Fucking fed up of feeling like shit

[geezoh]

Just wondering if anyone can help at all. My life is absolutely ruined now

im in my early 20s and really struggling with my health.

it started around Christmas time with being permanently exhausted. No matter how much I sleep, I’m shattered. The other day I had a good quality 10 hour sleep, and went out with my friends for 2 hours and was to tired I had to come home and sleep for 3 hours. It’s like that but all the time, no matter how much or little sleep I get. I feel like I’m permanently drained. That started around Christmas- I went to my GP back then and had a blood test and it was all normal. No low iron/folate/b12/vitamins- I saw all the results with my own eyes and they were well within normal. I was advised it was likely stress so I tried to destress my life but it’s made no difference.

im now getting other symptoms- horrendously itchy skin (to the extent I’ve scratched all my skin off on my neck overnight because it’s so, so itchy- I’ve had allergen testing done at the hospital which was all negative too), I’ve had random blotching on my skin but NOT from itching, it started happening out of the blue and NOT just after I had scratched it. It was like lots of little tiny red spots all up one arm- it was like red pen dots. They didn’t disappear under a glass. They went away after a week or so. I’ve also had leg weakness- it started as a weird tightness and ache in my knee and got worse until it was an ache all down my lower leg bone. I get pins and needles in my feet too. It was only on one leg but now it’s happening in the other too. I can’t fully straighten my legs because of the aching but I also can’t completely bend them without getting aching too. The best position is almost straight but slightly bend but even then I still get on and off aches. It gets really weak easily too- if I sit down even just for 5 minutes my legs are completely weak and will give way if I try and walk on them.

I’ve also had excruciating headaches that have left me physically sobbing and howling in pain

I’ve been to physio who tried several things and it has made no difference. I’ve been back to the doctor with all the symptoms I’m having and they have no suggestions other than it’s stress which I suppose it could be but I don’t feel stressed nor do I have a stressful life. Since Christmas my life has gone to complete shit and I’m fed up of it all. I’ve been back so many times and they said my age means it’s nothing serious which is a relief and also my blood test when all this started was fine, but also I feel like something just isn’t right.

does anyone have any ideas of what I should or could do? I just want to feel like I used to before this all started x

god some of this will terrify you. Some even wrote get a blood test and didn’t even bother to read your op properly

op. I mean this gently but could it be anxiety, either general or health, ? Mental health conditions can result in very real physical symptoms.

Thanks so much for all the advice.

It definitely does sound like it could be coeliac disease although I don’t think it is as I had a biopsy for that just recently before all this started (long term IBS and I had been referred a while ago for a biopsy and scope to rule out IBD and coeliac- both were negative- so it’s not that) although the IBS isn’t related to this new problem I’m having as that’s a long term thing and not a problem if I don’t eat dairy

I wonder if it could be hormonal too. I had forgot to include in my OP, another symptom I’ve been getting is waking up really sweaty when I’m sleeping, like hot flushes I think it’s called? Even if I sleep with my room freezing I’ll still wake up boiling hot and sweaty all over my body. It’s not every night but most nights that happens now too. The hot flushes never happen during the day it’s only when I’m asleep. I wonder if it is hormonal although my thyroid and other hormone levels were checked and fine

No, definitely not anxiety. I’m not anxious at all and I’m not anxious about my health. I’m not worried about it all I’m more annoyed about it because it’s affecting my life so much x

Could you have had shingles OP? My mum had it and was exactly the same as you.

I am also thinking Long Covid- you can have it even if you have mild (or even you didn't know you had) Covid. Unfortunately. It is also a complex diagnosis, because it has many different facets-including auto-immunity issues, POTS, blood clots, and so on. Lots of people have CFS/Long Covid right now. That said, I would not be happy with a CFS/LC diagnosis at this stage til some other things have been ruled out- there's a few tests here that are worth ruling out first. I have LC and it has improved over time, but that feeling of fatigue and different other symptoms are fairly classic as Covid appears to disrupt many processes, not just one (also neurological ones as well).

Even if it isn't coeliac disease confirmed via biopsy, it can still be a sensitivity to gluten strong enough to produce the same symptoms. Coeliac UK say that 1% of everyone has true coeliac disease (but most of those people are never diagnosed). Whereas around 12% of everyone has a gluten sensitivity strong enough to produce the same symptoms.

It might not be this of course but I'm just saying not to rule it out.

Firstly, i would say, you need to be thoroughly checked out. With such a mixed bag of symptoms your GP should be taking this seriously and ruling out anything nefarious.

If they do that, and you still don't have answers though, I would really recommend looking up "mind-body symdrome", often called TMS (coined by Dr. John Sarno) (https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/An_Introduction_to_Tension_Myositis_Syndrome_(TMS)) or PPD (there's a website here with more info https://ppdassociation.org/symptoms) .

Also the work of Nicole Sachs (especially her podcast "the cure for chronic pain" where she has success stories of people who have healed from pretty much all the symptoms you describe) - link to her youtube https://www.youtube.com/@thecureforchronicpainwithn6857

There could be many physical things causing your symptoms, which need to be ruled out. But they could also be due to nervous system disregulation (which is effectively what TMS/PPD/MBS is), and if that's the case, things like Nicoles work, the curable app etc, can be really helpful in getting well again (I've healed myself from years of chronic symptoms which culminated in fibro symptoms and fatigue etc, so know this work works). Might not be for you, and definitley get a thorough medical check before ruling in TMS, but I wanted to mention it as an option, as it's taking a while for the emerging science on it to trickle into the mainstream, so people only usually find this work, when they've spent years being told no-one knows what's wrong. I really hope you get some answers soon

Any lumps or swollen glands? The tiredness, itching and blotching would concern me

@geezoh I have also start suffering from hot flushes recently at night time only.I am 34, my mood swings are worse prior to periods and omg my boobs are so painful around ovulation. I have also notice hair growth on my chin, and my sleep is disturbed. where is your itching and how often it happens?

Sorry, another thing I should have mentioned! It’s not long Covid- I’ve avoided Covid completely (we shielded for a while due to a high risk family member, then when I returned to a more normal life and to work I tested 2x a week and still test so I know I haven’t had it)

The first thing that came to mind to me was Lupus OP

It does sound like it may be an autoimmune condition of sorts? I'd really push with the GP. Hope things get better for you

no, no lumps. I don’t know what my glands normally feel like because I’ve never tried to feel them before. If I feel down my neck I can feel several of them, one of them feels smaller but one of the glands on my neck feels a bit bigger but not huge- it’s probably about the size of a grape. It doesn’t feel soft but not hard either and it moves when I push it

I do think like everyone else that you should push for your GP to get a bit more invested in taking this seriously. But in the meantime, so to speak, two things come to mind: one is allergies /hay fever - I have very similar symptoms when it hits (although maybe not as pronounced?) and it took my years to figure out that's what it was. Antihistamines made all the difference. Pollution levels certainly don't help!
The other thing, is it the itching is unrelated - perhaps it could be scabies. I had it years ago, would scratch myself all night and the GP fobbed me off with some E 45 for dry skin. It took a foreign doctor abroad to diagnose it after 2 minutes. Just some ideas....it will be sorted either way, hang in there!

Hi, sorry to hear you're feeling so dreadful. Did they test your vitamin D? It's not always something they will automatically test for. I had similar symptoms and my vit D was 17 (it should be at least 50). They said to get out in the sun to increase it. Tried that and went back 6 months later to be told it was even lower. Had to then take mega dose tablets which slowly increased it.

Hope you can get to the bottom of things.
Also my iron/ferritin levels always come back as "fine" but I definitely benefit from taking iron.

Is anything related to your cycle? Are you better / worse around your period? Are they regular?

Sounds like fibromyalgia to me. The unexplained pain itches and debilitating exhaustion.

I had all these symptoms after a severe reaction to 2 Covid vaccines.

The first time it lasted 7 months, this time currently in month 8 and it’s improving slightly.

It might be nothing physically wrong. I went through periods of extreme tiredness and fatigue. Test were all fine. It went on and off for a year or two and I've been fine since then.
I know it can feel scary, but bear in mind it could be nothing wrong and your mind is now probably focusing too much on bodily symptoms and making you anxious, causing more symptoms. Think maybe about some emotional problems or feelings that you might be supressing. Research has shown that mind (thoughts/feelings) has a major effect on body.

Some mentioned lymphoma further up, then you’ve mentioned being hot…. Do you have night sweats?

Honestly I do appreciate the help but I don’t think it’s anxiety and I don’t think it’s causing the symptoms. Im not anxious in the slightest about it I’m just fed go up. I feel like if I wasn’t a young women the doctor wouldn’t be so quick to say anxiety but that’s a whole other rant I suppose. x

Yeah, I only get the hot flushes when I’m sleeping though. If it’s night time and I’m sitting doing nothing, say watching TV or reading, I don’t get them. It’s only when I go to sleep I wake up with the hot flushes and covered in sweat, it’s horrible x

Have you told the doctors this? I’d demand more tests. It’s a symptom of lymphoma. It’s most probably not that but I’d want it ruling out x

I know it feels like shit. All I'm trying to say you can feel like shit and it doesn't necessarily need to be due to a physical illness. Been there myself, I'm speaking from experience plus like I've said there's a lot of research that shows that.

OP this sounds really rubbish for you

What's your diet like in terms of water, upf, sugar, leafy greens, protein, fats etc. etc.

There are a few flags for cancer there- drenching night sweats, itching, petechiae, fatigue. You need to be properly examined again.