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