To ask your opinion..

[BeDearFox]

I’ve posted a few times so I understand if I’m reported etc.

basically I’ve been unwell for the best part of a year. My symptoms are -

burning skin (doesn’t always feel hot, not tender but feels to me like it’s burning)
cold chills every day (shivers go through me)
itchy skin
inability to regulate temp
occasionally night sweats
LOSS OF APPETITE
I’ve lost 2 stone
nausea
dizziness
severe fatigue
heartburn stomach pains
occasional constipation and diarroah
shortness of breath

ive had a chest, abdomen and pelvis ct, a brain MRI, an endoscopy, a ct colonoscopy, a chest xray, Trucheck cancer blood test. I’ve seen a gastroenterologist and a haemotologist.

only abnormality is raised platelets which have been between 410 and 498. Low folate too.

doctors are now saying they will do no further tests, saying they might not ever find an answer and to give up basically. I’ve spent £5k privately I can’t afford to carry on. They just say it’s severe stress.

help?

Right sided chest pain, pain under left rib

I'm guessing you've had your thyroid checked? Do you have any labs you can share?

I’ve had thyroid and parathyroid checked. Yep hang on x

I’ve had platelets done and they’d gone up to 460

Platelets done since

Have you seen a psychiatrist?

Sometimes mental health issues can produce symptoms that feel very real.

Even if you had all the money in the world, excessive amounts of scans and x-rays are not good for you and could eventually cause problems of their own.

So perhaps that's a route you could go down if you haven't already?

@YaCannyKickYaGrannyInTheShin yeah I have seen a psychiatrist. He thinks it’s severe health anxiety but.. really?

I would consider an infection, inflammation somewhere, digestion or an autoimmune condition. And managing stress/anxiety helps everything of course. I've Crohn's disease myself and get all of your symptoms. You've had a colonoscopy and endoscopy though. Something to do with an organ along your digestive tract maybe..

Definitely keep an eye on It and keep getting bloods checked regularly in case anything changes. In the meantime, It could be worth talking to a dietician and going on an antiinflammatory or low fodmap diet. Will only help anyway. Id concentrate on looking after yourself as best you can for now, sleep, diet, time for yourself, not overloading yourself work wise etc. even if you feel like you can't, do take the time and do something you want to do for yourself, you'd be surprised how men/teenagers/parents/work can look after themselves when they have to, lol

Have you had your BCG….?

You have Had a diagnosis- health anxiety and chronic stress.

what are you doing to treat that?

Well if the doctors say there's nothing wrong and the phyciatrist thinks then... Yes maybe really

There are no thyroid results listed there @BeDearFox

I would strongly reject the idea its a mental health thing alone!

Your ferritin is on the low side (those results unhelpfully don't give the ranges but just state 'in range' so that's not an ideal way to see where your results fall on the ranges). However ferritin needs to be around 90-100 to be optimal.

You could do with Vit D testing as well.

burning skin (doesn’t always feel hot, not tender but feels to me like it’s burning) - this could be Vit B12 deficiency, which can cause a feeling of burning.
The following are very much associated with thyroid issues:
cold chills every day (shivers go through me)
itchy skin
inability to regulate temp
occasionally night sweats
LOSS OF APPETITE
I’ve lost 2 stone
nausea
dizziness
severe fatigue
heartburn stomach pains
occasional constipation and diarroah
shortness of breath

Plus likely adrenal issues which can accompany that (you could purchase a 24 hr saliva test for cortisol, that might be useful).

Also, I might add that It could be a good idea to check your temperature with the chills. If it's high or low it is probably an infection and needs to be treated with antibiotics until the root cause is found

I had your symptoms and was told it was stress/anxiety for several years until at last I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Said I'd mention it for extra information!

How are you managing your stress / health anxiety? Whether it’s the cause or not, reducing stress helps with a lot of physical symptoms.

Could it be FND?

A parasite?

Have you been abroad prior to becoming unwell. Turkey for example?

Parasitic infections are diseases caused by organisms that live off of another living thing. They can cause fever, fatigue, intestinal symptoms, skin rashes or neurological symptoms. You can get them from contaminated food, water or surfaces, bug bites and eating undercooked meat. Antiparasitic medications treat parasitic infections.

Giardiasis

my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15238-giardiasis

Vasculitis? I had a lot of those symptoms and was fobbed off with a diagnosis of fibro and probably listed as a frequent flyer/hypochondric. It took a life altering event to diagnose. Have you had a abdo ct or pet scan? Plus I'd ask for a rheum referral and full autoimmune bloods inc anca and thyroid panel, b12 and d vitamins.

So you're picking and choosing what to believe?

It certainly sounds like very severe health anxiety and I really don't think Mumsnet and the countless health threads you've started, are helping with that.

@FromHere I’ve had a chest abdo and pelvis CT but not a PET scan. Were you diagnosed with vasculatitus?

Could symptoms this severe be severe stress??

How old are you?