Hey everybody!

The weekend is finally here.  How about that?  Hope everyone has survived the week.  I encourage you to write a sharepost about how your week has gone.  We want to hear how you are doing. 

I wanted to talk today about having multiple diagnoses whether they are medical conditions, mental disorders, or a combination of both.  It is my belief that it is unusual for an individual to have just one health problem.  Unfortunately some people have a wide variety of acronyms to describe their varied medical and mental conditions. 

I was recently looking at Health Central's front page and going down the list of our health topics and thinking...I either have this, or I have a friend or family member with this health problem.

Check it out:

• My eldest son has acid reflux
  
  
• My youngest son has ADHD, autism, and not listed as a specific health topic (yet), epilepsy.
  
  
• Both my husband and I have asthma.
  
  
• I have a friend who has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and she also has a teen with this same disorder.
  
  
• My maternal grandmother died from breast cancer.
  
  
• I suffer from both anxiety and depression.
  
  
• My mother has just been diagnosed with Type II diabetes.
  
  
• I have also battled IBD (irritable bowel disorder) since my first pregnancy.
  
  
• My youngest son has multiple food allergies, one of which could be fatal.
  
  
• I am now entering the stage of peri-menopause.
  
  
• I was diagnosed in 2007 with Multiple Sclerosis.
  
  
• My eldest sister has just been diagnosed with bone loss.
  
  
• My mother has schizophrenia.
  
  
• I have experienced several years of infertility before finally becoming pregnant.
  
  
• I have had several moles removed which were pre-cancerous.
  
  
• I lost a dear friend of mine to complications resulting from his obesity.
  
  
• I have skin conditions including adult acne and rosacea and my youngest son has chronic eczema.
  
  
• I suffer from sleep problems including insomnia.

And some say that I may be a chronic pain.     Just a little joke there.

Have I left anything out?  Oh yeah I have restless leg syndrome as well. 

It looks a little scary doesn't it?  So many medical and mental health things going on for me, my friends, and family.  But the saving grace is that I have a site like Health Central with patient experts and caregivers at the ready to give support and information that I need.

I predict that my list will only grow as the years go by.  It is simply amazing how many health issues we have to contend with over time.  But this doesn't mean we can't learn to cope with these conditions and live a good life.

Now it is your turn!  If you are courageous enough please share your list of medical and/or mental health diagnoses.

I would greatly encourage you to check out our other sites on Health Central...lots to discover and a lot of great people to meet including our other writers, community leaders, and members.