Sick of being sick - help!

[Anyfeckinusername]

Ugh, I've been feeling sick since the start of September and I am exhausted with it now and I'm starting to worry if it's something sinister. Basically -

Caught covid sept 2nd. Ill for a week.

Then caught chest infection - two weeks.

Then a stomach bug - two days in the bathroom

Then cold again before I'd started eating after the stomach bug.

cold turned into sinus and now the left side of my face is sore, my teeth and jaw hurt, my glands are swollen on the same side. My eye is twitching.

I am exhausted. I am so so tired. I wake up exhausted.

I'm 48, I have hashimotos so I take levothyroxine, and I'm on a low dose of HRT.

I am slim build, exercise regularly (road cyclist) and gym

I got in touch with my GP a few weeks ago about the tiredness. Bloods were done, and showed anaemia and an elevated response to infection (esjnophil and basophil count).

But the surgery didn't schedule a follow up appointment as they said "no action necessary" WTF?! I feel worse every week!

So I scheduled a GP appt. It took two weeks and it's tomorrow. But as I've worsened I feel like I sound like a total maniac with all these random symptoms.

My partner is a doctor (but not gp, he is in public health now) he is adamant there is something wrong with my heart as it is so elevated and spikes... and he says it should be checked given the fatigue is so bad now.

Yesterday in work I couldn't keep eyes open at 3pm... I am knackered from the moment I wake up and I crash out and sleep from 11 - 7 if not earlier.

I am just ugh I don't know I feel like I've a list of random ailments. Oh I didn't even mention my shoulder on the same left side is in pain for the whole duration with very restricted mobility.

I'm now getting scared I've cancer or something. I can't stand when people tell me "oh you're being anxious - that won't help" because I actually feel I am not being listened to.

Sorry this is most definitely a rant but I don't know how to access someone who may poke into my health more than a 7-min phone consultation.

How do I approach it with gp? He is a lovely man and he does listen, but 7 mins is limiting.

Maybe it's just a sinus infection!!! Going to stop typing now, thank you for reading x

I totally feel you, OP - I have had crushing fatigue for a few years now and a super high heart rate with palpitations, all now put down to a totally unrelated pre-existing condition. It is hard when you don't feel listened to.

You might find it best to write everything down, every part of the timeline, and all of your symptoms. Sometimes seeing things in type can trigger recognition in GPs of connecting symptoms. Take your time, don't rush, don't worry about the 7 minutes. Speak calmly and matter-of-factly, and if you're not satisfied, ask for a second opinion, or advice on where to go next.

Good luck OP. You will be ok, you just have to get the journey to being well again started x

Thank you. I feel a bit emotional that someone has actually heard me!

I'll do exactly that tomorrow. Thank you.

I sympathise. Also been having digestive symptoms since covid. Had tests, nothing specific found yet and im so fed up as my system is so delicate I have to be v careful what I eat and as my social life revolves round meeting friends for dinner/brunch/coffee it’s tough.
waiting for results of another stool test after I called GP on Tues (thankfully I got the nice receptionist) as my recent holiday (where I wasn’t as careful, but tried to be) resulted in diarrhoea on return.
All med profs cite covid - I wasn’t even that bad with it Ffs (but did have loss of appetite/diarrhoea towards end of the positive testing period).

OK. I have Hashi's too. The run of infections will have used up a lot of your body's nutrients and maybe left you depleted in some. Have you any recent thyroid labs you can share? Have you had ferritin, folate, Vit D3, Vit B12 tested? You need to get a complete picture of your health.

I highly doubt you have cancer or something sinister, but I do think you are likely very depleted in vitamins/minerals and really need to concentrate on boosting your diet, as well as maybe adjusting your thyroxine dosage.

Thanks Crunchy. Yes you're right I have been sick and it's bound to be catching up on me... it's just day on day I get a little worse rather than better...

My bloods were pretty thorough, taken three weeks ago and clearly show I am anaemic. I had similar a few years ago and was given an iron supplement. However - I bind iron "too well" and suddenly my bloods were showing far too much iron and I was told to "lay off the red meat" - I am a vegetarian! It was suspected I had haemochromotosis and I was referred, tested and, nope I didn't! But it has caused me to not buy any old iron supplements and to be very careful with iron.

The GP didn't want to follow up on the following (but I made an appointment anyway):

Serum creatinine level 85 (range 45 - 85)
Serum iron level 4.8 (range 6.6 - 26)
Transferrin saturation index 9% (range 15 - 50%)
Serum C reactive protein level 7 (range 0.0 - 5)

My TSH is 2.31 (range .27 - 4.2) I always try to have this about 1.0. They didn't test T3/4

Unfortunately they didn't test vit D but I used to take 20,000 once a week as advised by my endocrinologist. I was seeing her as a private patient and she kept such a close eye on all anomalies, that's when I found out about hashimotos, and I really got myself put back together. She explored everything.

But what has upset me is my bloods are clearly showing a few things that need attention but the surgery flagged it up as "no action". They just told me over the phone, all is fine, nothing to follow up on. I requested a copy of the bloods - if I hadn't asked I would be clueless now.

@JustDanceAddict hope you get some answers soon!

I forgot to add that since you've just had Covid, this will affect your thyroid hormone effectiveness and also things like ferritin. I've seen it cause disruption in people's blood work for 2-3 months after being ill.

Your CRP is high so that shows ongoing inflammation. Could be either from Covid but more likely it's Hashi's flaring up - probably due to Covid!

My TSH is 2.31 (range .27 - 4.2) I always try to have this about 1.0. They didn't test T3/4

Yep better to have it around 1.0. Unsurprising they didn't test the others as your TSH is 'in range' and therefore ticketty-boo. eyeroll In general GPs won't flag up much at all in relation to thyroid or vitamins - as long as they are 'in range'. Unfortunately 'in range' includes ridiculously low levels which are far from optimal.

But what has upset me is my bloods are clearly showing a few things that need attention but the surgery flagged it up as "no action".

Er yes I'm afraid you are finding out first hand what happens when you still feel unwell and know that you are, but doctors rely on lab tests (sparse amount of them with dubious ranges!) and tell you that you are fine. Far too many of us in that boat.

Would be useful to know what your TPO/TG antibodies are doing - you can get fingerprick blood test kits from companies like Medichecks that would tell you TSH, FT4, FT3, TPO Ab and TG Ab. Well worth getting as you will then have all the relevant thyroid info. You may need a slight raise in thyroxine but without the FT4 and FT3 levels, it's hard to say more than that!

Hi carrot, thanks so much for that reply.

Ohh don't get me started on the general thyroid approach at the GP practice!! I have to keep my cool seriously on that one! They single handedly drove me into the arms of a private Endo after telling me there was "no connection between low VitD and poor thyroid function" and in her twenty years treating thyroids she had never heard this - I had seriously offended her but it is right there in any medical article that are readily available for her public to read!!!

They never test my T4, but I know from where I saw an endocrinologist privately just how much they rely on the bigger picture. My son was born with congenital hypothyroidism so we have been knee deep in T3, T4, TSH since he was 11 days old My daughter (8) has Hashi's too.

Right - I've called Bupa, I'll get a referral from the GP tomorrow hopefully, and it turns out I have chronic condition care on my policy so I will be able to see an Endo privately again for monitoring.

When I changed job and got a new health provider I didn't pick up with a new endocrinologist at the time, thought heck now I know what's wrong I'll revert back to the GP.

Feeling a bit better now I've a plan in mind

Are you a doctor by the way? Thanks so much I didn't realise what the CRP meant!

Update... spoke to GP!

He is putting me on a months' iron and we are to check in again then and see if I'm feeling any better. He is thinking I have post viral fatigue. He spoke a bit about how cells work post viral and how if I do too much too quickly my cell energy depletes and can't renew quick enough and it feels like a crash (have definitely been experiencing this).

He is giving me antibiotics for my sinus infection and told me to continue with nasal washes.

And he's writing an Endo referral letter so I can re-access that service again though my new health provider. He said they will have access to poke into any knock on effects more.

I feel a bit more in control of this now. Still coughing, fatigued etc. I really had to explain the fatigue to him. I told him I'm sleeping fine but I wake up exhausted. I am mentally tired in work immediately. I am physically kaput by 3pm. He told me to decrease my bursts of cycling intensity and try to do less but more regularly. Sensible!

I told him I felt ridiculous with this list of random things but I was feeling worse week on week, and he really was kind, he gave me plenty of time (though I still forgot to tell him about a couple of things). Feel good about the call.