What illness would fit this description?

November 17, 2019 11:41 AM

A character in the novel I'm writing -- a young woman -- has a condition/illness that can be in remission or without symptoms for long periods of time (i.e., years) but can then get worse, and then get better again. Basically a course that is unpredictable and that could potentially be serious, but could also, if she's lucky, not be. I was thinking of something autoimmune. Can you think of an illness that would fit this description?
posted by swheatie to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

Is it OK if she is taking drugs/other treatment during remission? In which case Crohns or ulcerative colitis would qualify. Usually there are long-term maintenance drugs during remission, and then flare ups are treated with more acute-acting drugs.
posted by muddgirl at 11:45 AM on November 17, 2019 [4 favorites]

Ulcerative colitis, crohn's disease, lupus
posted by obfuscation at 11:46 AM on November 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis could do this.
Mild lupus or rheumatoid arthritis could also fit this picture.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 11:46 AM on November 17, 2019 [12 favorites]

Came to say relapsing/remitting MS. My aunt has it and your description is spot on.

For another one, maybe Lyme disease?
posted by Weeping_angel at 11:52 AM on November 17, 2019 [6 favorites]

Autoimmune is a good idea and something like lupus was the first thing that sprung to mind.

A subcategory of autoimmune diseases in the connective tissue disease family (which includes both RA and lupus) might give you lots of options.
posted by mark k at 11:56 AM on November 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Fibromyalgia, MAST cell disorder; while these and other immune disorders can show up later in life, they can be triggered by extreme immune system events such as a pregnancy (say she bore a child early in secrecy or simply carried it through most of the pregnancy until a miscarriage. Or stumbled into a wild bee swarm with many stings as a result, a tangle with a venomous animal and or sea creature. It could wax and wane with her exposure to other triggers and leave her aching or tired on and off as well as triggered by extremes in weather or excerxise regimes.
posted by tilde at 11:56 AM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ankylosing spondylitis, and yes, MS
posted by quacks like a duck at 1:56 PM on November 17, 2019

Another unpredictable, inflammation-based illness: sarcoidosis. (Presentation can vary by patient population, which is something else to consider for your character [see link for sarc's examples], but autoimmune disorders do occur more often in women; diagnosing the illness can take a good while, and stressful events can trigger autoimmune flares. Mentioning for plotting purposes.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:02 PM on November 17, 2019

Relapsing Remitting MS was the illness used as a device in The West Wing for the President under the same storyline requirements.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:03 PM on November 17, 2019

MS fits what you are describing exactly.
posted by Amy93 at 2:38 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yes, relapsing-remitting MS. The name of the disease is literally what you are describing.
posted by gaspode at 3:10 PM on November 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

CLL: my husband was in remission from his first treatment for over 8 years. Then it came back. A new treatment worked well. Then, well, hell broke loose.
posted by tmdonahue at 5:16 PM on November 17, 2019

Malaria.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 5:27 PM on November 17, 2019

Echoing Crohn's/UC - especially for the unpredictability and varying severity.
posted by oxfordcomma at 7:13 PM on November 17, 2019

Response by poster: Lots of good ideas here. Thank you, all!
posted by swheatie at 7:24 PM on November 17, 2019

If your story is set in the past than a bleeding disorder of some nature such as periodic menorrhagia could do it, as a bad episode of bleeding could make her frail and leave her vulnerable to opportunistic illnesses for a few weeks. She could be going through an unpredictable periods of necessary bed rest. The loss of two litres of blood before the time of blood transfusions meant you were stuck in the sickroom waiting to get strong again.

TB is another one you could use. With treatment it capsulates and becomes dormant, but when she gets run down back it comes. She could go through five or six times when the TB that had been defeated enough to let her resume normal activities comes back. While the TB scenario was not uncommon in the past, we now have drug resistant strains of TB so this is not impossible nowadays.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:19 AM on November 18, 2019

Herpes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:16 AM on November 18, 2019

poly cystic ovarian syndrome
thyroid issues / goiter
posted by Ahniya at 9:48 AM on November 18, 2019

Pernicious anemia.
posted by Transmissions From Vrillon at 3:30 PM on November 18, 2019