New here and would love opinions!

Hey everyone!

I am 25 years old and have a 5 month little girl. I have been struggling with managing all my symptoms and taking care of her while still working full-time.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and IBS back in 2009. I have always thought it may be a different auto-immune disorder. I have had lab tests come back with high protein levels, high sed rate, negative ANA. I also have been anemic at times and other times not, had high white blood cell levels. I had MRIs/xrays of my stomach, brain, kidneys, can't even remember what else but all coming back ok. My grandfather passed away from complications of lupus. I also have other relatives with MS and RA.

Here is a list of my symptoms I wrote down one day recently that I'm going to bring to my doctor. I am currently on 100mg of cymbalta and have tried setraline, zoloft and several other ones that helped less. I have only been seen by my GD and feel as if she thinks all of these symptoms are only caused by depression. The thing is I am happy in my life and generally don't feel depressed until these flare-ups get bad! I feel hopeless sometimes when none of these drugs help and wonder if I will ever feel good again! Do these symptoms sound similar to what any of you are experiencing? Any advice?? Thanks!!

symptoms

rash all over my body when I am outside, had to stop indoor tanning bc of rash and feeling weak after tanning
feel like I have the flu for days on end, stomach hurts to lay on,
feel so tired even after sleep
painful headaches-have been helped with cymbalta but still get them where lights/sound hurt
head feels like it is burning during flare ups
feel like i'm going to puke just walking up the stairs, feel sicker after exercise
bruises all over my body for no reason, very bad night sweats,
start getting sweaty and burning face at work like i'm going to pass out
very bad vertigo, dizzy spots and blurred vision, can't think straight
extremely itchy eyes
ache all over
constipation and then diarrhea
joint pain in my fingers, ankles and toes,elbows-a lot of times it feels like i can't move them out of
the position they are in bc of the pain
in the morning i feel like i can't move
hard lymph nodes in neck and back
rubbing certain parts of my body hurts, touching feels like hitting
have had these symptoms since 2008
protein in urine during pregnancy, blood pressure skyrocketed
went to the er several times with a high temperature of 103-105 and they couldnt find any infection
went to the er with terrible stomach pain and they thought I was having appendicitis but couldn't find out what was wrong and they gave me valium...
when i was pregnant i was switched to zoloft and all my symptoms returned, on cymbalta I have felt
better but in the past 2 weeks I have been getting worse with all my old symptoms coming back
feel like I can't think straight, can't concentrate or use my brain like i used to
first week of august 2011 got butterfly rash on nose and cheeks two different times and stayed for a couple hours only
very bad heartburn

Thanks for the reply. I just started getting the butterfly rash so I made another appointment with my GD. I wish I would have taken a picture when I had it going on to show her.

For my mygraines, my GD only prescribed BUTALBITAL/APAP/CAFFEINE TABS? which didn't seem to help much so I stopped taking them.

I have never had my thyroid checked, what type of specialist deals with thyroid issues? Did you feel sick after tanning or just the rashes?

To be honest I don't really remember exactly how I was feeling. I was for that period of time just not feeling well in general. I have multiple auto immune problems and I can tell you that when I am sick, I usually have migraines.

For the migraines you should get a sumatriptan, its the only thing that works for me.

Since you seem to have multiple things going on, it would be great to get the migraine symptoms out of the list. They are horrible and seem to go on for days.

Thanks so much for the responses. I am def. going to ask my gp about my thyroid and get a referral to a rheumatologist. Sherrine, I went through the fibro 101 and it is very helpful! It's encouraging to see so many posts on these forums that I can relate to. @rianna, thanks for the suggestion of melatonin vitamin, I went out and bought some today and I'm going to try it. I usually take benedryl to help me sleep when my pain gets which is not the healthiest option since I have to take so many just to be able to get a little rest. I also read the spoon theory and I'm going to make my husband read it as well.

Hello and Welcome~~

I'm so sorry that your life is challenged by your health issues. IMHO, your primary doctor is not giving you the service you are paying for. You are asking for help and she blowing you off as if it's all in your head. Your symptoms are very concrete, not imaginary by any means.

First I'd get a referral to a specialist. Most likely a rheumatologist like Sherrine suggested. Then I would highly consider finding a new primary(general) doctor so you are getting treatment with respect. Unfortunately the younger you are when you have chronic pain and other symptoms like yours the harder it is to be taken seriously. Your age groups receives some of the worst medical care when it comes to Chronic Pain and autoimmune symptoms.

I know it's not a fun task but please begin looking into finding a good health care team. One of the best places to go if you have as many individual symptoms as you do it to a teaching/medical university. In the Fibromyalgia 101 thread there's a link to many of them around the world. Here's the link so you don't have to dig for it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_hospitals

It's as easy as calling them and explaining your situation. They can match you to a doctor appropriate for your major symptoms. These folks will not only take you seriously but won't give up. These are the people doing the cutting-edge research so they will keep working until they find some answers. It might be a long drive for you but it will be more than worth it to get this quality of help.

Please stay in touch...
Chutz