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Fixmeh

Any aspiring Dr. Houses want to give me a go? (more for the purpose of brainstorming/sharing of experiences than anything)

About me: 26 year old female; adopted so most of my medical history is missing. I've suffered from chronic pain for most of my life. After years of showing up at doctor's offices with a pre-made list of symptoms to discuss (running across all body systems) but never being taken seriously, I gave up on the search for answers.

It wasn't until last year (just before my insurance ran out) that I decided to give it another go. By some miracle, I happened upon a doctor who listened to each complaint and followed through with tests.

To date, this is what we know for sure (all of these cause some amount of discomfort and/or moderate to severe pain):

  • Raynaud's phenomenon

  • Left optic nerve disc/cup ratio is out of acceptable range.. Normal Cup/Disc area ratio is: 0.07-0.30mm mine is 0.41mm. The acceptable maximum range for a Disc area is: 2.43mm, mine is 2.91 and the acceptable maximum range for Cup area is 0.68mm, mine is 1.20mm, (it is unknown whether the many visual disturbances I experience are related to this ((Palinopsia, Phosphenes, Aeropisia, Visual snow, entire visual field flashing a color to name a few)))

  • Cysts: left dorsal wrist, right kidney, right ovary. The ovary has been oporated on twice--once at 12 years old, once this year in June. 6 inch abdominal adhesions binding my ascending colon to my abdominal wall were found and cut during the most recent laparoscopy. They have been used to explain some of my abdominal pain, and they are back.

  • Gastritis

  • Herniated cervical disc

  • Idiopathic SVT (Supraventricular Tachyarrhythmia). During a 24 hours halter moniter, my HR averaged at 120 with the highest BPM at 190, and the lowest at 46. The surgery to ablate was unsuccessful, leading my cardiologist to believe the arrhythmia is either located in the sinus node (which would require ablation of the sinus node, and most likely, a pace maker) or due to a nervous system malfunction.

  • Tininitus

The cause of these symptoms have yet to be determined:

  • Joint pain: knees especially; swelling, tenderness and redness can be seen on occasion. Often, upon waking, hands will be swollen and stiff. Some days, the pinky and ring finger of my right hand will cramp with the fingers curling inward.

  • Gallbladder is suspected for right upper quadrant pain, though my liver has come back as "borderline hepatomegaly" (slightly enlarged) on MRIs and sonograms

  • Band of moderate to sever pain wrapping its way around my trunk at the mid/lower ribcage.

  • Very easy bruising

Bodily sensations:

  • Buzzing

  • Tingling--mostly confined to extremities but can be localized anywhere on the trunk and, most notably for its association with confusion and anxiety, cheeks.

  • Vertigo; dizziness. The feeling, while standing still, that my body has been dropped a few feet.. how it feels to jump off a bottom step or be jolted in a stopping elevator.

  • What feels like needle pricks. These can happen any where on the body; if ignored (not scratched, rubbed), the adjacent muscle group will involuntarily twitch/convulse.

  • Alternatively, very cold pricks, similar to the needle pricks in size (teeny) and random locations, that I often mistake for water drops until I realize I am inside/it's not raining/there is no evidence on clothing that any water has fallen

This is all I can think of at the moment. Needless to say, each of these interferes with my life on a daily basis. It is frustrating to never know when one of them might leave me immobile.. unable to tackle the day or keep plans. I continue to hope there is an underlying cause for all of them so that one or two treatments could fix everything. However, I have been told the possibilities of this are slim.

Any thoughts or the sharing of similar experiences would be wonderful.

Posted Nov 4, 2010, 12:35 AM UTC · edited

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