So stressed out about my medical situation :(

[TheDaisy]

Well, How to even begin here?  It's really difficult to start, because there's so much to type.  I guess I'll start at the beginning!!  

Well, for starters I'm 23 female, yes overweight.  No known medical problems until July of 2007.  I basically had my Period for about 78 days straight, went to the OBGYN, she put me on Provera to help stop the period.  When I was put on provera, it DID work for stopping the period but started giving me INCREDIBLY horrible heart palpitations.  I put up with it for a few days, until I realized that it was happening more & more.  I had just gotten Medical Insurance for the first time in 5 years, so I went to  a family practice that I'd never been to before.  The doctor I used to see (this was back when I was in High School) has actually closed/moved/something.  Well anyway, I went to see my new doctor, who was actually a Physicians Assistant.  He did an EKG, 24 hr Holter Monitor, Heart Ultrasound, Complete blood work up (tested for so many things I didn't know what to think lol).  He also sent me to a separate lab to do a 5 hour blood glucose test.  I did that test which showed that I was hypoglycemic.  They took my blood before I drank the nasty stuff, and it was normal, the 1st through 3rd blood samples after I drank it were normal, the 4th was slightly elevated & the 5th was WAY too low.  Okay, so after all this I get called back to my doc about 3 days later to come in for all the results.  He did catch some palps on the holter, but said they were pretty normal.  Ekg was normal.  Heart ultrasound normal.  Blood work wasn't though.  I had an abnormal THS level which was a 6.4 I think, liver something was slightly elevated, cholesterol was slightly elevated but has since returned to normal, Kidney function was normal, everything else on there was normal.  So He set me up with an appt. to see an endocrinologist.  I went to the Endo a few weeks later, put me on Synthroid & also diagnosed me w/ PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) because I had all the symptoms of it, however, he didn't know if I actually had cysts on my ovaries.  Also told me the results to my blood glucose test were pretty typical of being pre-diabetic.  Also, let me tell you all through the years I have constantly have small nerve symtpoms like someone is stabbing me with a needle in a random spot on my body.  This has been about the past 7 years or so.  Anyway, I had started to get more random 'shocking' pains in my upper torso.  Just randomly placed, no specific order and weren't really ever in the same spot.    I also developed some type of nerve damage in my right hand/arm.  Along the outside of my arm, from my elbow down to my pinkie & ring finger.  I had noticed it at night, but just figured it was the way I was sleeping.  Then it started to happen during the day.  Well, now it's pretty constant, just has times where it's less obvious & times where it's pretty awful.  After a weekend in houston @ my aunts house & having many of these shooting pains in my upper torso & one horrible pain that was in my side, I went back to the doc.  He actually told me that I had a kidney infection (which I actually doubt was true, but at the time I was a little medically dumb lol) and put me on 5 days of antibiotics.  Well, I had never had a kidney infection, & this scared me because my grandmother died of kidney failure.  So i started going online, researching pretty much everything about your kidneys.  Soon I started to become VERY paranoid that I was going to die of some strange disease because the shooting pains continued (still are continuing), & I thought my Kidneys were going to fail, the heart palps continued & I thought I was having a heart attack, I soon started having panic attacks.  Well, I went to the ER for one of the panic attacks & got told I had Bronchitis.  After that, I started thinking I had chronic bronchitis & was damaging my lungs.  Well, again the shooting pains continued, once a day or so.  During all this, I guess in about november, I started to get shooting pains in my eyes.  Those scared me, of course, because I was afraid I was having a stroke.  I went to my doc for that, he told me I had a lot of fluid in my ears & head & that I could be having some sort of migraine also.  So he put me on another antibiotic to get rid of the infection in my ears, & also gave me darvacets for pain.  After all this, the shooting pains in my head/eyes, shooting pains in my torso, kidney infection (two times by then), hypothyroid, PCOS, bronchitis, ear infections, blah blah, I had multiple panic attacks & finally told my doctor.  He put me on Buspar.  I kept thinking there is SOME reason for these shooting pains, there is something wrong with me.  No matter how calm I was, the pains continued.  About two weeks ago I got influenza.  After that I had some pretty extreme bouts of a high heart rate.  SO bad I couldn't sleep.  After that, I started to get this swelling & tight pain in my right torso (upper).  I went to the doc again (new doctor, old one went to Utah, i'm in tx) she said she thought it was my Gallbladder & did a CT on me.  CT showed nothing, she is supposed to be doing a Hida Scan tomorrow.  Well, after that CT she told me to go home, don't eat anything heavy, & go to the ER if something unbearable happens.  So Friday night I went to the ER because the pain was pretty much from my upper torso down into the top of my right thigh.  The ER doctors did a CT with contrast & boy did it start then.  The stabbing pains started, EXTREMELY horrible heart palpitations, I waited thinking it was just a weird reaction to the dye.  Well, after that I was ok for a while.  Came home after being told it was an ovarian cyst that had ruptured PLUS it was probably my gallbladder & it just wasn't showing any blockages because the stones weren't blocking anything??  So I came home thinking allright... well yesterday I was sitting on my couch, doing nothing, resting because I'm thinking I just need to chill till we get this figured out.  Well I'm watching tv all the sudden I get this build up of pain in my left chest, total lasted about 4 seconds.  Was absolutely, hands down the most excruciating pain I've ever felt.  It wasn't near my heart (believe me, I have heart palpitations constantly & I know when my heart is doing something).  It was actually (i believe) my left lung?  I have had the same pain one time before but I was in the middle of um... well.. sex & thought I just pushed myself a little too hard.  So ever since I had that pain I have been having some horrible shooting pains, all upper torso/chest.  I have been coughing since then, but it hasn't been this horrible cough.  I just don't know what to make of all this.  I'm so sorry this post is so long, but I really need help.  I have even gotten to the point where I have written down pretty much all my thoughts in a journal & basically said my 'goodbyes' to everyone because I honestly think I'm gonna die.  Can anyone give me a clue as to what all could be causing this?  Could I maybe have diabetes & the test just have been wrong? My anxiety has been SO severe I just am so stressed & need some help/answers/encouragement/SOMETHING.  Thanks for reading this, I know it's long.  :) GBY all.  

[nurse_lady]

So sorry that you are feeling so horrible!  I have thyroid problems also, and many doctors will tell you that you'll be just like a normal person with the thyroid replacement therapy; they are dead wrong!  Obviously, those doctors have NEVER taken Synthroid!
I too have had palpitations from taking Synthroid.  It also makes me nervous as a cat.
It does not seem rational to me to take something for the nerves because you have to take Synthroid.  I have asked my physician many times to change me to Armour Thyroid, but he refuses stating that this is not well regulated.  However, I do not think that my hypothyroid symptoms are well controlled with Synthroid.

I wanted to tell you that hormone imbalances can also cause palpitations.

I have recently visited a compounding pharmacist in my area.  There may be one in your area too.  He said that he recommends a T3T4 combo drug for hypothyroidism.  I belief the name was Liotrix.  He said that many times people that have problems with the Synthroid (T4), do much better on the combo drug.  It also assists with depression.  I definately recommend seeing an endocrinologist.  

Some of the warning signs of stroke are:  tongue deviates to 1 side, drooling, unequal pupillary reaction on 1 side ( pupillary reaction is the way the pupil gets bigger and smaller when you shine the light in it-abnormal would have the reaction being different on one side), paralysis or loss of feeling in an area.  These are some of the major signs.  Generally, those who do not have high blood pressure are at low risk for strokes.  There are other causes, but that is one of the main causes.

Abnormal parathyroid hormone can cause muscle and nerve tetany (tightening and contracting).  It is definately worth checking into.  The endocrinologist could order this along with your thyroid profile.

I would certainly also recommend someone with a more comprehensive background for a primary care physician.  My advise to you is to ask one of your nurses who she goes to for a PCP.  The nurses generally know who the good doctors are.  :  )

Take Care!!

[medicmommy]

OMG, you poor thing!
First of all...((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGZ)))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Wow, you are going through a lot!  I agree with pepe...You symptoms scream thyroid problems! It affects all hormones, heart rhythms, weight levels, insulin production, emotional stability, and overall immune system stability! Many people cannot tolerate some thyroid medications, so if you have problems with them (look up hyperthyroid, hypothyroid symptoms) report them to you doc.Have him change or adjust the meds...  If you can, see an endocrinologist. You will get someone who has better insight as to how to manage your imbalances...And...Don't get pregnant before all this is managed! Pregnancy will stress your already struggling body further...find out if your calcium levels are elevated...if they are, have an ionized calcium level done...If it too is elevated, have a PTH (parathyroid hormone) level done...If this is elevated, the only thing that causes this is hyperparathyroidism caused by a tumor..It can also cause all the symptoms you've described and docs hardly ever check for it...Good luck! I hope all goes well..

[pepe_le_pew_lover]

Greetings from a fellow hypothyroidic!!! :)

It's been two days since you wrote that, so I hope you're feeling better now.
I want to tell you that you're not the only one experiencing pains and probs like these. Hypothyroidism, can very often cause heart palpitations and often undiagnosed or badly controlled hypo or hyper-thyroidic people get these palpitations and think there's something wrong with their hearts. I think that the heart palpitations you get, are due to your thyroid function... perhaps you need to change your thyroid meds or adjust the dosage or even stop stressing so much, because thyroid problems combined with too much stress can cause you awful panic attacks and be the cause of so much unexplained pain and generally a feeling of anxiety and uneasiness.

Being overweight, and thyroid probs can make it difficult for you to lose some of the extra weight, can be a predisposition for diabetes, but you should not panic and trust your doc... if there was no diabetes prob found in the test results, then you are not diabetic... however, if you feel uncomfortable with it, I suggest you check your  blood glucose levels once in a while, just to be sure you're ok and eliminate some of the stress that really hurts your body right now... and since you're being pre-diabetic, it would be nice to control it by loosing some weight.

The gynecological probs you've been having, like the period that wouldn't stop, could be caused by the PCOS but also from an uncontrolled thyroid function. When I was first diagnosed as a hypothyroidic, I had similar probs with my period, that wouldn't stop. Being overweight is often a disadvantage for PCOS and many overweight women are more prone to develop PCOS. What I don't understand is why your obgyn didn't perform any blood tests or even an ultrasound that could very easily verify if it was for sure PCOS. An ultrasound could very easy and quickly tell you if you had any cysts or not. If you're under treatment for the PCOS and even if you're not, you can still have a simple ultrasound to find out what is going on with you gyneocologicaly.

About your kidneys... you could have been having a kidney infection at that time... but again... I can't understand why your doc didn't perform any blood tests or a kidneys and  bladder ultrasound to verify that infection. Have you been having any frequent UTI's back then? If you had, maybe a complicated and asymptomatic untreated UTI could lead to kidney infection. Sometimes, I have pains on my back and especially on my side, thinking that it is my kidney... sometimes it is a pain on my kidney, but my obgyn told me that when I'm PMSing I could be experiencing pains in that area. Also, the pain you felt on your side, could have been the passing of a kidney stone.

Gallbladder probs can cause sharp pains in the upper right torso area, so you could have been having probs with gallbladder stones... or, you could have been having a ruptured cyst although I found the latter a bit unlikely.

Ear, nose and throat infections can cause a lot of discomfort and sharp, "neural feeling" pains. It's good that it was diagnosed quickly and treated well. I've been gone through a horrible ear infection with awful pains everywhere in my head and throat and even with a swelled gland behind my ear!
It was most unfortunate you had to go through infuenza and bronchitis while facing all these probs. The sharp pains you have could be from a neurological origin, mind you, I'm not telling you that you have something grave in your brain or spine. Try to ask your endocrinologist if thyroid probs can cause that kind of pains, because up to a certain point, thyroid malfunction can cause some neurological symptoms.

The chest pains, could be from your lung, since you're saying they're like nothing you've ever experienced before, but check yourself for a possible, silent GERD (gastroesophageal reflux syndrome)... an esophagitis can cause some chest pain and uneasiness.

My suggestion is to relax as much as you can... and I know that this is a bit difficult for a person that goes through health probs and pains, but you should relax and take a deep breath every time you start having these panic attacks or pains. Panic attacks, stress and anxiety can cause a lot of psychosomatic probs for you... Go to your doctor and discuss every symptom you feel in detail with him/her. Tell him what you feel and when. I don't know your lifestyle, but boost your immune system with healthy eating and exercise and try loosing some weight, if you want of course.  Take some blood tests and do some ultrasounds, if reccommended by your doc, to have a clear and spherical image of your body's situation right now... I hope your insurance covers the costs.

Try to be as calm and logical as possible... stress is not helping you at all. Talk with your docs, and check your thyroid again. If you feel like talking to someone, don't hesitate to talk to your family or friends or come in here again.

Good luck with everything! Take care! :)