Tired of hearing "that's Wierd!" - Fibromyalgia Message Board

waynendenise · 02-27-2006, 09:01 AM

I joined yesterday and thought I'd post my own to see if anyone out there can help. My wife is 40 years old and has numerous symptoms and we have been to doctor after doctor and all we hear is "that's Wierd!" They all say it's stress and all that creates is more stress! Yes, stress is not helping our situation but there is really something wrong with her. We have been to the emergency room 6 times in this last month and it seems they are annoyed with us. When she was 24 she was having horrible pain for 2 years and the doctors couldn't tell her what was wrong and labled her a hypochondriac. It wasn't until this old time doctor walked into the room and slapped her on the back and said it was her gall bladder! She had her gall bladder removed (would this be a factor to what's going on now?). She had a gall stone the size of a hard boiled egg. Sadly, the doctors now think that it is all "in her head" and think she is a hypochondriac again.
Here are her symptoms:
"Squeezing" feeling of her heart, shooting pains (sometimes stabbing sometimes dull) in her neck and back of the neck and lower back, heart palpitations, weak heartbeat and then strong heartbeats that she can feel in her ears, pain that travels around her body, no sleep, tingling everywhere (last night her hand and her left tricep were numb), a migrane headache without the pain (those with migranes can understand that), muscle weakness and extreme fatigue (everything feels stiff and heavy), shortness of breath, feeling flushed as if going to pass out, severe depression and bouts of crying, aggitation and crabbyness (not good for me! ha, ha) (sometimes humor helps!) skin rashes, chocking sensations (when bent over, constant urination, chills with goosebumps, sweating, sneezing and dry eyes, tooth and gums hurt (metallic taste in mouth), and there could be more. I'm trying to be thorough but I think that's all.
We recently found black mold in out trailer and the doctors dismiss it as having no impact at all (I think it is a factor) I searched mecury poisioning and found alot of these symptoms. When her doctors do blood work it all comes back fine except her potassium is always low and they can't tell us why. Anarexic people have low potassium but she is not bulimic or anarexic. They find blood in her urine and a couple of years ago sent it to be tested for bladder cancer but I think they should test it again. Could this be pancreas cancer? They also did a endoscopy and looked at her bowls and stomach and found a tumor in her stomach (the doctor said it was too deep to biopsy and just biopsied around it and came back ok) He said to check it in a year. Could this tumor have anything to do with it? I'm sorry this is so long but I want to cover all the bases. Any prayers will help as I pray for all of you.

Thanks and god bless!
Wayne

goldenwings · 02-27-2006, 10:01 AM

Helo Wayne and welcome,

I cannot diagnose anything as I am not a medical doctor, but I have some ides of what is happening from personal experience and the sharing of stories on this wonderful forum. As you say though the doctors seem to be at a loss as to what is going on with your darling wife. I would like to say something before I start and that is you are truly a wonderful man to be this supportive of her.

So many of the things you describe - shooting pains (sometimes stabbing sometimes dull) in her neck and back of the neck and lower back - pain that travels around her body, no sleep, tingling everywhere - muscle weakness and extreme fatigue - severe depression and bouts of crying, agitation and being "crabby" - these all in my opinion point to fibromyalgia type symptoms. These can be diagnosed by a good overall examination, but unfortunately fibro will not be diagnosed by blood tests. The depression is bound to be so bad because of the total lack of support she has had and is having from the medical people.

The other symptoms e.g. heart beats being irregular need to be looked at by a cardiologist without a doubt. Shortness of breath could be caused because of the overall problems your wife is experiencing which is leading her to have panic attacks and anxiety.

Skin rashes, dry eyes - these are things which "might" be linked with autoimmune problems which can only be diagnosed by a good rheumatologist. Your wife needs to have blood tests to determine activity of these type of symptoms.

The other things you describe I really can't hazard a guess as to what is causing them. Some of the things are experienced by some of the prople here but also you must bear in mind you can be symptom free of fibro but still have thing like this happen. The thing is though you cannot "lump" all of these things together, they need to be looked at in blocks of symptoms as I have tried to outline above. There are some serious sounding things you have spoken of which need to be looked at again and again until you are happy with the answers to your questions.

I have no doubt that others will be along shortly to answer your questions, but in the meantime I hope what I have said is of a little help to you.

Take care

goldenwings

Glojer · 02-27-2006, 10:08 AM

Wayne I really don't know what to say. It seems to me as if your wife could have more than one specific problem. It seems to me the docs are trying to lump this all together and she may have problems that can be eliminated with certain medications and then the docs could move on to help her with the other problems.

Has she had her thyroid checked thoroughly? She needs to get copies of her blood work from the doc and make sure it says her TSH is between 1 and 3 and that her Free T4 and Free T3 is in the upper 70% of the range. I can only speak from experience but I could not start trying to heal until I got my thyroid and endocrine system in check. I am hypothyroid, which makes me extremely fatigued (plus other problems) if I am not treated for it, but your wife could be hyperthyroid also which means her body is in high gear. Or she could be cycling from hyper to hypo. I only mention this because you talked about the heart palpitations etc. and thyroid can cause these symptoms. Most docs look at the tsh and if it is within the lab range of 0.5 - 5.5 they say your thyroid is fine. That is not necessarily true, most women feel their best when we are between 1 and 3 and I feel my best at .99. A good endocrinologist can help you with this, they specialize in thyroid and other endocrine system problems.

I also had my gallbladder removed 11yrs ago and I don't think that is what contributed to my fibro. I did have heart attack like feelings when I was having the gallbladder attacks. Those symptoms disappeared when the gallbladder did.

I will keep praying for you and your wife, never give up and keep pushing those docs for the best care you can get. If you would have the opportunity maybe your wife could go to a university teaching hospital and go through their clinics and get the right diagnosis. When docs can't figure out what's wrong they make the patient at fault by calling them hypochondriacs or telling them they need psychiatric help. That is such a shame!

Take Care

Glojer

waynendenise · 02-27-2006, 10:42 AM

Thank you both for your concern and replies! It seems to me that now a days you have to be your own doctor and diagnose yourself! I am so thankful to have found this website. Everyone here is more concerned with the health of one another than even the doctors seem to be. I do know some doctors that really care though (I don't want to down all doctors) We live in a small town in MT and there is really no university hospitals close by. And with the mold problems and the tearing out of our kitchen and bathroom the funds are kind of non existant. However, I will never give up hope or finding out what is wrong with my wife. I know God is in control and there is no better place to be! Thanks again!!!

jmp05atcca · 04-11-2006, 03:21 PM

well you are in my prayers as well!
Jennifer-
i am new but ur not anymore so maybe you can help me out?
thankyou jennifer~