Vanessa Sullivan hasn’t been able to wear her wedding ring in years. Her joints are swollen in her hands and in her feet and she’s frequently exhausted.
"It’s really horrible," Sullivan told Channel 11 anchor Lisa Sylvester. "I’m always tired. I require many hours of sleep and it takes me about 2 hours to get up and get ready to arrive at work."
Vanessa has something called Psoriatic Arthritis. It impacts about 7.5 million Americans. It’s one of a hundred different types of auto-immune diseases, a disease where the body’s immunity turns on itself.
There are about 100 different auto immune diseases. Some you may have never heard of , but many you have. They include Celiac Disease, Crohn's Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. Doctor Susan Manzi with Allegheny Health Network said knowledge of auto-immune diseases has changed a lot over the past few years.
"I remember 10 years ago, I used to be talking in groups, I'd ask "Who has heard of lupus," Doctor Manzi said. "I'd get maybe one hand. Now almost every hand goes up."
That's in part thanks to celebrities like Selena Gomez, who shared her personal story with Lupus.
Doctor Manzi is making it her mission to inform and reach out to the community, through open houses to share the latest treatment updates.
For reasons scientists are not sure of auto immune diseases impact women in far greater numbers than men. 90 percent of Lupus cases affect women and 50 women will develop Autoimmune Thyroid for every man. The early symptoms are easily dismissed as usual aches and pains.
That’s what happened to Vanessa, who had gastrointestinal issues as a young woman in her 20s. It took until the past five years to get a diagnosis.
"The blinders are taken off," she said.