Nowadays there are drugs and other treatments that can help people with their symptoms, especially when treatment starts early. It usually hits between ages 30 and 50 and can affect the skin, blood vessels, internal organs and digestive tract. Scleroderma affects about 300,000 people in the U.S., 80% of them women, and tends to be worse in Native American and Black women. Ultimately it was a three- to four-year process that led to her death. She described feeling like her skin was on fire, the 'Full House' alumnus said, and had a lot of fatigue.
'They named everything except what it was.' 'She went to a lot of regular doctors who said it could be lupus, it could be mental illness, it could be Epstein-Barr,' her brother said.
