Totally fed up with low grade poorliness

[KatyMac]

I'm rarely 'ill' although I say this after 2 weeks plus of 'illness' due to mouth ulcers, mouth ulcers that may have been caused by a reaction to anti-biotics which have resulted in 2 weeks steroids and now a further 4 weeks steroids.

But this isn't about that

I have IBS, CFS, FM & possibly RAS(Raging Acronyms Syndrome)
I have pain, sometimes it's small & sometimes it's large & different places (joints or long bones or hands&feet or IBS or (more recently) mouth ulcers) I occasionally have inflammation markers in my blood but most of the time I don't
I have tiredness - again it fluctuates
I have IBS symptoms

& I'm fed up (tbh - I'm probably getting depressed) but in the last 10 or so doctors appointments 'depressed' has been suggested at a cause of my problems along with stress, menopause or a 'virus'

& I know no-one can do anything but I thought I'd whinge a bit

Thanks for reading

Hmmm I wouldn't call that rarely ill

Poor you

No wonder she feel miserable

Sorry no wonder you're miserable

Thanks

Will your doc test your ferritin, B12 and folate and vitamin D and support you in supplementing any of these that are low in range?

With those diagnoses the chances are that some of them are less than ideal.

Have you ever been tested for coeliac disease? Similar symptoms to IBS plus fatigue...

Coeliac - blood test & 2 colonoscopys all negative

No - GP is being decidedly unhelpful tbh - it's depression, apparently

Have you had your calcium levels checked - a bone profile?

Nope

But as I didn't get a referral from my GP for anything else I'm unlikely to get one for that

I wonder if it's cheap enough to get privately

It's just a blood test - I'd try your GP again first.

I went after having an allergic reaction (to antibiotics) having not eaten (or drunk much) in days with a large (over 2cms) ulcer on my tongue which was preventing me even swallowing saliva & he said it would get better soon - I saw my dentist at 9:15 in the morning & was in hospital by 3pm

So I have little faith in him

IME, it will always be depression according to GPs.

I have a similar list of maladies so you have my sympathy.

You see, I have been depressed on several occasions (maybe 3/4 or so). Usually due to an event & usually resolved by talking - to friends, to my mum, to my husband over a period of time. Twice I have needed anti-depressants once after my initial diagnosis of CFS when I struggled with the diagnosis & then again when I had an ectopic pregnancy, emergency surgery & nearly died - both I consider to have been fairly significant life event.

I recognise depression in myself - and over the last months I see it emerging - but solely as a result of the way I am feeling physically and the lack of support I feel I get from the health service.

I do feel a bit let down atm

Unfortunately once you have a CFS/FM diagnosis you are pretty much on the scrap heap as far as the NHS are concerned and they will not look behind the diagnosis unless you really push.

In my experience, you have to fight them every step of the way and unfortunately you have to do this at a time when this is the last thing you feel like doing.

I speak as someone diagnosed with CFS three times and simply offered anti depressants, when in actual fact I had a serious vitamin D deficiency, a serious ferritin deficiency and and under active thyroid. It's taken me nine years in total to get treatment and in the process I have learnt more than I ever wanted to know about how the NHS works (or doesn't).

It has been tested previously; I'll see if I could have the actual numbers

Have you looked into non-coeliac gluten sensitivity? There is no test for it, but increasingly studies are showing it is a genuine thing.

In your position, I would first get the blood tests others have recommended and then try going on a strictly gluten-free diet for a couple of months and seeing if that makes a difference.

Many of your symproms would suggest Crohns disease as a possibility (I have Crohns).
Have you been tested for this?

Gluten is my next exclusion; but I an eating so little now I'm worried about trying it

Crohns I would have expected to be picked up by the colonoscopys I had

I'm less down today - still a bit fed up but less upset

Are you sure you had the biopsy to detect coeliac? They're not colonoscopies, they are biopsies of the small intestine.

I am probably obsessed with thryoid as recently diagnosed ! but was told for a long time my thyroid tests in normal range, they were not in fact, get them to check for antibodies and def get a print out of results,agree with poster above all the symptoms you describe are from a under active thyroid, I was told IBS by GP as coeliac came back negative, but thyroid and gluten insensitivity are strongly linked If you are up to it because its hard when ill search out thyroid UK list of symptoms ,x

I went private - they said they had gone a bit further and taken some biopsies (only 3 or 4) - who knows I certainly wouldn't understand my records

Thanks - I have had thyroid tests but they were 'normal' but I know understand from MN 'normal' isn't always 'normal'

I'm gearing up for a row with the GP

You go girl ! dont be fobbed off get a print out of your blood results you can post online on thyroid uk and people help you make sense of them ie will not just say they are fine! take a list of hypo symptoms and tick off the ones you have and demand they test you for antibodies.Good luck x

Katymac. Gluten has been mentioned a few times. I had the symptoms you described for twenty years. I removed gluten and they went away. Definitely worth a trial complete removal from diet.

I know - it's next on my list - I promise