Posted 9/23/2012 8:14 PM (GMT 0)
I'm 21 years old, and I've always been extremely healthy until April of this year and everything started to go downhill. It started by having little spells of feeling flushed, dizzy, and a little nauseous. I'd go lay down for a little while and I'd usually be fine. Then at the end of April I got what I thought was a virus, felt better after a week and then started having the spells of feeling bad again. In the middle of May, I came down with the stomach flu (I thought that was it at the time) and it just wouldn't go away. Every since then I've dealt with lots of stomach/digestive issues... for a while I would wake up feeling incredibly nauseous and throw up every single morning. That lasted about a month and finally it slowed down. Right now it probably happens every couple of weeks but I feel queasy often and my appetite definitely isn't what it used to be. I've also had some bowel issues... even when I thought I had the stomach flu I never really had diarrhea, but I get constipated very easily and pretty much every morning I get a stomach ache and have an urgent need to use the bathroom. I've also had LOTS of gas, to the point where I feel like I can't stop belching.
While the digestive problems have been awful they're not the only thing I'm dealing with. There are a lot of times when I feel like I'm going to pass out, but I never actually do. I get dizzy a lot (not bad like the room is spinning, my head just feels a little off). I've also gotten spells where I feel like I can't breathe, and spells where I feel like my brain is about to shut down.
I seem to have had an increase in hair loss, and my skin appears to be thinner (either that or my veins are standing out more, because the veins all over my body look much darker than they used to). I have tiny red dots on my skin that don't hurt or itch, they just look like I've been poked with a needle (I think they're petechiae but whenever I look them up I see people with rash-like clusters of them and mine don't look like that at all). I also occasionally have a slight feeling of weakness/numbness on the left side of my body, but I'm thinking it could be either anxiety or just the way I'm laying/sitting.
I've also had frequent UTI symptoms... one day I went to a health clinic for what I thought was a UTI. In the office they looked at my urine and said I had a bad one but then I got a call saying the culture was negative. I took the antibiotics and the symptoms have gone away for now.
Now for all the things I've been tested for... I've had blood tests for autoimmune disease, inflammation, and lyme disease. I've had a CBC and CBC with differential, my thyroid has been checked and I've been checked for anemia. All of my vitamin levels are in the normal range. I've had my blood sugar checked and it's usually about 103-108 a few hours after eating a small amount of food. I had an ultrasound done on my gallbladder and it revealed nothing.
So as of now, I'm at a loss. The only thing I can possibly even think of is mold exposure. I moved into an apartment in December and felt fine until the weather started getting warm, and I thought it might have something to do with my air conditioner. My boyfriend looked inside and said it looked like it had tons of black mold growing on dust in the vent. My bed is RIGHT below the A/C and for a while it was blowing black stuff onto the side I sleep on. When I noticed that I moved my bed. I know mold usually doesn't affect people that badly but when I started getting sick I stayed in the room pretty much 24/7 with the A/C always on. I decided to stay at my dad's for a while and I've been here for a month and a half. I might feel a LITTLE better as a whole but I've still been getting sick.
The weird thing is, some days I almost feel "normal" (although never back to where I was before). I get optimistic and think I'm better, then bam! The symptoms are back. I really need help with this... it's ruining my life. I'm 21 and this shouldn't be happening. All I can do is sit around and envy people who are healthy and happy. I feel like there is no hope for me. The past few days have been pretty rough.... I've been getting a lot of feelings of breathlessness and heart palpitations. Last night I had some really bad stomach pains and today I'm feeling lightheaded and sick to my stomach. Doctors have pretty much given up.