Medical Mysteries: Years of hives and fevers traced to a startling cause
There were few things Beth Sternlieb’s Los Angeles doctors could say with certainty about her baffling illness, but this much was clear: Although manageable for years, it had worsened dramatically.
For nearly two decades Sternlieb had been plagued by flu-like episodes that began with a headache and abdominal pain accompanied by fatigue, muscle aches and diarrhea. Within a day, a spotty red rash blanketed her abdomen.
A yoga and meditation teacher who worked at the University of California at Los Angeles’s pediatric pain program, Sternlieb had undergone numerous tests that failed to reveal the reason for the unidentified illness that occurred two or three times a year and lasted about five days. In 2004, after 17 years, the illness began occurring more frequently and Sternlieb never fully recovered between episodes. A year later she developed a high fever, chills and exhaustion that lasted five months and left her bedridden.
The startling and highly unusual cause was finally identified after Sternlieb underwent an operation that ended up curing her.
“It was a good thing my abdomen turned red because it caught the attention of my doctors,” Sternlieb said recently. “Something was really wrong, but no one imagined this.”
More.. Very long and detailed report from the Washington Poslt
https://archive.ph/muQSc
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