Hypothyroidism, Mono, EBV

08-20-2012, 06:50 PM

Hello all, I am new here. I want to share a bit of my story and see if anyone else has had similar symptoms and what your diagnosis has been. I feel so alone and misunderstood with my health.

I am a 23-year old woman. I have been a pretty healthy person my entire life. Last September (2011), I got sick with what I thought was bronchitis. But, different symptoms persisted and I was diagnosed with mono in December 2011. I thought I was dying because I felt so sick and didn't know what was wrong. It made me feel much better to at least have an explanation. I expected the sickness to last maybe a couple months.

Well, since then, things got much better than they were. But, here we are, 11 months after I initially got sick, and I still feel bad. The symptoms I am experiencing now are fatigue, post-nasal drip, sinus pressure, my throat feels weird, trouble breathing sometimes, no energy, stuffy and inflamed nose, acne, back and neck pain, an overall blah feeling, dizziness, upset stomach at times. (these are the things I can think of right now that I experience. Don't know if they all relate, but thought I'd list them).

I am feeling so frustrated and worn down by feeling sick. I don't know if it's still the mono (which I thought would be gone by now) or possibly EBV or Hypothyroidism (thyroid problems run in the family) or a mixture of these things and/or more. What about an imbalance of hormones, vitamin and mineral deficiency, CFS, or what?? I was actually afraid I might have an STD or something, but got tested for everything and it all came back negative. I have been going to several doctors just for overall check-ups and everyone says I am healthy, but I don't FEEL healthy. I feel like everyone thinks I am faking it, especially being sick so long. Everyone thinks I am a hypochondriac. At times, I even wonder if I'm dreaming all this up. But, I know I'm not! Because I haven't always felt sick...just since last September.

Please help, somebody! I am so uneducated on all this and have just been googling my symptoms. I feel like no doctor takes the time to actually get to the bottom of this. They just want to treat the symptoms and not the underlying problem! I don't want all these medications, unless I TRULY NEED them. I want to understand what is happening with my body. What should I eat, what doctor should I go to, what is wrong with me? It’s so frustrating! I am only 23 and should be the healthiest and happiest of my life right now! I can hardly work because I don’t know when a really bad sick day will be.

Do I need medication, a change of lifestyle, etc?

Does anybody else have these issues or have any advice??

08-20-2012, 10:09 PM

I can relate. I went to the Dr. And asked specifically to check my thyroid. When my doctor came into the room she noticed it was enlarged right away. Its been almost 2 months now and I still don't know exactly what is wrong but at least I think I am going in the right direction. Sometimes you have to insist on having certain things checked. I hope you get some answers soon.

08-21-2012, 10:36 AM

Welcome to the board although I'm sorry for the reason you're here.

In order to know whether it's thyroid or at least be able to rule it out thyroid it's important to get the thyroid function clear. Was your thyroid tested, if so please feel free to post the results (including the reference ranges). if not, you want to have tested TSH, FT4 and FT3 and if possible thyroid antibodies (mainly those relevant for hashimoto being antithyroiglobulin and antiTPO). Please do ask for a hardcopy of the results and don't settle with "all is normal" (which for doctors most of the times means nothign more but within ranges). normal aka within ranges is not guarantee when it concerns thyroid.

Hope you get to feel better soon. hang in there

08-23-2012, 09:58 AM

I can totally relate your story and mine almost the same. I knew I had thyroid problems though but DR wouldn't listen. Then I got mono (which I attribute to the strain on my immune system due to thyroid). Only symptom of Mono I had was fever. Since the mono, and still no thyroid medicine - I got pnuemonia twice and severe bronchitis at least once a year. You will have to change Dr.'s repeatedly until you find one (and I found a nurse practitioner who listens) that will listen to you! You need to take lisa's advice and get tested for those things now! Don't wait I have spent 26 years of trying to get someone to listen - most of that time I had given up and decided I would just have to power through. Well the older I got the less I could power through. Now I am really sorry that I spent so much time feeling bad. I know what you mean about hypochondriac. Dr.'s and even my family were like yea right your tired. Yea right your legs hurt - and the best if you would just lose weight you'd feel better. Well I don't know how much less I could eat or how much more I could exercise because NONE of that helped in any way. I can tell you that since I found a dr. who would give me more than .25mcg I have dropped 6 lbs in 4 weeks, and I have lost 1 inch around my hips, under my breast and 1/2 inch at the waist. So now I can say SEE!!!! I told you it didn't have ANYTHING to do with what I eat because I didn't change my eating habits just to see if it was the thyroid. Now I will do a little better job of not eating so late, and maybe avoid the hamburgers (never been a fry person). Point of all this is hang in there and fight like heck until you find out! I sure wish I had found a forum or at least one other person who could have told me this way back when!

Hypothyroidism, Mono, EBV

Sign Up Today!

Join Our Newsletter

Whoops,

Thank You