A blogging friend posted an old thread about something she was going through a few years back from the www.cushings-help.com message boards, and it made me curious about my first post there. I revisit that scary time here with my very first post. Thank God for those message boards, the wonderful and very supportive people who frequent them, and Mary O'Connor who created and maintains them! They all helped me get past the fear and pursue answers about my "mystery illness".
This was posted almost 3 years ago, but it was months earlier that I'd registered on that site under another name:
Hi all. I've been lurking here for the past few weeks and thought I may as well get comfortable and introduce myself. I have had various health problems the past few years, to the point where I felt the doctors thought I was crazy, and to be honest, I was starting to think they might be right. They kept pushing the antidepressants, even when I assured them "my life is good, I am happy!". Anyway, for the past year I've had pain in my upper right abdomen and have seen various doctors for that, with all of them pretty much saying "huh!". One did order an abdominal ultrasound, but that came back fine. One felt he could feel my liver over a year ago (and another 20 pounds ago), but then he moved away. My current gp finally listened to me when I wrote a letter telling of my many health problems and the various things I've been diagnosed with. These include cataracts, neuromas in both feet, arthritis, rosacea, panic attacks, hirsutism, and I'm not even sure what all right now....lots of stuff, though, for someone in her late 40's. I also took in a picture of myself from 6 yrs ago that very plainly shows that I look nothing like the person I used to be. So she started out sending me to a rheumatologist, who said I don't have fibromyalgia, but have very flexible joints. Then she sent me to a gastroenterologist who I just knew was going to find my problem. Well, he scheduled me for an mri. The day before the test, I had my first panic attack since about a year ago. So, of course, I had a panic attack in the mri machine, when the time came for that. After rescheduling, I went and had it done, after taking 2 Ativans and covering my eyes. The mri did not find the cause of my digestive complaints, or the abdominal pain, but did find a pulmonary nodule on my lung. (Yes, I am freaking out over this, but trying to maintain some calm until I get further test results.) In the meantime, I talked my doctor into testing me for cortisol with a 24 hour urine test, and it came back with a score of 104.5 on a test with 75 as the high reference range. Last night I went for a CT scan of my chest. I live in a rather rural area of Michigan and the soonest I can see an endocrinologist is November 8th, and that's 5 weeks off. In the meantime, I am miserable, scared, crying, and no doubt a real pain in the patoot to all who love me. I need some support and this looks like the place to be. Thanks for letting me vent!
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