quackers

Hoo boy! You better strap in and hold on tight cuz you're in for one heck of a medical ride. And it's not fun. It's frustrating to say the least. I have complained for YEARS of all the symptoms you have just described. About 7 yrs ago (after a few months of prozac and I still say it is prozacs fault), I started haveing memory problems. They never really ever went away but were never really bothersome either...until recently. Within the past yr I've gotten to the point where I couldn't remember what I had to eat for breakfast, lunch or supper, 20 minutes after I had eaten it. I couldn't get my DR to take it seriously (he did run a few blood test but everything came back 'normal') and was crying to 'momma' about it one evening and she told me to tell the Dr that I recently had a grandmother die of complications d/t altzheimers. Boy oh boy...he had me to a neurologist within a month (it usually takes months to get into see one) and then my whole world as I knew it turned upside down. It consisted of one test after another, one appt after another, one specialist after another. I am so sick to death of doctors that it is actually killing me to know that I have to go see this Rheumatologist (for fibromyalgia) (which was diagnosed with the +ANA Lupus) next week. I don't want to go but my husband is making a big deal out of it. I guess they discovered that I have antiphospholipid syndrome (whatever that is). I know they'll want to put me on a ton of medicine and I'm gonna have to tell them "NO". I am so sick of doctors and medicine that I stopped all my meds. I now take a blue green algae capsule for my memory, which does seem to be helping and I take a honey-vinegar tonic for everything else and so far that doesn't seem to be doing a thing for me.

You might also have your doctor check you for Fibromyalgia. all the symptoms you listed are also symptoms of Fibro. To tell you the truth...I really doubt that I have +ANA Lupus. I think it is all Fibro and I just tested positive for Lupus cuz my Fibro is really out of whack (I hurt like a sun of a gun all over!). I'll find that out in August when I go back to be re-tested on the +ANA lab work.

I have what the Neurologist told me is +ANA Lupus. He said I didn't have the 'bad' one which I interpreted to mean 'SLE lupus'. I know just because you have a positive ANA reading and all other test results come back negative for ANA, it doesn't mean that you don't have it. And the same goes in reverse. Just because you might not have a positive ANA, it doesn't mean you don't have it. But trying to convince the 'know it all' doctors of this is impossible. An Example: I was having gall stone symptoms for over 9 yrs...no amount of test showed anything about gall stones so Dr refused to take it out and I couldn't convince them otherwise (w/o positive gall stone test, insurance won't pay cuz it's cosidered 'elective'). I suffered for OVER NINE yrs with GERD like symptoms and WAS diagnosed with GERD instead of gall stones, until I got so sick my gall bladder almost burst...and then I got my gall stones taken out. It's been 3 yrs and gastro system is about 90% recuperated and I can mostly eat what I want now.

That's just one example of how DR's don't always know.

Some of the test I had to go thru are an regular and contrast MRI, sleep deprevation EEG, CAT scan, Neuropsychology test (extensive IQ test), Kidney specialist, EENT specialist, spinal tap, half a doz dif lab test (a total of $7000.00 on lab work alone, over 300 various test run on just about every bodily fluid!!!). They definately know that I'm not storying about my short term memory loss cuz it showed up in the psychology test, but they have no idea of what caused it, if it's disease related and why some of it seems to be reversing it'self since I stopped taking my meds and why some of it's not. I'll probably never know, altho' I have my suspcions. #1 is that I was over medicated and #2 is that it's caused by the Fibromyalgia. But then I discover that ppl with Lupus can have memory problems also. Ranging from very mild to full blown dementia. SOOO....who knows what any of these symptoms mean. My best bet would be to start with the Neurologist and if your insurance allows it, see a Rheumatologist at the same time. Kill 2 birds with one stone cuz I would almost bet you have Fibro.

Take care and let us know how everthing turns out.