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Lorna: Undiagnosed Scleroderma?

Scotland.

Hi, my name is Lorna. I am thirty-three years old and have just gotten a computer.

When I was twenty-one, I was rushed to the hospital. I could not breath properly. At that time I was living in London and working in a pub. I woke up one morning and could not get a good breath.

I had always suffered from sore hands and feet. Anyway, when I went to the hospital this young doctor came in and looked at my hands. He said that he thought I had Raynaud's and scleroderma. I did not know what he was talking about. After a lot of different tests they put me on pills I had never heard of. I took them but did not feel any better.

It has been twelve years since then and I still do not know what kind of scleroderma I have. I have had a pain in my side for two years. The doctors do not know what it is so what am I to do? Is it all in my head? With the pain I live with, I do not think so.

I have two beautiful daughters and they keep me going. Well, I could go on and on, but what is the point if no one really listens.

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ISN Artist: Sherrill Knaggs (In Loving Memory)

Sherrill Knaggs, ISN Artist, created the digital photo to illustrate the story on this page. Sherrill lived in New Zealand. Her story was featured in ISN's book, Voices of Scleroderma Volume 2.

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Judith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

SCLERO.ORG was the world's leading nonprofit for trustworthy research, support, education and awareness for scleroderma and related illnesses from 1998 to 2021. It was a grassroots movement from the original Scleroderma from A to Z web site, which was founded by Shelley Ensz. We were a 501(c)(3) U.S.-based public charitable foundation. We closed this web site and our nonprofit agency in April 2021.