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Candice Pauley entertains Nacho the cat in Spring on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Pauley suffered from allergies, brain fog, heat exhaustion and other symptoms for most of her life until she attempted to donate a kidney to her aunt and discovered she had a rare disorder.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Four years ago, Candice\u00a0Pauley\u2019s chronic pain and other unexplained symptoms<\/a> had become so all-consuming that she was forced to give up many of the things she loved.<\/p>\n The Spring resident had suffered from abdominal pain<\/a>, brain fog and unexplained reactions to food and scents since high school, but her symptoms escalated after the COVID-19 pandemic. The pain she felt in her abdomen, joints, hips and tailbone sometimes became so severe that she\u2019d need to leave restaurants in the middle of dinners with her husband and friends.<\/p>\n Candice Pauley poses for a portrait in Spring on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Pauley suffered from allergies, brain fog, heat exhaustion and other symptoms for most of her life until she attempted to donate a kidney to her aunt and discovered she had a rare disorder.<\/p>\n Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle Denny Rasberry and his wife, Candice Pauley, pose for a portrait in Spring on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Pauley suffered from allergies, brain fog, heat exhaustion and other symptoms for most of her life until she attempted to donate a kidney to her aunt and discovered she had a rare disorder.<\/p>\n Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cI would just be crying on the floor at home, not knowing what was going on,\u201d said Pauley, now 43 years old.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: Sign up for alerts from the Medical Mystery Files<\/a><\/p>\n Pauley stopped going to concerts, gardening and playing roller derby. She used to co-host a podcast about beer but stopped drinking it after she ended up in the hospital with a life-threatening allergic reaction.<\/p>\n Doctors mistook many of her symptoms for more common ailments, a frequent occurrence for patients suffering from rare medical conditions. Delays in finding a diagnosis can have long-term consequences for some patients because their condition could worsen and it could take longer for them to recover.<\/p>\n Then Pauley went to a hospital to be tested as a potential organ donor for her aunt, who was in advanced kidney failure. The test results were suspicious. Doctors ordered a bone marrow biopsy to determine what was wrong.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The results showed Pauley had a disorder caused by a genetic mutation that\u2019s so rare it typically takes years for doctors to diagnose it. She immediately began looking for more information on the internet, but she worried about what she might find.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing you\u2019re looking for is, \u2018Am I going to die?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s everybody\u2019s first question.\u201d<\/p>\n Unexplained \u2018quirks\u2019<\/p>\n Pauley\u2019s search for answers was marked by years of hardship and frustration.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Her symptoms first cropped up when she was a child, but they seemed so disconnected that she never assumed they were related to the same medical condition.<\/p>\n She broke out in rashes and grappled with brain fog and fatigue when it got too hot, which happened often while she was growing up in South Louisiana. She suffered from migraines roughly once a month and sinus infections every few months. In college, she started getting headaches and her face turned red whenever she was around candles, perfumes and other strong scents.<\/p>\n \u201cI really didn\u2019t think about it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just like I had these little quirks.\u201d<\/p>\n CONTACT US: Tell us about a medical condition that was difficult to diagnose<\/a><\/p>\n She was known as the \u201csensitive stomach kid\u201d because she\u2019d experience abdominal pain and bloating after eating certain foods. Over time she cut meat, fried foods and gluten out of her diet to avoid those symptoms.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She first realized her symptoms might be connected after she moved to Houston in 2012. The stress of relocating to an unfamiliar city and starting a job appeared to trigger all her symptoms at once.<\/p>\n Pauley couldn\u2019t eat because it led to stomach pain. She experienced joint pain and heart palpitations. Her legs were so weak that she could barely stand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a full-body response,\u201d Pauley said. \u201cI remember my Mom coming in to take care of me because I couldn\u2019t really function.\u201d<\/p>\n Denny Rasberry and his wife, Candice Pauley, pose for a portrait in Spring on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Pauley suffered from allergies, brain fog, heat exhaustion and other symptoms for most of her life until she attempted to donate a kidney to her aunt and discovered she had a rare disorder.<\/p>\n Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Worsening symptoms<\/p>\n The worst of Pauley\u2019s symptoms subsided after a few weeks, though she still experienced gastrointestinal issues and anxiety. Doctors diagnosed her with irritable bowel syndrome and a generalized anxiety disorder, but tests for multiple sclerosis and celiac disease were negative.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Pauley\u2019s symptoms were easier to manage over the next few years. She could go out to eat with friends but occasionally experienced stomach pain afterward. She could exercise and she joined a roller derby league, but the physical exertion still led to brain fog and rashes on her legs.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody would talk about this euphoria they felt after a really hard workout,\u201d she said. \u201cMy brain would just power down to about a quarter of its capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n MEDICAL MYSTERY FILES: A Houston woman’s shoulder pain stumped doctors. It led to a first-of-its-kind surgery in Texas.<\/a><\/p>\n She also started a podcast where she and a friend discussed beer and highlighted women in the industry. She met her now-husband, Denny Rasberry, at a beer festival. They started dating in 2019 and moved in together the following year.<\/p>\n Pauley started to feel herself slowing down around that same time. She figured it was part of being in her late 30s and decided to give up roller derby. She also struggled with fatigue and a lack of motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic, but she attributed it to how the crisis had disrupted her life.<\/p>\n Her symptoms didn\u2019t improve after the pandemic ended, though. Her pain became more consistent in her abdomen, joints, hips and tailbone. She didn\u2019t want to attend concerts, go kayaking, play roller derby or do many of the other things she loved. She also began to suffer from crippling anxiety that could be triggered by small moments of stress.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was almost like her identity was gone,\u201d Rasberry said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t just the things we did together. They were the things that brought her joy.\u201d<\/p>\n A revealing biopsy<\/p>\n Pauley\u2019s symptoms were so consistent by 2022 that she was convinced there must be a medical condition that could explain them all.<\/p>\n She started seeing another primary care doctor, a gastroenterologist, a hematologist and a rheumatologist. Tests for hormone imbalances, thyroid disease, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis were negative. An X-ray revealed she had growths called enchondromas in the bones in her arms, but those tumors are benign.<\/p>\n Pauley\u2019s myriad health issues didn\u2019t deter her from trying to donate a kidney to her aunt. Her desire to help finally led Pauley to the answer behind the medical mystery<\/a> that had been plaguing her for years.<\/p>\n The screening to determine if she could donate an organ revealed that Pauley had sclerosis in her hips. The transplant center worried that was an indication that she had kidney disease, too.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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