Does anybody know why I am getting disabled with trouble walking, and why the doctor can not give me a diagnosis. This has been getting worse for years. (I am a female, age 56.) What should I do? My doctor is passing me around. He has sent me to an internist (who did not tell me why I have high blood pressure 152/98), a hematologist (who said I had gammopathy-bone marrow cancer, then six weeks later, said it was gone), a neurologist (who would not tell me why I have severe denervation of S1 & S2), and a dermatologist (who did not explain my daily rashes with fever). Now my doctor has scheduled an appointment for me with with an infectious disease specialist, in November. I am being passed around from doctor to doctor, and no one has diagnosed my disability. And everyone gives me conflicting information.
The doctor NEVER looks at how hard it is for me to do daily activities. I always sit in a chair and he has me walk back and forth in the room. So I SHOWED him that I can NOT kneel down and get up, and he did nothing. I need a doctors statement, to find a new job, listing my functional impairments. It is difficult for me to stand or walk one block, because muscles (legs) get stiff, painful, and heavy (like cement), with exertion. (My shoulders hurt and get stiff, when I use them, too). It is hard to move my body, sometimes. And I am disabled in both knees. (I can not get in and out of the tub, and I have trouble climbing a few steps.) I also have trouble getting out of a chair (because I stiffen up after sitting.) My neck is stiff and sore all the time. And my sacroiliac is stiff and sore also. And I get rashes every day, that last less than an hour. I can not work full time, because of my exhaustion and mobility impairments.
At my appointment, the doctor asked me to kneel down and get up, and walk on my toes. I could NOT do these things. And my head started shaking when he told me to stare upward at his finger for a few minutes. He did not tell me what was wrong. So I contacted the ombudsman for answers, and test results. The doctor sent me a letter saying I have multiple joint osteoarthritis, sjogrens syndrome, (he said there is no treatment for
it), and high blood pressure (152/89.) He said he does not know why I feel ill all the time, and that he defers to the dermatologist for an explanation of my daily rashes (she never told me). He also said to get a second opinion. He enclosed a flow sheet of my blood tests, and x-ray results:
My CBC, and MET were normal. My abnormal results were: ANA by EIA 2.9 (reference <1.5); SSB: 1.4
(reference <1.0); AChR 1.2 (reference .4); CCP 30, 44 & 46 (reference 60); H.PYLORI IGG: 2.93 (reference 78 (reference <63); Blood abnormal: Alpha 2 globulin: .23 (reference .11-.22); Blood protein called gammopathy; Urine: Albumin, alpha 1, alpha 2, beta, and gamma protein. The x-ray results were: Spine: degenerative disc disease at every level of the spine (with vacuum phenomenon); Hands: "Joint space narrowing and osteophyte formation of multiple DIP joints and first CMC joint on both sides..." Knees: "both patellas spuriously elevated" (effusion, found by internal medicine.) Ankles: "Marked flattening of the arch of both feet with bilateral hallux valgus."EMG: "Severe ongoing denervation of S1 and S2 nerves."
Does this explain my disability?
I am upset, because my doctor's letter did 'not' tell me what i causing my muscle symptoms, or functional limitations. (I signed up with a job developer, because I have to find a better job). Some days I feel so sick, I can hardly get out of bed. My job developer saw how slowly I got out of my chair, and wrote on my application papers that I have "a functional impairment." So I need to know what is causing it.
Do I have a systemic disease, or an infection? Could I have sreo-negative RA? Am I contagious? I cough all the time because my throat itches (and I through it was from the dryness). I can not drive and I take public transportation, and I can not walk on a moving bus to get to my seat. My symptoms have been getting progressively worse. Please tell me if my doctors did the right tests, and if I need any other tests to get a diagnosis. Why am I disabled?