Overheating, mood swings, food repulsion
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello, I'm new here. I've been on the search for relief for many months now, as I'm suffering from a variety of ailments. Here are some of the symptoms which have been bothering me immensely over the past month or so:
-Food repulsion and lack of appetite. Even when I do get hungry, everything I can think to eat sounds repulsive. Especially animal products. I've frequently had to wait until I was so hungry I couldn't take it anymore to be able to stomach something. But it seems like everything I do eat gives me stomach pain & I've been having diarrhea every day for at least a month or so.
-Rapid mood swings throughout the day and week that feel like PMS. (I do have bipolar II DX but this disorder is not characterized by rapid mood swings.) When this happens, I am sobbing and shaking all day, and although I'm able to push through by being patient and kind with myself, it's literal torture some days. I don't seem to have any control over this; normally when I have a depressive episode it comes on slowly and I'm not able to think positively like that at all, and I end up spiraling down because I don't reach out for help. These mood swings are very different. there is no soothing myself out of it, only soothing myself through it while I wait for it to pass. I should add that both my depression and mania scores are low right now, meaning that I'm overall stable. So I'm not sure what to make of this.
-I stopped getting my period when I started college in August 2017 and even after dropping out it never came back. I would just have spotting, breakouts, and crippling PMS mood swings, but not actually get a period, and it was just getting worse over the months. So I was put on Junel FE in October 2018 which I take consecutively to skip my period. This was working great up until this month. My skin is horribly broken out and my mood is entirely unpredictable from day to day.
-OVER. HEATING. Dear lord. I thought it was bad before but this is a new level. I just went outside for about 7 minutes with my dog. It's 65 degrees F out. I had to sprint back inside and jump into an ice cold shower. It was 20 minutes before I could really breathe again. My face turns redder than I've ever seen when this happens, and I just feel like I'm totally suffocating. I can't go outside without this happening unless it's cloudy and under 50 degrees. And oddly, I used to have issues with excessive sweating, but now I'm not really sweating much, and I feel like I'm having an extremely difficult time cooling down. (By the way, I do stay extremely well hydrated.)
Please shoot ideas at me. My doctor has no idea what to do for me. Thank you!
0 likes, 5 replies
AlexandriaGizmo emilyhawk55
Posted
A couple of questions
How old are you
Are you under weight
Do you take any medication
Have you been tested for thyroid and other possible problems
Have you any addictions
Do you exercise regularly
Do you suffer with panic and anxiety disorders
Enough for now 🙄
emilyhawk55 AlexandriaGizmo
Posted
19 years old (almost 20)
Overweight (sometimes my weight will randomly jump 20-30 pounds in a couple of weeks and I'll be covered in stretch marks for no obvious reason)
I take Junel FE as stated and Wellbutrin XL. Also some supplements, like Vitamin D and fish oil.
Been tested for thyroid, metabolism, etc. Nothing comes up.
No addictions.
Not able to get much exercise as I have terrible fatigue and sometimes need to use a wheelchair. I try to get outside when I can, at least a few minutes each day or until I'm overheated.
I have generalized anxiety disorder. (Never been diagnosed with hypochondriac disorder or conversion disorder if that's what you're thinking, hehe! I've been in weekly therapy for years and have made great progress.)
Thanks for the reply!
emilyhawk55 AlexandriaGizmo
Posted
Should also note that I have had an MRI of my brain and thoracic spine to look for MS lesions. It was normal, except they noticed dozens of benign cysts on my thyroid.
I was having recurrent UTIs awhile back. Was on antibiotics 4 times. When I was on Ciprofloxacin in March my fatigue went from 100% to literally 0%, until I finished the pills (and now it's at 65-70% again). but now they're just calling it overactive bladder. I was on oxybutynin for this but it gave me horrible side effects so I had to stop taking it.
Additionally, I have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, but my doctors and I are able to identify which symptoms are actually part of a fibromyalgia diagnosis, and believe that blaming these problems on fibro would not necessarily be accurate or helpful. (Many doctors want to blame all of my issues on fibro, but fibromyalgia actually has real, standard, diagnostic criteria! Lol)
My primary thinks that there has to be some additional underlying issues besides the fibro. My fibro symptoms have been pretty consistent most of my life (I was diagnosed young) and this is just not that. My chiropractor also thinks there are additional underlying issues - he mentioned maybe a connective tissue disorder, and when I had a hot flash during treatment he told me he thinks there is a hormone issue. He's also mentioned immune disorders, and always points out that all my joints are extremely hypermobile. This is a chiropractor I trust (and believe me when I say I have been through a lot of them!)
Essentially there is this notion amongst my Healthcare team that fibro just doesn't adequately explain my symptoms. I also feel that my fibro DX isn't adequately explaining everything. But what could it be!?
I am so desperate to figure this out. My fatigue plus the aforementioned symptoms have pretty much taken everything from me. I use humor to cope. But my life is really kind of sad when you step back and look at it. I'm home bound at 20 years old. I will literally go to the ends of the earth to find a way to feel just a little better.
emilyhawk55
Posted
And one more post script! - my former rheumatologist also said that I had hypermobile joints but didn't take it any further than just stating it as a fact. My hips swell up really really bad sometimes and he said it was bursitis. I'm seeing a new rheumatologist at the end of the month, and he's got great reviews so I am optimistic! - I also had a cardiologist tell me that I have POTS.
Hoping this detail will help. Thanks again.
emilyhawk55
Posted
I wanted to give everyone a quick update in case somebody stumbles upon this someday and thinks "hey, this sounds like me!" I was diagnosed with Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type. This accounts for almost all of my symptoms. However, I am still getting to the bottom of the hormone issues, which seem unrelated to the hEDS. I also struggle with recurrent UTIs, giardia infections, viruses, colds, etc and am unsure if this could be related to the hEDS.