I don't know what to do next....

[katannie64]

I am a 45 year old female who has been battling chronic pain and other issues for about 15 years now. Shortly after the birth of my youngest child, I suffered substantial hearing loss. My GP had no clue what was going on so he sent me to a specialist, who did an MRI. Brain lesions were detected, so I was sent to a neurologist. The neurologist looked at my MRI, reviewed my case, and said it may be MS..or it may not. Go home, and come back if you have trouble controling your bladder.
Since that time, I have had one health problem after another, mostly resulting in vague diagnoses of diseases for which the doctor has no interest in treating. I have been told that I have IBS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Interstitial Cycstitis and Fibromyalgia. I suffer from fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches (I frequently wake up with very severe headaches), bladder pain, abdominal pain, constant diarrhea, sleep problems, and now I am having bladder problems, and the skin on my arms has become so thin that if I try to carry a grocery bag on my wrist, it tears and bruises my skin. According to my most recent blood work, my platelet count was okay, but I am "profoundly anemic" (that was the how the doctor put it), and I have a vitamin D deficiency. I can only sleep on my left side, as if I try to lie in any other position, I have such severe cramps in my left flank area that I can hardly breathe. I am so tired, and this morning I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Some days are better than others, but I have not really had a "good day" in months. I feel like I am going out of my mind. When the skin thing started, I was almost happy because it was a visible sign that something is wrong. I called my doctor's office, and was told "Well, your last blood work looks okay, so I would not worry about it." In the meantime, my skin is so fragile that if I scratch a minor itch in my sleep it results in wounds that take two weeks to heal. Am I just a hypochondriacal, hysterical woman??? I feel like I am going nuts, and yet I can't help but wonder if all these diagnoses of autoimmune disorders might be pointing to something bigger. Should I go to a rheaumatologist? Any suggestions would be so appreciated. Sorry for the long post, but I need help. Thanks.
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Peace....amen : )

[Dollface]

Hello! I'm so sorry to hear about your problems. Let me just make this clear. YOU ARE NOT A HYPOCHONDRIAC! I too suffer from many of the same things that you do. I've been doing heavy research for years on my own because I'm tired of doctors not looking at the big picture and suffering from tunnel vision. I haven't found a cure (or diagnosis) for my problems yet, but I can share some random things that I've researched that have been know to help a lot of people in the mean time. I hate getting to the point where I feel like I'm not doing anything for myself so here are some things that may keep you busy for a while:
-Allergies. Not the kind that show up in expensive blood tests nessecaraly (although, it couldn't hurt to try that anyway), but doing food elimination diets sometimes can do wonders for people. My mother's chronic illness was completely cured after going gluten-free, for example.
-Candida. If you haven't read up on this it's worth a shot. It's one of those things that can pretty much cause any and all symptoms to arise.
-Detox. There are tons of detox programs out there. One that my friends have had serious results from is a book called "the liver and galbladder miracle cleanse" by Andrew Moritz or something like that. I'm half way through doing the cleanses and can't yet say if they work for me, but it came highly reccomended. It explains how liver and galbladder stones and obtructions may be effecting your health without you realizing it. It's worth a read at least.
-Reflexology. People swear by this. I'm in the middle of reading a book on it and haven't tried it, but I did do a lot of research into Chinese and Auryvedic medicine and feel that reflexology is a more widlely accepted version of some of those principles.
-Juice fast. While some of these things aren't in any way going to help you find a cure, this one has made me feel ten times better. Sounds rediculous maybe, but something like 70% (don't quote me on that) of our energy goes to the digestive system and by getting a quality juicer and drinking vegatable juice only for a week straight (or more depending on how hard core you are) you are enabling your energy to go to healing your body (the way it's supposed to do when you sleep... which you're not doing). I just finished a week of this and the acne that I've had for years improved ten fold every day, my vision is way better (didn't even realize it had been a problem) and until today when I started to ease back into normal food, I hadn't realize the incredible energy I had (for the most part... sometimes if I didn't drink enough juice my bloodsugar was too low). Also, my chrnic sore throat is much better. It's no cure, but it's something cheap and easy to do that will give you a quick boost! (fyi, on the second day of the fast, I almost quit even though I'm hardcore. People like us don't need to do things that make us feel worse and the first 2 and a half days I did. I stuck with it though and it was well worth it!)
-Colon Cleanse. Ew. I know. Sounds like the very last resort haha. I have been getting these to go along with the liver galbladder cleanse I'm doing. Because of this, I've done plenty of research on it and it's worth a shot. Some people feel like a million bucks after getting these. I'm hit or miss and the ladies that work there tell me I have the abdomen of an 80 year old woman, but I always feel like I've made some health progress when I go.
-Chiropractor. Seriously new at this one. The theory with some chiropractors is that if you have subluxations in your vertabre, however you spell it, it can be pinching important nerves to the relative organs in the body and causeing problems from there.
-Rhumetologist. As you may have gathered by now, I'm more on the alternative side of medicine. It's only through years of experience with doctors that have let me down or failed to listen to me or prescribed pills for one of my thousands of symptoms. However, that being said, you do sound like you may want to see one if you want a diagnosis. Many of your symptoms go along with arthritis. I may end up seeing one eventually as well, but I already know how it will go. One of two ways. A: "all the tests are fine! It must all be in your head!" or B: "well you have this-n-such arthritis. There's no cure. Take these expensive side-effects ridden pills for the rest of your life and try to deal with it." I truely believe that arthritis is a symptom of something like an allergy. It's a warning sign. Not an end result. That being said, some people have arthritis for a very long time because they can't find what's causing it. That leads me to my last suggestion.
-No Nightshades. Ever heard of those? They are a class of plant that contains a type of allkaloid that messes a lot of people up. That wasn't very scientific, but it's about the way it works haha! Please look it up. This will be my next attempt. Next week I'll try a one month nightshade free diet and see if this is the cause (or aggrivator) of my joint problems. Nightshades are basically: tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers.

I hope this helps a little! Even if you're not into the hollistic approach as I am, maybe you can look into some of these things to help you in the mean time until you find a helpful doctor. Whatever you do, never stop trying!
-Shelly
p.s. please excuse my spelling. I'm used to spell check hahahaha
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There is always hope!