Unexplained joint pain, headache, fatigue, etc.

[km613]

I am at a total loss when it comes to my symptoms. I'm a 21 year old female college student. I was on an Army ROTC scholarship and very active prior to all this. Here's a timeline and summary of all my problems:
Aug 09: lateral R knee pain and bruise, no trauma, clean x-rays and MRI. Prescribed various NSAIDs which had no effect
Sep 09: physical therapy 3X/week for 5 weeks. Told problems stemmed from pelvic rotation, treated with electrophoresis, massage, iontophoresis, pelvic alignment corrections, stretching and strengthening exercises. Bursitis in hip developed over course of treatment, causing intense hip pain. Knee pain moved around joint but continued. Pain decreased somewhat to the point I could run short distances with only minor knee pain and I was allowed to stop therapy
Dec 09: pain returned full force to knee and hip, went home for break and rested for 4 weeks. Pain continued off and on, didn't seem to change based on amount or type of activity
Jan-Feb 10: started physical therapy with another therapist. Same basic diagnosis, treatment more focused on muscle strength and stability in R leg and core. Saw great improvement in strength/stability but no change in pain. Went to ortho for more X rays, diagnosed with chondromalacia and told cortisone injections might help. Went back to GP who did blood tests for autoimmune/inflammatory problems (Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc) based on correlated symptoms (chronic severe headache with dizziness, fatigue, sinus infections, dry itchy skin, brittle nails, frequent soft stool, constant congestion, shortness of breath), all tests normal. New symptom: night sweats every night for about a month. Completely soaked through clothing and sheets no matter how much clothing I was wearing, how many blankets I was using, temperature of the house, etc.
Mar 10: continued physical therapy. Went to local pain clinic, recommended I stop therapy and have cortisone injections in knee and hip. Those didn't help at all, neither did transdermal anti-inflammatory gel or another variety of NSAID. New symptom: woke up every morning with very swollen lymph nodes under my jaw, warm and sensitive but not hard, swelling went down throughout the day but would come back overnight. Happened every day for about a month
May 10: started going chiropractic/Active Release Technique clinic, no real change in any symptoms. My insurance doesn't cover this so I stopped going after 4 sessions.
May-Aug 10: summer break, spent most of my time laying down and constant dull pain may have been reduced but I still had some and there were days where the sharp/stabbing/shooting pains in my hip and knee were as bad as ever. In July I noticed more hair loss than normal, my shower drain is really big and never clogged with hair ever, but it was clogging after 1-3 showers until Sep. Now it's back to normal, and my hair never looked dull or damaged, it was just coming out and I've never noticed that happening before.
Sep 10: had spinal x-ray and MRI to check for disc/sciatic nerve problems, all came back normal.
Oct 10: went to GP again, had battery of general blood tests done (including thyroid panel), all came back normal. Referred to another physical therapist who I have yet to see.

Other things that may or may not be relevant:
Fall 07: I started getting very short of breath even walking, couldn't walk quickly or run without starting to cough. I coughed so hard that I would tear up and vomit, but my doctor said it was just allergies and gave me an inhaler, which seemed to help
Fall 08: I had a Morton's neuroma removed from my L foot
I would say I don't bruise very easily but I have been noticing in the last few months lots of small bruises on my lower legs that I can't attribute to anything. I would also say I'm not that emotional, but in the last few months my emotions have been crazy and I cry really easily. I constantly have congestion/stuffy/runny nose. My headaches are usually tension/sinus headaches but I have occasional migraines with vertigo, smell sensitivity, and blurred vision, as well as headaches focused on the back L side of my head. I have headaches every single day and they last for hours at a time. I have never had luck controlling headaches with NSAIDs and I've tried them all at prescription dose for extended periods. I have off and on low back pain which has recently gotten so bad that I cannot get comfortable in any position, can't sleep, etc. My knee and hip pain also make it difficult to get comfortable sitting and laying down. I can't stand up for extended periods, run, walk long distances, etc.

I realize this is a very long list of random things, but I am beyond frustrated with this because every test I've had has come back in normal range and my doctors are completely out of ideas. If anyone has ANY ideas at all please post!

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
If you are not on any medications like anticoagulants, blood thinners or birth control pills then this could be due to clotting disorders, low platelet count, fragile spider veins, deep vein thrombus, deficiency of Vitamin B12, folic acid, or Vit K, a liver disease or certain cancers. If you are on medications then you need to discuss that with your doctor. See if the above mentioned blood tests were done. It can also be ankylosing spondylitis. This is a genetic condition. Diagnosis is by typical X-ray changes, sacroilitis, raised ESR and C-reactive protein and MRI of sacro-iliac joints. Medicines, physiotherapy, exercises and drugs to suppress immunity are the mainstay of treatment. Parathyroid gland function, Vit D, and calcium levels should be checked.  Do discuss this with your doctor and get yourself examined. Take care!

[crackerjack4u2]

Hello there is so many things that can cause some or most of the symptoms you described some of those are bacterial/viral infection, mononucleosis, sarcoidosis, Hodgkin's lymphoma-generally seen in people 20-40 yrs old,  or non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma-generally seen in people over 40 yrs old,  cat scratch fever, HIV, or Hairy cell leukemia etc.  just to mention a few.  
The majority of your symptoms fall under the mono diagnosis.  

Checkout the symptoms of each here:     www.healthline.com/symptomsearch?addterm=Swollen%20Lymph

My daughter had undiagnosed mono and had a lot of issues you are describing, the leg pain, sweating, fatique, etc.  

Also it is possible that the bruises you described on your legs are NOT bruises at all but inflammation areas.  My daughter was diagnosed with severe crohn's disease at age 9 and I told the doctor that she has all these bruises on her legs. She said they are not bruises, they are inflammation areas.  She said the inflammation has gotten so bad in her body that it is basically coming to the surface of the skin and when it does it looks just like bruises (there was no drainage present). Once proper treatment was started the areas disappeared.  

So please be aware this could be the same in your case with everything you have going on.  I know you have to have inflammation in your body or the lymph nodes would not be swelling.  Most likely they stay swollen during the day also but pool more in the area at night because you aren't moving around a lot, making them more predominate of the morning.  Once you stand up and get to moving around they Appear to go down because gravity allows the infection to settle in more areas until you lay back down again at night and then it starts all over.  

I recommend you have a serological test to rule out infective mononucleosis and HIV. Also you need any of the following test you haven't yet had done from this list:  blood count, sedimentation, hemoglobin, and tests to check your liver and kidney status.  

I Hope This Helps!   Get Well Soon and Please Keep Us Posted on what you find out.