I am a 28 year old female and have been having a range of symptoms for years. Symptoms: Fatigue, joint pain throughout body (hand might be repetitive stress injury), muscle pain, headaches, weakness, diarrhea (sometimes constipation), abdominal pain: lower, middle, upper but varies (had gallbladder out last year, originally thought it was pain from incisions), edema (leg), lack of concentration, bad memory, brain fog (more difficulty thinking), tingling/numbness in hands and feet (varies, several times per day),weight gain (50 lbs since college, overweight to begin with), obesity (especially abdominal, but also in arms/legs), buffalo hump (?), sinus problems, burning in throat (acid reflux?), stabbing pain in chest/back, entire neck filling swollen/stiff, swollen lymph nodes in neck, dry skin, teeth grinding (worn away molars even with mouth guard), anxiety, irritability (used to be even tempered), depression (?), stressed, always warm, red face, sweating a lot, visible blue veins (always had because of pale skin, but worse now, I look like a medical vein chart), muscle twitching, muscle cramping, shortness of breath after 0.5 mile walk uphill to car or up stairs (I do this every day), racing heart (very infrequent), very irregular periods before being put on birth control pill 10 years ago, some hair on face, hoarseness (was really bad last year and has improved), dark circles under eyes (puffiness too?), dizziness (occasional), tinnitus, occasional blocked ears (hearing goes out), poor balance, floating spots on eyes, had recurrent mononucleosis last year.
I had blood tests recently and everything was normal except my Alkaline Phosphatase was slightly high (124 U/L), triglycerides high, and cholesterol borderline high (maybe didn’t fast long enough). TSH was normal (2.66 mIU/L) but did not measure T4 or T3 or thyroid peroxidase (only thing abnormal when my husband was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis). The doctor did not measure any other hormones. Kidney and liver enzymes normal, blood counts normal, carbon dioxide normal (22 mmol/L), calcium normal (9.6 mg/dL), glucose normal (87).
My guesses would be Cushing’s Syndrome (high cortisol), hypothyroidism, gallstone blocking bile duct (would think it would be sooner after surgery), Lyme disease, fibromyalgia. Tests for Lupus (ANA), arthritis (rheumatoid factor), and anemia (iron and hemocrit) were negative/normal.
I would prefer not to get a fibromyalgia diagnosis (a non-diagnosis), because the only treatment seems to be anti-depressants. I went through this with the gallbladder. I had intense abdominal pain and diarrhea for 3 years and the doctors said it was IBS and even suggested anti-depressants. Only when it collapsed and I couldn’t function anymore did they consider testing for anything else.