Hello,
A friend of mine (female, 25 years old) has been ill since June of 2012.
Her medical history involves scarlet fever when she was young and her family history is unknown since nobody keeps a record of it since we live in Kuwait. No other illness is noted in her history.
In June of 2012, she started feeling tired all the time, lethargic, not able to breathe properly felt pain all over. The symptoms have progressed over time and as of now, her symptoms are as follow and please be patient with me:
- Really bad headaches and she feels as if her brain hurts. Its persistent from when she wakes up until she sleeps. She was given painkillers and they did not subside the pain. No sleep, water or diet changes affect it.
- Stuffed dry nose, especially the right side. When she sneezes she feels her throat hurts much like when a person has the flu.
- Fever even though a thermometer shows otherwise and her forehead is especially hot.
- Pain in her whole right side of the body.
- Bloated stomach, especially at the "beginning" of the stomach (after the esophagus). Diarrhea
- She feels full all of the time even if she's hungry. She can only eat a small amount and after it she feels full and cannot continue eating. She only eats one meal a day.
- She does not feel like eating even when hungry and feels a burning sensation in the her esophagus and end of esophagus.
-Swollen throat and she feels as if under her jaw is swollen. Lymph nodes there are also swollen and feel tough
- Itchy painful ear
- Cannot sleep well and feels tired all the time
- Random green bruises on her thighs/legs
- Cannot take a deep breath, she feels as if there is an obstruction and it is painful when she tries to breath deeply.
- Racing heart rate
- Low blood pressure
- Grey hair (although maybe from the stress?)
- Swollen nose cartilage
- Gastritis
- Tense muscles
- Was told her vertebrates are out of alignment
- Acne and hair loss
She was diagnosed with systemic candida and was given anti-fungal medicine and had to follow a strict diet. A followup proved she was candida free but some of the symptoms still persisted.
A lot of tests followed and she was diagnosed to be vitamin d deficient and had secondary hyperparathyroidism. A thyroid radiotracer proved normal thyroid and parathyroid activity and the secondary hyperparathyroidism was biochemical. She was told her symptoms were not related to vitamin d deficiency and was given vitamin d injections. She cannot remember how many IUs and the duration but a followup test concluded her vitamin d levels were sufficient but all of the symptoms persisted.
At first, a gastrointestinal disorder was suspected. She saw a gastroentologist who diagnosed her with gastritis but said it was not the cause of her symptoms. She took a biopsy and mentioned slight fibrosis of the stomach mucosa. She gave her medication that did not help. My friend has the medication but not the will nor energy to find them all and tell me their names. Doctor did not ask for any followups
Another doctor ordered many tests, his main finding and the one he felt was most important was high ANA, homogenous pattern. Suspected of SLE, she conducted many tests but was told she did not have SLE.
Then, an autoimmune disorder was suspected and she went to many rheumatologists. One doctor diagnosed her with Sjorgen's but did not give her medication or ask for any followups. She was also tested for celiac, Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthiritis and was told all are negative and was dismissed with a case of depression by more than a few doctors. She was given a few medications but none worked and the symptoms persisted.
She also had a few X-rays done for her lungs, etc and found no clinically significant results.
In the last few months and after a rheumatologist told her he suspects it is a neurological disorder, he sent her to a neurologist. The neurologist ordered an MRI and immediately told her she has multiple sclerosis due to lesions in her brain. He then suspected it may not be MS and ordered another MRI for her neck region and she performed it at her work place. The doctors at her work place told her all is normal and she did not have MS.
A visit to an ENT doctor told her all of her symptoms were from inflamed nose cartilage and a deviated septum. She is scheduled for an operation but still did not receive a confirmation.
In the last month or two, she performed an Xray for her spine and was told the pressure from the unaligned vertebra are the cause of her symptoms but did not offer any medical advice on what to do.
For the last few weeks she has had a horrible persistent headache from when she wakes up until she sleeps. Her last visit to a doctor gave told her tense muscles were the cause of her issues and gave her vitamin B injections (did not specify which but I think all B vitamins). She does not feel a difference and has been taking them every second day for around a month now.
For the last few days she has been incredibly tired, sleepy, very easily aggravated and a splitting headache and she says she feels her brain is hurting her.
She was given quite a few medications but is in no state to look for them and give me their names. I understand how important this information is and I apologize for its exclusion. She just told me what they do. She was given medicine for: tense muscles (anti-inflammatory), painkillers, stomach medicine but did not specify what (I suspect proton inhibitors?), candida medicine, anti-allergy medicine for her nose, cortisone injections and nasal spray.
I apologize for the haste and poor quality in which this was written but she desperately needs help.
Category: Family Physician-GP