because you've really been able through your own
Speaker 3: struggles to understand the challenges of your clients. Your case
Speaker 3: was so interesting to me because given the physical discipline
Speaker 3: that you were used to. You know, we often don't
Speaker 3: listen to our body, but you were used to pushing
Speaker 3: your body through discomfort already, and perhaps had you not
Speaker 3: been trained for so many years as you know, an
Speaker 3: elite athlete as a dancer, you may have been more
Speaker 3: willing to listen to your body's earlier signs.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I think it's hard depending upon the person
Speaker 2: and their personality. And I think, like you said, as
Speaker 2: you have a mentality of an athlete that is determined
Speaker 2: to push through it or work through it, or ignore pain,
Speaker 2: or tell ourselves that we're tough so we can keep going,
Speaker 2: it can work against us.
Speaker 3: And I think there is a romanticizing of pain, particularly
Speaker 3: in sports, where it is as pithy as it sounds,
Speaker 3: no pain, no gain. Would you agree that's not necessarily
Speaker 3: the best path now that you're training others.
Speaker 2: Yes, and I think too, like maybe I say this
Speaker 2: because I am a woman, but I also think for
Speaker 2: women to be able to say, like I've been there.
Speaker 2: I've fought through this and I fought through that, and
Speaker 2: you almost feel like you are this superhero fighting all
Speaker 2: of these battles. But I think that the truth strength
Speaker 2: comes from being able to listen to your body. And
Speaker 2: I call it giving in to your body, giving your
Speaker 2: body what it's asking for. And that might be rest,
Speaker 2: that might be recovery, that might be exploring what's really
Speaker 2: going on rather than ignoring it fighting past it. Just
Speaker 2: like the basic things for me have been really important
Speaker 2: in making sure that I'm giving my body what it
Speaker 2: needs day to day to just keep myself feeling as
Speaker 2: best as I can and keep my good streaks going
Speaker 2: as long as I can write them out.
Speaker 3: You know, it's wonderful because your basics aren't strict, rigid rules.
Speaker 3: They are adjusting with your needs given the given day
Speaker 3: and the reality of your workload and also juggling busy
Speaker 3: life as a mom of two boys. Are they eight
Speaker 3: and eleven?
Speaker 2: Now they aren't eight and eleven, eight and a half.
Speaker 2: He would be mad at you if you mortified.
Speaker 3: How dare I?
Speaker 1: How dare it's eight and a half.
Speaker 3: And you know I would have to say, of course.
Speaker 3: We talked about the last time we spoke about you
Speaker 3: living by example because your family has a very interesting
Speaker 3: health profile as well.
Speaker 2: Both my kids I have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and my
Speaker 2: husband has ankylosing spondylitis. My husband and I did not
Speaker 2: know that we were both autoimmune you know people, until
Speaker 2: well after our two kids were born, but it just
Speaker 2: so happened that way. So being able to show up
Speaker 2: for myself and show my kids what they are capable of,
Speaker 2: but also the importance of taking care of ourselves in
Speaker 2: order for us to be able to do those things.
Speaker 2: Has been constant talk in our household of reminders of
Speaker 2: rest and recovery and bedtimes, which aren't always easy when
Speaker 2: you've got an eight and a half year old and
Speaker 2: an eleven year old who want to stay up all
Speaker 2: night playing video games. But talking about what sleep does
Speaker 2: for our bodies and all of those things, and them
Speaker 2: seeing mom get in bed early too, I think is
Speaker 2: a huge health and I hope they continue to adapt
Speaker 2: so they can continue to do all the amazing things
Speaker 2: that they do too.
Speaker 3: So did they ever listen to your episode?
Speaker 1: They did.
Speaker 2: I had some of their friends listen to my episode,
Speaker 2: which was so cool.
Speaker 3: That's wild. What were some of the most interesting reactions
Speaker 3: you got to it.
Speaker 2: Most of the reactions my kids were just like they
Speaker 2: were just very proud of me.
Speaker 1: That was like their biggest takeaway.
Speaker 2: You know, I show up for them and we talk
Speaker 2: about their school quizzes and their spelling tests and all
Speaker 2: those things, but they don't necessarily always see the things
Speaker 2: that I've battled in my personal life and where I'm
Speaker 2: at today meant a ton to me. But also just
Speaker 2: the fact that they see that journey and also where
Speaker 2: I've come across the other side of it, And they
Speaker 2: always joke around with me and tell me that I'm
Speaker 2: the strongest woman. We do family workouts together and they
Speaker 2: see me lift weights all the time, and Mom's the
Speaker 2: strongest woman in the world, right But like that strength
Speaker 2: to this time around didn't come in the form of
Speaker 2: my muscles or the weights that I'm lifting. It came
Speaker 2: from like the internal strength. And the fact that they
Speaker 2: can see that strength comes in so many ways shapes
Speaker 2: and forms is really cool.
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful also because I'm sure that if their
Speaker 3: friends did listen, they were probably bewildered. Because the truth is,
Speaker 3: as is the case with so many people who are
Speaker 3: navigating chronic illnesses, particularly one such as your own, you
Speaker 3: don't necessarily physically manifest the symptoms on your exterior, your
Speaker 3: personal trainer. You look like a personal trainer. You're in
Speaker 3: wonderful shape in every single aspect of the way in
Speaker 3: which you present, including your wonderful energy.
Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting too, Like you said, it's just
Speaker 2: people don't see that side of me on the outside.
Speaker 1: It's hard to recognize.
Speaker 2: But a big part of that is where I am
Speaker 2: today with my condition and the thing that I have
Speaker 2: over time figured out to help me be that fun
Speaker 2: and active and engaging mom as well too, because that
Speaker 2: is really important to me.
Speaker 3: Oh and how did your husband Matt react to the episode?
Speaker 1: He loved it.
Speaker 2: He loved it actually listening to the bits and pieces
Speaker 2: and hearing his perspective of how it's affected him and
Speaker 2: all of that kind of stuff, and him feeling kind
Speaker 2: of helpless at times where he's like, I do my
Speaker 2: best I can to support and be hands on and
Speaker 2: give whatever I can give, but also like hating to
Speaker 2: see me in pain or fatigue, Like you know, it's hard,
Speaker 2: but also like a good reminder to both of us
Speaker 2: how far we've come.
Speaker 3: Absolutely so. We got an email actually just on Friday
Speaker 3: from a listener who had questions for you. I'd love
Speaker 3: to share them and you can answer them in real time.
Speaker 1: Here we go amazing, it said.
Speaker 3: I'm mystified as to how this case progressed. Did Lauren
Speaker 3: go back to the dermatologists once soriasis diagnosis was confirmed?
Speaker 3: Soriatic arthritis should have immediately left to mind. To my
Speaker 3: way of thinking, poor Lauren must have gone to the
Speaker 3: wrong doctor's for help. By the way, I am a
Speaker 3: former dancer now eighty years old, and feels so much
Speaker 3: for Lauren. It is a terrible blow to ponder living
Speaker 3: without dance if one is young and immersed in it.
Speaker 3: So happy she has gotten at least part of her
Speaker 3: life back and I wish her well. Thanks Pete from
Speaker 3: North Carolina PS. I also have soriasis skin variety. Fortunately
Speaker 3: it's mild and doesn't need treatment. My wife insists that
Speaker 3: sunlight helps, and I think she's right.
Speaker 1: She usually is, we always are.
Speaker 2: So the question was if I went back to the
Speaker 2: dermatologist after the confirmed sriasis diagnosis, and whether they tried
Speaker 2: to connect it to souriatic arthritis. I did go back
Speaker 2: to the dermatologist, and no, they never linked my psoriasis
Speaker 2: to arthritis. There was never once the question asked.
Speaker 1: And this is one part of my story that really
Speaker 1: upsets me.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm over and now right, but like
Speaker 2: it made me angry back when I had been diagnosed.
Speaker 2: When I was diagnosed with the psoriasis, nobody asked me
Speaker 2: if there was any type of joint pain or any
Speaker 2: other symptoms that accompanied that psoriasis.
Speaker 3: I'm just so happy to see you doing so well.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm really really happy to It was a long journey
Speaker 2: of me fighting all the emotions, the ups and the
Speaker 2: downs of coming to a diagnosis and really realizing that
Speaker 2: this is likely something that I will be dealing with
Speaker 2: for the rest of my life. But now it is
Speaker 2: almost a blessing because I have gotten to find myself
Speaker 2: in a career path that I genuinely love and can
Speaker 2: help others that have experienced or are experiencing what I've
Speaker 2: been through, and also being able to get to know
Speaker 2: my body on another level that most people don't know
Speaker 2: their bodies on. So I feel like a lot of
Speaker 2: good has come out of it. I try to do
Speaker 2: my best to stay positive, but it seems to continue
Speaker 2: to get better and better.
Speaker 3: Oh that's wonderful because honestly, the most important responsibility we're
Speaker 3: all individually tasked with is taking care of ourselves. Ultimately,
Speaker 3: we all know our bodies better than anyone else possibly can.
Speaker 3: It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Is there something that you've learned along the way that
Speaker 3: has really helped you cultivate and maintain positivity?
Speaker 1: Dance it out?
Speaker 2: And I know that the question that came through said
Speaker 2: that it's hard and when you've been a dancer your
Speaker 2: entire life to think of never dancing again.
Speaker 1: And I will tell you that I dance all the time.
Speaker 2: It may not be in the professional way, and I
Speaker 2: may not look professional doing it anymore, but I am
Speaker 2: still always dancing.
Speaker 3: Love it, Lauren, thank you so much for sharing the update.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: On next week's episode of Symptomatic, what starts as an
Speaker 3: ordinary day for Trent Fielder spirals into a nightmare when
Speaker 3: he suddenly can't move his legs, throwing him into a
Speaker 3: devastating health crisis.
Speaker 4: I was actually underneath a car trying to work an
Speaker 4: estimate and was trying to get out and my legs
Speaker 4: wouldn't hold my weight.
Speaker 3: By the next day, Trent was thrust into a relentless
Speaker 3: battle for his health, facing the terrifying possibility he would
Speaker 3: never walk again.
Speaker 4: I ended up having two embolisms back to back, and
Speaker 4: the second one actually killed me.
Speaker 3: This has been house calls. Thanks for listening, and we
Speaker 3: would love to hear from you too. You can email
Speaker 3: us AT's symptomatic at iHeartMedia dot com with thoughts about
Speaker 3: other episodes, or to share a medical mystery of your own.
Speaker 3: Until next time, be well.