Early Autoimmune Symptoms No One Could Explain

One June morning in 2024, Kristin woke up earlier than usual to meet a friend and past coworker for breakfast. Although awake, she was so exhausted she could not lift her head from the pillow. Her husband helped her up and walked her to the bathroom so she could get ready. As she reached her left hand behind her back to scratch an itch, she felt sharp pain in her lowest thumb joint. Everything took longer than normal, and she ended up running late.

When she finally sat down across from her friend, who had recently entered remission after battling ovarian cancer, her friend looked at her with deep sincerity and said, “You need to take care of yourself. You have got to reduce stress in your life. It’s not worth your health.”

Looking back, it felt like her friend sensed something Kristin did not yet understand. That breakfast was the first day she remembers experiencing pain that has never completely gone away.

Autoimmune Flares in Hands, Feet, and Joints

In the following weeks, Kristin mentioned the thumb pain to a physical therapist who brushed it off as overuse. She wondered if she was making a big deal out of nothing.

Within a month, she began waking up with both hands and both feet feeling painfully swollen, even though they looked normal. She could barely bend her fingers or toes, and her feet felt like they were burning. By midday, the symptoms faded only to return automatically the next morning.

During an appointment with her general practitioner, Kristin described the strange morning pain. Her doctor immediately said, “That sounds like rheumatoid arthritis,” ordered bloodwork, and submitted a referral to rheumatology. The waitlist was five months.

As she waited, the symptoms worsened. Some days, stiffness and burning lasted into the afternoon. During an anniversary trip to Sri Lanka, Kristin and her husband hiked up a mountain, but she could not get back down. Her knees hurt so badly she could not put any pressure on them. She tried walking sideways, but the pain was unbearable. Kristin said, “The pain was so bad I couldn’t get down the mountain. My husband had to carry me like a backpack.”

Daily Life with Autoimmune Joint Pain

Back home, everyday activities became unpredictable. One night, she sat cross-legged on the couch when a cat got into something. She jumped up and immediately collapsed because her knees would not straighten. Crawling across the floor, she broke into tears. What was happening to her body?

A few days later at a work lunch, she opened up to a colleague who shared her own psoriatic arthritis diagnosis and gave Kristin her doctor’s name. Kristin added herself to that waitlist too. Weeks later, she finally got the call.

On October 1, four months after her first symptoms, Kristin sat in a rheumatologist’s office describing her pain. That was the beginning of a far more complicated journey.

Navigating Autoimmune Testing, Rheumatology Waitlists, and No Diagnosis

Hundreds of blood tests came back completely normal, despite worsening pain. Her rheumatologist began Hydroxychloroquine at the end of October 2024. A musculoskeletal ultrasound in May showed inflammation in her wrists and hands. Possible diagnoses included Sjögren’s, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus, especially since she also experienced dry eyes, dry mouth, and digestive issues.

By September 2025, with no improvement and no clear answers, Methotrexate was added. Her pain spread from hands and feet to wrists and ankles. Yoga, long her sanctuary, became almost impossible. Dosages increased multiple times over two months, and a steroid taper offered temporary relief, suggesting an inflammatory autoimmune condition.

Eighteen months after her first symptoms, Kristin still has normal bloodwork, X-rays, and physical exams. The only existing diagnosis is inflammatory arthritis.

Meanwhile, the impact on her daily life grew heavier. Kristin said, “One day I realized I couldn’t even open a water bottle, and that broke me.”

Life Before and After Autoimmune Disease

Before any of this began, Kristin had been in peak health. She lifted weights three days a week, walked five miles a day, and practiced yoga four days a week. She had been vegan for nearly twelve years and did not consume alcohol or caffeine. All the “easy levers” were already pulled.

There were weeks when she felt hopeless. She could no longer lift weights. She could not always open containers, button a shirt, or do basic tasks without pain. She and her husband moved up physically active vacations they had planned for later in life because they feared she might lose future mobility.

From the outside, she appeared completely normal. Inside, she was overwhelmed both physically and emotionally. She searched symptoms online, only to find frightening possibilities. Perimenopause began around the same time, adding another layer of confusion. Kristin said, “I couldn’t tell what was arthritis and what was hormones, my body felt like a puzzle with missing pieces.”

Finding Autoimmune Community and Support

What helped most was community. The more openly Kristin shared her experience, the more others came forward with their own autoimmune stories. They offered doctors, resources, supplements, alternative medicine ideas, and consistent encouragement. They checked in often and helped her feel less alone.

Her husband took over the endless insurance calls and pharmacy errands so she could focus on appointments. Kristin asked her employer if she could move to a four-day workweek for nine months, something she feared requesting, and they were fully supportive. The extra time allowed her space to rest, rebalance, and pursue better sleep, treatment adjustments, and joy.

As she slowly rebuilt stability, she realized something profound. Kristin said, “When I’m in a good mental space, the physical pain is still there, but it’s no longer the whole story.”

Autoimmune Advocacy and the Hope Journey Walk

Kristin discovered the Autoimmune Association in September 2025, right as they were promoting the first Hope Journey Walk. She thought joining might motivate her to get outside, tell her story, and help others feel less alone. She created a team and shared her story on LinkedIn and Instagram. Within 24 hours, she exceeded her goal. Over the next few weeks, she kept raising it and kept surpassing it.

People shared her post, messaged her their own stories, and donated without her ever asking directly. As Kristin explains, “People just want to help, they only need a way to show up for you.”

By sharing her truth, she felt an unexpected wave of support. Although autoimmune diseases are often invisible, the care around her was not. Giving people a donation link offered a concrete way for them to support her and showed her how large her community really was.

In Kristin’s words, “Maybe I’m not as alone as I once thought.”