For the international day of rare diseases which takes place every February 28, a young woman returned to Nutcracker syndrome, or nutcracker, and her terrible suffering.
“While there is life, there is hope”. It is an optimistic message that Anna, a young woman of 30 from Sète, wanted to convey during her interview with Midi Libre. As she explains, Anna has Nutcracker Syndrome, or Nutcracker Syndrome, which the various symptoms lead with difficulty to a diagnosis. Yet his suffering was very real, despite what he may have been told some doctors who blamed his pain on stress. According to our colleagues from Free lunchthe nutcracker syndrome results in “excruciating pain throughout the abdomen, (…) pain in the left flank, blood in the urine, very painful menstruation, genital and digestive pain, pelvic varices and thromboses in the left leg”.
So many pains that made Anna’s life A real obstacle course : “15 fucking years of medical wandering, 24 months of relentless struggle, 9 operating theatres, 4 major surgeries, 11 scars, 180 injections of anticoagulants, more than 25 scans in recent months, several hundred thousand euros and a lot of courage. These pains are due to the fact that the renal vein of affected individuals is crushed between the superior mesenteric artery and the aorta, which leads to a change in blood flow and causes the body to create other circulation paths which are the cause of various sufferings. But thanks to an article read by her father, Anna was finally able to get a lead that allowed her to see the appropriate specialist and, after half her life spent in pain, to be correctly diagnosed.
A disease that mainly affects women
Taking advantage of International Rare Disease Day, the young 30-year-old wants encourage all people who are suffering but who have not yet been diagnosed to remain hopeful. “I would like to emphasize the importance of listening to each other, trusting each other, and never giving up. That’s what I did and it was that determination and courage that got me through. (…) As long as there is life, there is hope”. Thanks to the support of her family and the visibility of a disease that affects between 200 and 300 people a year, the majority of whom are women, Anna was able to identify the disease that was eating away at her and continues to encourage all those in her case not to not give up.