Can someone tell me what's wrong with me, feel like I'm cracking up or a complete hypochondriac?

[sweetkitty]

Didn't know whether to put this in mental health or not, if it's all. In my head or not, my symptoms:
Exhaustion to the point i feel dizzy and all I can think if is sleep, I generally sleep from 11-7 bigot can be restless and I get woken a lot
Getting up in themorni g feeling shattered almost drunk
Aches and pains mostly in my head, neck and shoulders and my knee joins and calves sometimes walking upstairs is a struggle. Lifting my arms to wash my hair was difficult this morning.

Extremely sensitive to the cold, it actually hurts me and makes my muscles go rigid.

I'm on 40mg of citalopram for anxiety and depression more for the anxiety, I have spoken to my GP about this a lot and she just keeps upping my dose and gettingme to fill out those PND forms. She's also done blood tests to see if they would show up anything, they didn't. DH thinks it's because I'm unfit (true) but I'm a size8/10 not overweight don't smoke and rarely drink. I willhave naps most afternoons leaving poor DD3 watching Tv. I think I'm going mad oh sometimes it feels like I'm losing grip in my hands too. Just needed to write this all down as im at my wits end.

How long have you felt like this? Could just be exhaustion. Do you get any help with the children? Try to get some time off and in the meantime try to get short bursts of rest throughout the day and resist the urge to sleep if you can as too much sleep can affect the quality of rest you get at night. Can DH take a few night shifts, buy some earplugs and try to ignore any noise on those nights.

Can I ask what blood tests you have had?

What happened to the rest of my post! Sorry, I should have added that if you haven't had a thyroid function blood test you should ask for one. For me it's the most obvious one to rule in or out.

You might also want to look at this, see if it rings any bells...

www.myadrenalfatigue.com/

Check out the adrenal fatigue website and look up syndrome x/insulin resistance.

I think your symptoms could well be a side effect of the tablets.

Your doctor should not be increasing the dose.

I would get a second opinion straight away...but don't stop taking the tablets without medical advice/supervision.

Go back to your GP and demand a second opinion and/or referal for further tests.

Thanks for getting back to me

I've had a blood test for thyroid function

I have 4 DC all under 8, no help or family support whatsoever, DH works 6-5 5 days a week but when he is here he's great does more than his fair share, he does get up if one of them wakes but if I get wakened it tends to take me ages to get up.

Am thinking if asking GP to reduce dose or switch me onto another AD as using think they are working, have felt Luke this for a few years now but really bad for about 4 months I would say. Is it just normal exhaustionwith four DC?

have you been tested for anaemia, diabetes or glandular fever OP?

I thought of thyroid disorder too. I think being underactive makes you feel the cold and overactive makes you feel hot although many symptoms are similar. I was overactive and the exhaustion you are suffering rings bells, it was like having flu without the temperature and loss of appetite. My legs were stiff, I struggled to get upstairs or up from bending down, like when you're heavily preggers. You can find a full list of symptoms on the patientuk website. Thyroid disorders can often be misdiagnosed as depression, anxiety is another symptom, I am normally quite laid back but became a shaking, anxious nightmare. HTH, I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what your blood test said.

Had the results of my blood tests back already all normal!

Felt awful this morning, really tired even though I was in bed before 11, woke only once in the night I think and was up at 7. Even doing the DDs hair was a struggle :(

Sending love and sympathy. I have four dcs and the early years are tough..don't beat yourself up for having a snooze in the afternoon if dc is settled.

Are you stiff in the morning? How old are you, roughly? Did the GP do an ESR? Aches and pains, tiredness and proximal muscle weakness can go along with polymyalgia rheumatica. Saying that, depression can cause all sorts of physical symptoms too.

Thanks what's an ESR?

I'm 36.

I don't know if it's just because I have 4 DC or something else. I'm mainly in the citalopramfor anxiety.

I was going to say thyroid too. What about anaemia? low levels of calcium and vitamin D? These don't always get routinely checked with a blood test. Low blood sugar? low blood pressure? just throwing things in really. I have had symptoms similar to you and have suffered from all of these things in the past.
Have these all been checked and normal?

ESR is an old fashioned indicator of inflammation. It would be high in PMR. It is much more common in people older than you. If you did have it, it is very treatable.

Why not write down your symptoms for two weeks, and make an appointment to go over them with the GP. Ask which tests have been done.

Have you tried relaxation exercises or meditation? I totally recommend Paul McKenna 'I can make you relax' CD which knocks me out and I wake up feeling much better.

Red blood cells were fine as was blood glucose, I take a multivit and extra calcium, 4 pregnancies and over 5 years of breastfeeding in 7 years has taken it's toll.

I would read up more about thyroid and get a copy of your results as well. The threshold is very high here - over 10 for tsh - but elsewhere they treat at over 3. Do you have copies of all your results? Sometimes you can be borderline eg anaemic but they just call this 'normal'

I would read up more about thyroid and get a copy of your results as well. The threshold is very high here - over 10 for tsh - but elsewhere they treat at over 3. Do you have copies of all your results? Sometimes you can be borderline eg anaemic but they just call this 'normal'

Crikey yes not surprising you are tired!
An ordinary multi Vit would not give you the right amount of vitamin D if you were deficient so might be worth checking anyway. Also ask for the readings from your thyroid test. They may be borderline but you may still be told they are normal. If they are borderline you should ask if they can repeat them fairly soon and regularly as they can change fairly rapidly if your thyroid isn't working properly.
It was when you mentioned your arms aching brushing hair etc. I couldn't dry my hair without my arms feeling really weak and sore when I had thyroid problems and yes the tiredness and almost drunk feeling is like nothing I have ever known... and I had an overactive thyroid. Could it be that your anxiety medication would give a false thyroid result? No idea if this is possible, just a query? but definitely review your medication anyway as your symptoms seem to have worsened as your dose has increased.

There are 3 readings for thyroid I think. T3 T4 and TSH which is Thyroid stimulating hormone. If your thyroid hormone is high your TSH should correspondingly be low and vice versa so make sure you have all the results and have the doctor explain them all to you and tell you what the normal ranges are. Apologies if you have already done this, not intending to lecture. As mercibucket says the tests are interpreted slightly differently in different countries/ areas so if you are showing a lot of symptoms you should be carefully monitored despite the 'normal' results. have you put on or lost weight recently? is your heart rate unusually high or low?