messtafarian
Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2013
- Messages
- 814
I've been so sick. I can't even explain what happened, it was like I went down a nightmare hole. It started with the hot flashes and a strange pain in my epigastric area -- GERD but also chills across my back and IBS; dizziness. It was probably the beginning of October when I started to feel wrong but I just assumed I was under stress and would get better.
I went to the doctor. She ordered a blood test. All my levels ( except thyroid) were normal except for slight iron deficiency anemia but I noted my lymph % was down and my iron binding capacity was increasing. She also ran an antibody panel and found a positive ssb antibody, one that shows up in an autoimmine disease called sjogrens syndrome. This woman started writing referrals until I was totally overwhelmed. Rheumatologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, gastroenterologist, whaaaaaaaa????
I was really upset. I couldn't do all that, I was exhausted.I kept drilling down into the internet. I just kept getting worse. I had a strange thing happen -- my parotid gland swelled up on the right side and that had never happened before to me ever. I looked it up on the internet -- salivary stone? Swallowing was impossible -- anything that had flavor gave me a sour, burning pain. That lasted for one day and then the parotid gland got better but I had a very odd type of congestion. Terrible sore throat. I assumed now I had the flu or something, but one strange part of it was that for a couple days I had what I thought was a sort of "allergic reaction" -- my face was bright red and my lips were tingling.
I had no fever. My body temperature was really low, under 97 a couple of times.
I was starting to lose time and dissociate. My ear was pulsing all the way down to my jaw. I felt like I was a million years old. I could not think straight. I was in a terrible mood. I wanted to kill myself. The world seemed so hopeless. I realized I had a terrible ear infection which is common for me, but you know how they say ear infections clear up on their own? For me they do not, but I hadn't even gone in to see the doctor for an ear infection -- I just wanted a checkup and ended up with all this *other* stuff that could be wrong. I was really confused, and getting sort of lost in my own head. I would stand in the kitchen and think...am I here? I would be talking to my family and think...did I say that? What am I talking about? I felt like I was falling backwards into my own head.
So Saturday I got an appointment with an urgent care clinic. I was prescribed a seven day course of Levaquin because even though the doc couldn't see my ear she thought maaaaybe I was right and I had an ear infection.
Four hours after the first pill I was better. A day later I was amazed at the difference. It is now the fourth day and I am starting to feel coherent. I have never been so sick in my whole life. What do you think happened?
I went to the doctor. She ordered a blood test. All my levels ( except thyroid) were normal except for slight iron deficiency anemia but I noted my lymph % was down and my iron binding capacity was increasing. She also ran an antibody panel and found a positive ssb antibody, one that shows up in an autoimmine disease called sjogrens syndrome. This woman started writing referrals until I was totally overwhelmed. Rheumatologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, gastroenterologist, whaaaaaaaa????
I was really upset. I couldn't do all that, I was exhausted.I kept drilling down into the internet. I just kept getting worse. I had a strange thing happen -- my parotid gland swelled up on the right side and that had never happened before to me ever. I looked it up on the internet -- salivary stone? Swallowing was impossible -- anything that had flavor gave me a sour, burning pain. That lasted for one day and then the parotid gland got better but I had a very odd type of congestion. Terrible sore throat. I assumed now I had the flu or something, but one strange part of it was that for a couple days I had what I thought was a sort of "allergic reaction" -- my face was bright red and my lips were tingling.
I had no fever. My body temperature was really low, under 97 a couple of times.
I was starting to lose time and dissociate. My ear was pulsing all the way down to my jaw. I felt like I was a million years old. I could not think straight. I was in a terrible mood. I wanted to kill myself. The world seemed so hopeless. I realized I had a terrible ear infection which is common for me, but you know how they say ear infections clear up on their own? For me they do not, but I hadn't even gone in to see the doctor for an ear infection -- I just wanted a checkup and ended up with all this *other* stuff that could be wrong. I was really confused, and getting sort of lost in my own head. I would stand in the kitchen and think...am I here? I would be talking to my family and think...did I say that? What am I talking about? I felt like I was falling backwards into my own head.
So Saturday I got an appointment with an urgent care clinic. I was prescribed a seven day course of Levaquin because even though the doc couldn't see my ear she thought maaaaybe I was right and I had an ear infection.
Four hours after the first pill I was better. A day later I was amazed at the difference. It is now the fourth day and I am starting to feel coherent. I have never been so sick in my whole life. What do you think happened?