Why I haven't been around lately

You've probably noticed I haven't been writing too frequently lately. For more than a month, I've been undergoing various blood tests and seeing various doctors trying to get a diagnosis.

Over the past year, I've been noticing that I haven't been well- It's actually been for longer than that, but its only been in the past year it's started to really affect me. At first I put it down to just being out of shape and not being used to working a mind numbingly boring job 35-40 hours a week. I was tired a lot but how many of us aren't constantly tired these days from trying to burn the candle at both ends? Modern life is exhausting. I also figured the depression I was suffering from had a lot to do with the exhaustion and the stress of the divorce. I had been getting severe headaches that made my eye sight suffer- For the first time in my life, I had to get a prescription for eye glasses. I seemed to be getting permanently ill- every time I got over one cold, I'd get hit by another within a week or two. About 10 months ago, I started to notice some joint and muscular pain but as I said before- I put it down to just being out of shape or having a cold/flu. I've noticed over the past couple of years but especially this year I seem to feel foggy a lot of the time- like I can't think clearly and I have a hard time recalling things I shouldn't have a problem remembering. A few people had commented that I should see my doctor, but I didn't think my symptoms were severe enough to warrant it- after all, doctors rarely take anything seriously... most of the time it's just considered a virus and come back in 2 weeks if it doesn't clear up. I had mentioned the things when I saw my doctor, but they didn't take much notice of them and told me to just take it easy for a few weeks.

During the first week of August I started suffering from a severe headache that went from ear to ear across the back of my head & into my neck. Nothing would make it go away. I was also suffering from hot flashes, a sore throat, mild congestion, some muscle tenderness, abdominal cramping & bloating and tiredness but i kept hoping it would just run it's course & i wouldn't need to see a dr. After 6 days, I finally gave in and saw the RN at my usual medical practice. My blood pressure was lower than usual and I had a slight fever. She called it a virus, prescribed me cyclobenzaprine & naproxen and told me to get some rest. By later that night, I was doubled over in pain, crying from the combination of abdominal pain & the headache. I made an appointment to see my GP the next day. After describing my symptoms, she decided to schedule me for an abdominal & pelvic ultrasound and insisted upon doing a pelvic exam. She didn't seem particularly concerned and told me it was probably a virus but she just wanted to rule out anything more serious since I don't have a good family history- my mother had cervical cancer, endometriosis and abnormal cells in a cyst on the ovary. I asked if she was going to take any blood tests and she shrugged and said she didn't see why she needed to. That didn't sit well with me. Nor did the fact that she was more interested in my uterus than my upper abdomen where I was complaining of the most amount of pain. That was Monday & Tuesday- I thought it all over on Wednesday & I didn't feel any better so Thursday I made an appointment to see a Dr. at the medical practice my boyfriend goes to. She was very thorough and concerned about my symptoms and immediately ordered for several blood tests & stool samples as well as suggesting a gluten free/gluten reduced diet till my follow up to see if that helped to alleviate the bloating & upper abdominal pain.

I followed her direction and returned a week later to go over my test results. Everything came back okay except she was concerned about my liver functions test being somewhat elevated. The gluten-reduced diet had helped some but it hadn't taken away all the abdominal problems. The joint & muscle pain was still severe and the headaches were coming & going randomly. My sleeping habits had completely changed too- normally, I'm fairly nocturnal & usually head to bed sometime between 12-2am. For these couple of weeks, I wanted to go to bed at 8 or 9pm every day. During the follow up she tried to tell me that all of my symptoms would just clear up and go away if I'd take anti-depressants because she couldn't see any other reasons for it. I lost it with her. I'm genuinely in pain and I know that while depression *can* cause these problems, it certainly isn't the reason this time. I refused to leave the appointment until she attempted to entertain other ideas. She sent me for more blood tests & repeated the pelvic exam, including a pap this time. All of her results came back fine except for the liver functions test again.

The ultrasound my Dr. had ordered came back absolutely fine... which I kind of knew it would. Given the fact that I had to pay out $400 for it and the Dr couldn't even explain to me *why* she wanted it, I decided I was done with her. Honestly, I haven't been too thrilled with her for a number of years but I decided since I didn't have to see her that often it wasn't a big deal. I had considered switching permanently to the 2nd dr's practice until she told me it was all in my head. After my follow up appointment, I decided it would probably be wise to find someone else. I called my dad and asked who he's registered with. Turns out, his Dr. isn't a GP, but rather an internist.

The next day, I made an appointment with my dad's practice. While they couldn't get me in with his dr, they were able to get me in with the nurse practitioner. She was very pleasant and took into account all of my family history, including my mother having Rheumatoid Arthritis. In fact, she was furious no one had tested me for my Rheumatoid Factor. Her immediate diagnosis was that she felt there was a good chance of it being Lyme disease even though I knew that was unlikely. Until she got the test results back, she decided she would approach my symptoms as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. A few days later, I received a phone call with the test results- my RF results were positive and my C-RP & ANA results were elevated. Without outright saying it, she told me she suspected it was now Rheumatoid Arthritis. She immediately referred me to a rheumatologist.

I'm not much of a fan of the rheumatologist. She has an awful bedside manner and didn't ask much. She even seemed reluctant to do a physical exam. I guess they don't get too many 25 year olds in there but I still felt like she wasn't taking me seriously. Her immediate reaction was "oh, it's probably lupus." of course it's not freakin' lupus- it's never lupus! haven't you watched house?! She sent me for more blood tests (to test for lupus) and told me to come back in 2 weeks. I see her next week. I just have a little voice in the back of my head saying that it's definitely RA... I've kind of always known I would get it at some point. I think the problem is, it's not developed enough for them to fully diagnose it yet so it's nothing more than an unknown connective tissue disorder.

I saw the internist this week for a follow up appointment and we went over all the test results from the 2 other practices I'd been to earlier in the month, as well as the ultrasound results, the rheumatologist's advice & results. She asked about my sleep patterns throughout my life, she did a tender points test & talked about my family history. The current diagnosis is a wheat allergy, hypoglycemia (which she pin-pointed before I'd even mentioned the fact that I'd started to show signs of it), fibromyalgia, narcolepsy & restless leg syndrome. She's leaving it up to the rheumatologist to figure out the connective tissue/RF/ANA/C-RP & liver issues, and referring me to a sleep specialist to pin-point the sleep gene disorders. She believes that if we can sort out the sleep issues (or at least alleviate them) then the fibromyalgia won't be so difficult to control. She thinks the wheat allergy probably doesn't help the pain I'm feeling from the fibro either. At the moment, these diagnosis aren't set in stone but they're certainly more than likely and they make the most amount of sense out of everything that's been tossed around as a possibility.

What does this mean? I'm not necessarily taking a hiatus, but you might notice my posts being fewer and further between for a while till everything gets sorted. Since I'm on such a limited, restrictive diet, I'll probably post some recipes i find here and there that we try or tweak to fit. (Not only am I not allowed wheat products, but I can't have rice, preservatives, dyes, refined sugars, corn, barley, or white potatoes either & the BF is on a low-cholesterol diet & has a dairy allergy so it doesn't leave too many options for someone who lacks creativity in the kitchen such as myself.) and I'll try to update as frequently as I can, but I'm having a hard time getting my head around all of this at the moment, let alone thinking of other things to blog about.