Hi, just wanted to share something I’ve been dealing with.
I’ve been living with unexplained episodes of whole-body inflammation for years. It comes with fevers, intense headaches, stomach pain, and deep weakness — along with joint pain and crushing fatigue that sometimes makes even standing difficult, like my whole body is burning and I just have to survive through it. Sometimes it hits out of nowhere; other times it happens after physical activity, like karate. I can usually feel it coming — like something inside me suddenly switches.
Sometimes the pain builds slowly overnight, and I end up shivering uncontrollably even when it’s not cold. Paracetamol helps a bit with the fever and headache, but only for a short time. I started taking ibuprofen too — it helped at first, but one day I had a full allergic reaction: hives, breathing issues. That option was taken away fast.
It’s not constant — but lately, it’s been happening more often, almost weekly. That said, there are days where I feel totally fine — like myself again. I try to make the most of those, training hard, staying active, and trying to enjoy life while I can. But it's hard not knowing when it might flip again. When it does, I'm often bedridden — just waiting it out until I feel okay again. And when it flares up, it’s absolute hell. I’ve genuinely had moments where the pain and exhaustion were so overwhelming I didn’t want to be alive anymore. A couple of times, my CRP blood marker (which shows inflammation) was at 285 — a level that usually points to something like sepsis. But no actual infection was ever found.
I’ve had CT scans, ultrasounds, loads of blood work. Sometimes there are signs of urinary infections, but nothing consistent, and urology couldn’t find a clear cause. Right now, it’s looking like some kind of auto-inflammatory syndrome — where the immune system overreacts or misfires even when there’s no real infection. I’m now under an immunologist, and things are still being explored.
I've just been prescribed Colchicine — a medication used for gout and auto-inflammatory conditions. It’s derived from a toxic plant (the autumn crocus), and it can be dangerous in high doses, but in controlled amounts like mine (500 micrograms daily), it helps calm the immune system. It’s meant to reduce the frequency or severity of these flare-ups.
So yeah — it’s an invisible thing, but it massively affects my life. I try to push through it quietly, but sometimes it just wipes me out. That’s why there are days I’m not myself, or I miss deadlines, or can’t show up the way I want to. It’s not laziness or poor planning — it’s surviving my own body.
Right now, I'm training hard for my next Dan grading in karate — pushing myself carefully when I can, and holding on to the parts of me that still feel strong.
Thanks for reading.
