Posted 2/1/2013 7:32 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a 32 year old female, mother of seven. I've been sick for over a year and half, and still no diagnosis. I just keep getting worse and worse. What makes it even harder is that my husband is in the military so he has been gone, more then he's been here, so I've had to deal with this all by myself on top of taking care of the kids and everything else.
I was wondering if anybody here has been through what I've been through, and if you think is sounds like Lyme Disease. The first symptom was joint pain in my wrist, and then my ankles. Arthritis test came back normal. Next was severe pain in my face that felt like a sinus infection, but after a ct and several round of antibiotics they said it wasn't my sinuses and that they didn't know what was wrong with me. Then chest pain, shortness of breath, left arm would go numb. After several trips to the ER in fear that something was wrong with my heart they admitted me and ran ekg, echo cardiogram, nuclear stress test, and countless blood test.....all normal. They sent me home with anxiety meds and said they think I have costochondritis and that it will get better by itself. The pain continued but I just dealt with it at home. Then I was hit with severe fatigue, body aches, my arms and legs started to go numb and tingle with random electric shocks and shooting pain. That was in Jan of 2012 and from that point on, I have never been the same. I get worse and worse each month with new symptoms appearing with each episode. I have very few good days, but the severity of the symptoms come and go like waves. Since the first episode these are the symptoms that followed:
Muscle spasms
Numbness and tingling
Electric shocks and burning sensation
Nerve pain behind right eye
Ringing, heartbeat, and sharp pains in the ears
Pupils fluttering, blurry vision, and can't drive at night
Facial pain
Pressure on both sides of neck and head
Severe headaches with shooting pain in neck and spine, stiff and neck grinding
severe pain in legs and arms
Weakness in arms and legs
Balance problems, dizziness and dropping things
Brain fog, short-term memory loss, Forgetting words and misspeaking, spacing out and slurring words
Increased motion sickness and sensitive to medications, alcohol, and caffeine
Restless leg syndrome, night sweats and clenching of jaw at night
Mood swings, depression, anxiety and adrenaline rushes
Twitching around eyes and leg muscles
Constipation, bladder, problems and irregular menstruation
Extreme fatigue
Costochondritis
Slow digestion, loss of appetite, can only eat small meals, stomach tender to the touch
Pressure in chest
Heart pounding after eating
Strong pulse felt in stomach after eating
Near fainting when going from sitting, laying, squatting, bending, to a standing position, Or walking up the stairs
Swollen lymph nodes
Heat intolerance- most neurological symptoms come back
Arms and legs go completely numb when sleeping even if only sleeping for a few minutes
Most symptoms worsen or come back during menstruation
I know I'm probably forgetting some, but that was most of them. I've had a MRI so MS was ruled out, Lyme test came back negative (I have been bit by many ticks in the past, but no rash), countless blood test...all normal except low potassium and calcium, high white blood cell count, low K, low appt, borderline low platelet count. The docs never said anything to me about my tests except that they all looked great. I had to order my tests to look at them myself. I started taking over the counter potassium and magnesium, which has helped me more then anything so far. Most of my heart problems are gone, if I go even one day without it they all come back. I'm having no luck with the doctors I've seen, which have been Navy docs. They tell me it's all in my head and that I need to get a psych eval. One told me I'm just stressed from having so many kids and that I need to quit smoking and I'll be fine. I don't know what else to do. I'm loosing all hope in ever finding out what's wrong with me. I was thinking about seeing a Lyme specialist, but the closest and best one in this area is in Jackson, NJ but she doesn't except insurance. I feel like an incompetent mother/wife because I'm to sick and weak to do ANYTHING! I feel like I'm dying! If I don't find out what's wrong with me soon, my husband is going to have to throw away 12 years in the service away because we can't imagine how I would be able to go though another deployment like this last one again. Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry this was long and thanks for reading!