I feel incredibly hopeless.

I’ve lost 4 years of my life that I can never get back due to this “illness” that nobody can seem to figure out. Like many of you out there, I’ve encountered some of the coldest & most dismissive doctors out there. The lack of compassion from some of these physicians has truly bothered me. I’ve gotten the ole “barely do any actual research & slap the fibromyalgia diagnosis on it to get her out of my office” shtick more times than I’d like to admit. I’m exhausted. I can’t afford to go to a fancy medical center. I live in Arkansas & we have very few specialists & they all have pretty poor reviews. So I’ll put my symptoms out there in hopes someone runs across this one day & is like “oh hey, I know exactly what that is!”

I want to just preface that I’m in no way nor have I ever been a hypochondriac. I don’t sit & dwell on my health. The only reason I’m so concerned right now is because my health got too bad to ignore.
I’m 32 years old. Female. All of these symptoms began almost 4 years ago out of the blue. No known trigger, I was happy, healthy, very active & fit. It’s literally like I woke up one day & felt like crap & it never went away. Its left me bedridden most days. Had to quit working as an Esthetician & work from home. I’m truly MISERABLE.

SYMPTOMS:
-Debilitating Fatigue *Severe
-Brain Fog *Severe
-Memory loss
-Cognitive impairment *Severe
-Facial flushing *Severe
-Zero energy
-Feeling like I’m wearing a necklace that is too tight & can hear the blood rushing in my ears
-Body feels like it’s vibrating when I lay down sometimes
-Excessive sweating
-Exercise Intolerance
-Always hot *Any sort of physical exertion makes me feel like I’m going to overheat or pass out. ie. washing dishes, fixing my hair, showering, etc.
-Dry skin on entire body *Severe
-Dry eye syndrome *Severe
-Dry mouth
-Dry sinuses with super sticky snot
Basically my entire body is dry from the inside out.
-Keratosis Pilaris on lower legs caused by the dry skin
-Frequent canker sores
-High blood pressure
-High cholesterol
-Raynaud’s Syndrome *Toes & fingers. Mother also has this condition.
-Livedo reticularis on limbs when cold
-Rapid weight gain *About 20lbs in 1 year.
-Depression *This is a symptom, NOT the cause.
-Chronic pain in joints
-Frequent severe headaches on one side of the head, towards the front
-Fingers or feet swell & turn red/warm
-Ridged, brittle fingernails
-Red vertical line down big toenail
-Hair loss
-Frequent infections
-Gum Disease
-Rapid tooth decay
-Dark scarring
-Heart palpitations
-Insomnia *Severe
-Arthritis *Knees, hips, spine, ankles
-Urine Hesitancy
-Heat intolerance
-Either no period or it’s extremely light and only lasts about 1 day
-Depleted Estrogen & Progesterone *They were brought up with BC pills but no idea WHY they were depleted
-Constant crying
-Constipation *I have ibs-c but the c has gotten significantly worse.
-Tachycardia *This is constant. Mother also has this condition.
-Cravings for carbs & sweets constantly
-Nose runs with physical exertion
-Enlarged lymph nodes in armpits that get bigger & very sore around the time of my period even if I don’t actually have my period

All of the labs that have been done are because I requested them. All labs have come back normal aside from the high cholesterol & the high blood cortisol. The saliva & 24 hour urine cortisol tests were normal.
I have a thyroid nodule that they said just needs to be monitored annually.
Brain scan was normal.
I’ve had the normal blood work for thyroid & ANA which were normal.

I honestly feel like I probably have a fairly normal condition but I can’t get a doctor to give me enough time during the visit to actually get anywhere and I’m sick of being told it’s probably just fibromyalgia or in my head. ITS NOT.

H E L P 🏳️