Feel so poorly but bloods show nothing

[Debmac72]

Hi all, I'm at my wits end and sometimes feel like I would be better of dead, on New Year's Eve I was rushed to hospital with severe chest pains and my heart was racing, it all turned out ok apart from I had a kidney infection then that's when it all went down hill from there, a week later I started getting the most terrible pains in my belly on the right side I couldn't eat and the result of that is almost 3 stone weight lose, I've had every scan and test and they can't really see anything wrong apart from polyps in my uterus and a slight swelling on the tube coming from my right kidney but because my bloods are coming back ok they said I have nothing wrong !! I've been kept in hospital the middle of April because I was so poorly and I had 3 doctors arguing over my bed on what they thought was the problem I was in for 6 days because they found a shadow on my left lung but then said it's nothing to worry about go home and get on with my life I just feel so so ill my heart races I have no energy I've lost my appetite again and the pain in my lower right side makes me want to die but no one wants to help me they said it could be anxiety but I've only had anxiety now because of the pain I'm only 49 and I'm heart broken because I have my family I want to see grow old, I also wish I was a millionaire so I could pay for private treatment because most doctors I've seen don't want to know I'm now convinced it's my kidney and maybe the polyps because the period I've just had was the worst one I think I've ever had in my life the blood loss was horrendous and the pain in my belly is even worse.....

Sometimes we get problems that don't show up as anything known. Medical science doesn't have all the answers and I suspect it never will.

Could you attend a pain management clinic?

I'm sorry you're having such a rubbish time. Have they done an MRI and CT scan?

I haven’t had a mri just a ct scan what showed slight swelling on tube from kidney, I’m on pain medication but it doesn’t help x

Oh op you poor thing. The culture of the medical profession is generally shit. If you don’t slot into a neat diagnosis you can end up pushed from pillar to post with no one seemingly interested in joining dots or thinking that god forbid something needs more thought or research.

Have you been exposed to carbon monoxide or heavy metals- lead etc? Those things can build up over time and cause unusual symptoms. Have they checked for lyme disease?

Have a look at perimenopausal symptoms - when you mentioned your period it made me think of that. Symtoms include anxiety, palpitations, fatigue and many many more.

Did you take antibiotics for the kidney infection? They can trigger IBS symptoms e.g. palpitations, abdominal pain, no energy, feeling very unwell but blood tests are fine. Low FODMAP diet can help a lot of people.

Itcould be a number of things , Iwould keep going back to your GP

I just want answers and to feel alive again, ibs was also given but I think that’s complete rubbish’s doctor told me that they use ibs when they have no real idea what it could be, I’ve been put on phosphate sandoz because that’s the only thing showing up in bloods but when you read into it yourself to says people with kidney problems... I just feel so poorly x

I’ve also had 12 kidney infections in the last 14 months all been treated with antibiotics, I’ve begged my doctor to refer me to a urologist because this can’t be normal, she finally agreed but there is no appointments for the foreseeable future !!

That's a huge amount of antibiotics, which can be hard on your stomach and take ages to recover from. Not sure why you think IBS is BS, it's common, can be triggered by excessive antibiotics and be very debilitating.

As they have suggested IBS so I would try the low FODMAP diet for IBS for a while, even to give your stomach a chance to recover. Food I thought were easily digested were actually causing problems e.g. apples, ripe bananas. There are groups on Facebook for support e.g. Low FODMAP UK. Also take probiotics.

Low fodmap works for about 75% of IBS sufferers so if you don't see any improvement, it's either not IBS and you can rule it out or you are in the 25% who need to try something else.

I’m not saying it’s bs but there must be a reason the pain is only on my right side and I’ve had so many kidney infections x

Given the number of tests etc you have had, I'm struggling to think of anything that they couldn't have tested for an excluded. But one thing does come to mind. Although I am afraid it may not be terribly helpful. I am wondering whether you have / have had (and it is very possible that this is something that occurred in the past) a virus that has ended up in your kidney. There are several viruses known to infect kidney tissue, can definitely cause the pain that you are describing - and also quite probably the swelling. And, of course, antibiotics wouldn't touch them - so that would account for them not working!

It isn't really common, but it's common enough not to be unheard of, but the problem is that there is quite literally nothing they could do to identify a virus in the kidney (assuming it is still present) - even biopsies rarely assist in identification. And, as I said, it is quite possible that the virus is no longer present. I have seen similar cases where, by the process of elimination, that becomes the only possible explanation left (which is perhaps a good thing since pretty much all the really scary stuff has been eliminated), and the pain can actually continue for many months, or even years. Although it does normally diminish and lessen over time.

I have to say that I have normally seen this in younger people, and whilst not altogether common it appears to be mainly associated with younger people - it's often associated with viruses like Epstein-Barr. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen in older people, just that it is less common.

I am not sure if that helps any though, as if this is the case, it is literally a waiting game - other than support you to manage the symptoms, there is nothing medicine can do about it.

One doctor was actually insisting that all the problems was my kidney and that although it’s not showing in bloods it could possibly have a lot of scar tissue inside from so many infections and that wouldn’t show up on ct or bloods so maybe what you are saying is also something to consider, maybeaybe I’m just clutching at straws because I just want to be out of pain x

Please don't take this the wrong way...but do you think you may have Health Anxiety? The only reason I suggest this is because I've had & it can give you so many symptoms like chest pain, stomach pains s headaches the list is endless!! It's fight or flight...because your worrying you have something wrong your body 'thinks' there's something wrong so it tries to fight it off but there is actually nothing there!! (I learnt that in therapy!

I think it’s turned into that tbh, I don’t think it started out as that although I do also think there is something wrong because the pain is unbearable in my right side x