If I meet another doctor that will only look at one symptom and then assures me its so minor that they don't know why I bothered to darken their doorstep, so help me...
Since 2007 I've been dealing with a series of strange symptoms that increase in number and severity over time. Thankfully, they are all relatively small, but the sum total of them has a noticeable negative impact on my quality of life.
First, let me say that I was diagnosed with Hashimotos Thyroiditis in 2005 and I was symptomatic with that for 10 years before being treated. My weird symptoms began after I had gotten my thyroid levels somewhat stabilized.
I'll try to list these in order of appearance:
- Parenthesis (buzzing feeling on bottom of foot)
- Nerve zaps and sparks
- Not able to stay asleep. Legs feel warm (not burning) and uncomfortable. Cannot rest.
- Twitching muscles (different muscles...sometimes hand muscles, above the knee, now under the eye)
- Essential tremor in hand
- Twitching of middle finger in hand
- Acid reflux (sudden onset and moderately severe)
- IBS (sudden onset and moderately severe)
- Legs itch like crazy (at first just in the fall, now year round)
- Skin has gotten sallow and I break out all the time
- Hair is okay, it was trashed from the thyroid disease anyway.
- Recurring yeast overgrowth
- Strange allergy like symptoms on my hands where my knuckles turn bright red and I will get a blister on my hand within 2 hours that will burst and take weeks to heal. The blisters occur in the same spots over and over.
- Change in smell perception (I smell a strong oily smell from heat vents now)
- Neuropathy socks, just a couple times
- twitching muscle under eye -- frequent
- Trouble finding words
- General shakiness and clumsiness in hands
- Severe muscle cramps (I had one where I felt like my hamstring was going to tear...most pain I've ever been in)
I was given Gabapentin in late 2007 to help me sleep after I got down to only sleeping 1 hour per night. It is the only drug I've tried because it works so well at helping me stay asleep and wake feeling rested. I started at 100mg and am up to 700mg now. I go through 2 cycles per year when my symptoms get worse and I temporarily increase the dose. I only take the drug at night.
I was scoped at both ends for the digestive stuff and there is nothing of alarm there. I had a brain MRI (the smelling thing) and I have an "unremarkable" brain image. I guess that's a good thing.
I really want to find a doctor that will look at all of the symptoms together. All the docs I've met with so far will only look at one symptom and will ignore the rest. Within my heart, I feel strongly that these are all interconnected somehow and I'd like to get a diagnosis before some really scary symptom emerges.
For others of you with challenging diagnosis' what would you do over when searching for a doctor, knowing what you know today?