Desperate for answers. What do I do?

Hello, I am hoping someone can help me. A little background: I am 32. I have had hip pain on my right side for about 10 years. I always attributed it to carrying children on my right hip. (I worked in childcare before going on to having my own children).

The last few years it's gotten worse. My husband is military, so I see military doctors. They sent me to physical therapy which did nothing. I started having migraines and saw an eye doctor on my own; I was wondering if it was a simple vision issue. He told me I had optic neuritis at the time, but it was no big deal. A year goes by, and I started having a random pain in my upper back (right above my bra strap) as well as low back and stronger hip pain. 1-year ago I asked for an MRI of my upper back which was without contrast and “unremarkable”. I didn’t ask for a hip MRI because I assumed it was sciatica. Around that time I started noticing mild abdominal pain. Because my symptoms were all over the place, and all of my labs and tests were negative, they said I was fine. (They actually diagnosed my with somatization unbeknownst to me—basically means I feel pain for imaginary reasons. I found this out this week).

I deal with all the symptoms which have waxed and waned, yet has gotten progressively worse, until September when I can’t handle the abdominal pain anymore. I made more appointments. I made a mistake of not explaining all the leg, back, and nerve pain because I thought I already had a negative diagnosis and that it was unrelated. I’ve been through the ringer with these doctors. They are young, and it’s a revolving door of inconsistency because military life has them moving and rotating constantly One doctor took an hour to listen to me, and ordered several MRIs and blood tests, but he moved clinics and I never saw him again. Every test has been negative I’ve been told, and they keep referring me to mental health.

I have pain all over, in my leg muscles, the ankles, my shin, my hips, my left wrists, my feet and hands. The right-sided “sciatica” is on both sides now. My upper back feels stuck, with intermittent stabs of pain, it’s the best way to describe it. I wake up lately feeling like I ran a marathon, but didn’t run a marathon. Or I feel like I have a flu, but without the head symptoms. I feel so foggy and just, bad. I feel like something is so wrong. My ribs hurt on the right side, and it hurts my back to drop my shoulders. Now I hear a cracking/popping sound in my spine and sternum if I drop my shoulders. I hope that makes sense—It’s hard to describe. They asked if I have night sweats, and I said yes I have been sweating at night the last few nights (never had this before). They dismissed it because I “don’t need to change the sheets because it’s not soaked.” I’ve lost so much weight, I’m so nauseous and often have little appetite. They say it’s stress.

Last week I ordered my medical records. I wanted to see what they were saying, and whether or not they were missing something. I learned two things: someone a year ago said “somatization”, which now I’m wondering could be what’s interfering with proper care. Why do more diagnostics if it’s in the patient’s head? Send her to mental health instead. The other thing learned after poring over my records is I had a high rheumatoid factor, and “mild facet hypertrophic degenerative changes” in L-1 through 5 and S1. They told me my MRI of my lower back and blood tests were normal though!

A.S. is the only thing that seems to match everything I feel. I was reluctant to make an account and ask for information here as I’ve noticed there seems to be a lot of what I would call hypochondriacs that seem to flood chronic condition forums, and in the back of my mind I was starting to really question my own mind after hearing I’m fine over and over and over again. But now after seeing mild spine issues and rheumatoid factor, I’m wondering if I’m onto something. Does this sound like A.S.? What do I do? Where do I go from here? I’m desperate for help as I have become a shell of the vibrant and energetic wife and mother that I normally am. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. 

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