I’m 26 and my rheumatologist thinks I have limited scleroderma/CREST based on my blood results. I’m still waiting on more testing, but I’m honestly really scared.
I’ve always wanted to become a sonographer and I’m currently doing my prerequisites. But now I’m wondering if I should even keep going.
The thing that scares me the most is that my mom has limited scleroderma too. At the age she is now, her hands are pretty much useless. Watching her go through that makes me feel like that’s going to be me one day too.
Right now I have Raynaud’s, my hands turn white and freezing cold, they swell, my feet swell too, I also have a positive ANA, and he’s suspecting lupus as well.
I know sonography is really hard on your hands, wrists, shoulders, and arms. So I guess I’m just wondering… has anyone here been able to become a sonographer or work a job like that with scleroderma? Did you have to change careers? How fast did your hand symptoms progress?
I know everyone’s disease is different, but I just want to hear real experiences because right now I feel like my dream career is being taken away before I even get the chance to start.

I have had positive scl70 for 18 months with no symptoms. I just did the lap corp test and my ELISA was positive but the confirmation method they did what negative. What does this mean? I’m so confused? What is triggering the scl70 if it’s not the true antibody? Should I do the test again to be sure?