hmm, maybe you can help?

[imlds2]

Ok, I've searched and searched to no avail, tried to post in three different expert forums, posted in one forum for support, emailed dr's and hospitals, had tests ran and keep coming up empty handed for the boat load of health issues that are continuously persistent :(  please read my awful long post after this short message to see if you can help by suggesting some tests that can be ran by my Dr on October 25...

My mom had pointed out today, that the symptoms that I am having may be the cause of my disease that I was diagnosed with at a young age (hashimoto's disease).   She told me today that she had watched Mystery Diagnosis  and they said that it took 7 years to find that the person had Hashimoto's disease and that I needed to see an ENDOCRINOLOGIST about this.

Because I live so far away from any "big city" that has these specialists,  I hope that you can help me from a distance.  I have a Dr appointment with my PCP on October 25 here in Sallisaw, OK  and I hope to find some suggestions for testing that he should to do.   I cannot seem to find anyone down here that knows the answer to my problems.  I am sorry that this statement is so long, but I had to be sure to get all of my symptoms, diagnosis, and the medication that i took that seemed to flare up my issues after taking it... I gained 80#'s in 13-15 months of taking it without even trying(Geodone!)   The highest weight I was at was 348#'s (documented ~before I was bulimic, I was even bigger, over 400#'s) and my lowest was 223# before I had a "mental breakdown" and ended up at Laureate (in Tulsa, OK) and started treatment for my mental health issues and my bulimia.  (go figure, I gained weight with bulimia...i'm better than i was, i'm down to binging and purging 1 time every 3 days where I was at the time I sought help for it purging after every meal up to 5 times a day 7 days a week.  (apparently I've exceeded the limit on characters on here so I will post the rest as a comment..please read further)

[imlds2]

PS:  I take 3 different medications to help me sleep (melatonin, unisom, and remron)  ~when I do get to sleep through the night, maybe 1 time a week if i'm lucky, i do sleep pretty solid (i slept like a rock literally 2 times last week, so much so that i had to wake up and take ibuprofen for the pain)

[imlds2]

Anyway,

here goes...

i've had an EKG done and supposedly it came back "normal," however, that was before i was put on geodone, artane, and tegritol.

I have been having excessive swelling in my ankles, feet, legs, back, abdomen, chest, face, arms, wrists, and hands to the point that it hurts to move , walk,  can't wipe myself after a bowel movement, and about a week ago i was having trouble breathing.   (i was wheezing)

I was 348 #'s at my highest weight and have always had some trouble with swelling, but it seems to have escalated with the geodone, artane, and tegretol.  (I was on seroquel and abilify before that)

I lost weight because I have bulimia and I also did some healthy changes at the same time (eating healthy foods that i would keep, exercising etc)  I got down to 223 #'s.  Then I had a mental breakdown and was put on some medications.  I started to gain weight on some of them and asked to be put on something else.  I was then put on Geodone, artane (for the shaking) and tegretol, with the statement from the dr being that I would actually start to lose the weight i had put on.

I started to have uncontrollable hunger.  I would also shake uncontrollably and had to take artane to control it.    I would wake up in the night so hungry i was weak from it and had to eat something.  and when I did sleep through the night i was sleep eating most the times.  i gained weight like wild fire... 80+#'s in 13-15 months.   I am now back up to 320 #'s.   I still wake up in the night even though I take 3 different medications to sleep.   Most times I wake up in a sweat and hot and sometimes hungry (not as much as when i was taking those three medications though)


I have hashimoto's disease.  I have Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, Bulimia... (and like i mention below, I have been asked by someone if i had a heart murmur after she listened to my heart for a second and after i had been taking geodone, artane, and tegritol for awhile)

I have had an EKG before I started Geodone and that came back normal.  I have had my kidney function check and that came back normal
I have had my cortisol levels checked, normal, i have had my thyroid rechecked and that was abnormal so my dr upped my thyroid medication.
at one of my recent hospitalizations for my mental health i was asked by the dr who was listening to my heart, for literally a second, if i had a heart murmur which was the first time i was ever asked such a thing.   (that was after I was on the geodone and after the EKG was done)

I have started lemictal last month in hopes of controlling my moods and possibly lose the weight i gained from the geodone... if anything to stabilize my weight.

in the past i have fainted 3 times, that i'm aware of.  2 times in my kitchen, and one time in my shower.  I would start to feel like i was "fading into blackness", dizzy, and starting to shake uncontrollably (i was aware of this) and then I would feel myself fall and come to wondering what the heck just happened and how long i was "out".

I've been having more dry skin on my legs, feet, hands,  arms, face, and lips...my feet are calloused and cracked to the point that they are swelling on the bottom of my feet making it almost impossible to walk or stand.  

i have had severe acne since i can remember, especially the kind that comes under the skin and never really develops a head most the times i have to squeeze them to get them to stop hurting.   I have excessive hair growth on my chin, chest, and abdomen.  

I also have a yellowish cream that shows up in my belly button and it stinks... i notice it when i stick something in there to "clean it".   the last time i did so it started to bleed and didn't stop for over 24 hrs.  

I know this is a lot of "issues" but I'm hoping to receive the answers that i cannot seem to find elsewhere.   I researched Hashimoto's disease after my mom reminded me i had been diagnosed with it at age 10 or younger,  and noticed that one of the things it can cause is heart failure/disease...and the one that stood out to me was the Right-sided heart disease.   I then looked up geodone and right-sided heart disease and discovered that geodone does cause heart disease too.   I'm wondering if there are other tests that can be done to try to figure this out.   Please, help me.  I have a Dr Appointment again on Oct 25 and would like to have something for my dr to try to figure this out.

Also if I am lucky I wake up only 2 times a night usually hot and sweaty even when it is 65 degrees in my room.   sometimes when I'm awake i get really cold and cold feet.  the last 2 days i have had clammy feet (swollen, cracked and painful) and hands.   i wake up in the night and am usually hungry too...not like before, but still, i would like a solid 6- 8 hr block.  I have to sleep with 3 pillows (new ones so they are quite big) and a buckwheat neck pillow under my head so that I can breath because if i don't it feels like someone is sitting on my chest.

thanks for your suggestions and help

Carole from
a small little town called Sallisaw, OK