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15 months ago I was a very active, happy 17 yr. old looking forward to attending UNCG on scholarship, working part time, making almost all A's in honors classes, playing basketball and had a boyfriend. I was an excellent student (national merit scholar nominee '08 and '09, and science fair winner in '09.) Then in August '09 I started having severe memory problems, cognitive impairments( I would forget what classes I was walking to, how to get to places I normally know how to get to,having trouble writing and spelling words, constantly losing things, and forgetting conversations I was having with people)uncontrolled crying about 4-6 hours a day with no cause ( I could be hanging out with friends having a great time and just feel the sensation/urge to cry).Sometimes I would just wake up in the morning and feel like crying. I am a very happy person and love my life so this is totally out of character.) Its like I woke up a completely different person. I made an appointment with my GP and she made a referral to get an CT scan. Of course the scan came back negative and she looked through my history and saw that I was prescribed a very low dose of celexa at age 9 for anxiety related insomnia. I had titrated off of the Celexa in May '09 since I hadn't had any symptoms in 7 years and was on such a low dose. I agreed to visit my psychiatrist and he started me back on the Celexa. I waited weeks and there was no improvement. My psychiatrist decided to try other medications and I attended therapy weekly. My condition continued to decline and I started having new symptoms. I would wake up in the morning with night sweats and my memory was getting worse. I had more trouble forming sentences with correct grammar and spelling basic words (I would have to type a word that I would have normally known how to spell in on Microsoft word sometimes before I sent a text to someone.) My teachers were noticing the dramatic change in my school work (I was forgetting that things had been assigned and having trouble keeping up with the rest of the class when I'm usually the one assigned to tutor other students.) I couldn't remember where my classes were (I had been attending a very small private school for 3 yrs.) Or would forget where I was walking. I was also noticing that I had dark blue/purple colored feet and hands. Finally in December '09 I couldn't take it anymore. I had tried many medications and nothing I did was working. I was tired of feeling so bad, not being able to do what I wanted and I missed feeling like myself. I threatened suicide (I never attempted or used self-harm in any way and I know I could never commit suicide. I was at the end of my rope and desperate.) I admitted myself to a psychiatric ward hoping they would do some testing or help me in some way. While I was there they regularly took my blood pressure and heart rate. They noticed my blood pressure was very low and my hear rate was very high. My sitting heart rate was 110 and when I was asked to speed walk it would quickly shoot up to 180 in a short period of time. I stayed there for 11 days and was released with more medication and still felt the same as I had when I was admitted. At this point I had to ask to be medically home bound from school. I attended a PHP (partial hospitalization program) from December to February. I went to the hospital every morning from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and attended group and individual therapy. While attending all the nurses and staff would comment on how I was unlike any patient they had met. I didn't behave the same and had far more physical than mental symptoms. They seemed confused and unsure of what to do with me. My dr. decided to move me to IOP (intensive out patient program) I attended individual and group therapy from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. My mom suggested I get my thyroid tested since she has hypothyroidism. I decided it was worth testing for and went to the dr. The results came back showing that my levels were slightly off but not by much. He decided to prescribe me the lowest dose of cytomel. My condition continued to decline and I became frustrated with the lack of answers and again admitted myself to the hospital hoping that this time I would finally get some answers. While I was there I told them about my thyroid medication and they decided to have an endocrinologist retest my levels. When the results came back she told me that the dr. who had prescribed what he had said was the lowest dose, was actually a higher dose and it had caused my levels to be even more irregular than they originally were. She decided to take me off the cytomel and didn’t prescribe any medication. All that was found during that admission was high levels of protein in my urine, and a confirmed diagnosis of trisomy X (I have been aware of this since birth. It has had no effect on me since it is just a piece of an x and not a full one.) So again after about 12 days I was released still not knowing what to do. My dr. said that since PHP and IOP hadn't had an effect I should attend outside therapy. I attended therapy twice a week, and yet I still continued to feel worse. At this point I was also having a new symptom. I was now experiencing periods of extreme weight loss and gain with out trying. At times I would lose up to 10 lbs. in 1 week. Other times I would gain up to 15 lbs. in a short period of time without change in diet and increased exercise. I decided to go to the gym on a more regular basis. I had been on the varsity basketball team before I had to go on medical leave from school and was used to running for long periods of time without stopping. I would try running on the treadmill and would reach about half a mile when I would get a stabbing pain in my ovaries. The pain was so excruciating that I would have to go sit in the locker room, crying for half an hour before I felt like I could drive home. I scheduled an appointment with my GYN, thinking that I might have a cyst on my ovaries since I was also having extremely irregular menstrual cycles. My cycle now consisted of a thick, brown discharge ( sorry for being graphic)that would occur a few times a month. I could usually tell when I was going to start my period. I would have terrible lower back pain and cramping. Now I no longer experienced any pain and could never tell when I was having one. My GYN said she didn’t think I had cysts and that birth control would help regulate my cycle. I started taking yaz, and noticed my breasts were producing a milky, white discharge and had extremely sore lumps. I called my GYN and the nurse said I should stop taking yaz because this was a side effect. I continued going to the gym and the stabbing pain continued to return every time I ran. I made an appointment with my internist and she said sometimes this is an indication of a back injury. And referred me to a Physiatrist. She ordered x-rays on my back and told me I had a lumbar fracture. She also said I had had one previously and it had healed on its own. She said I should wear a back brace, attend physical therapy and use a bone stimulator. I went to physical therapy for weeks and was released. My dr. told me I could start exercising again. I tried to run and the stabbing pain came back right away, but only when I ran. I could use the elliptical or any other machine just fine. I returned to the dr. and she said, " Maybe we just came across the lumbar fractures by chance and still haven't found the real problem." She sent me for a ct scan on my abdomen. Meanwhile, my mom's friend heard about my back problems and told us about a chiropractor she recommended. I set up an appointment with him and told him about my lumbar fractures. He took some x-rays and I was shocked to hear what he had to say. He called me at home with the results and said there were no signs of any fractures in my back! He asked for the x-rays my dr. had taken and I brought them to my next visit. He said he didn't see any sign of fractures on those x-rays either. He also showed me some notes that had been in my file. The first note had been from the day I had gotten my first x-ray and said," patient has possible lumbar fracture." The other note had been from a visit 1 month later. It said, " Patient has no sign of lumbar fracture." How could the " fracture" have gone away in 1 month and why didn't the dr. tell me? While this was going on I continued to see my psychiatrist. He still insisted this was just depression. I became so desperate that I agreed to try ECT. I had 5 treatments in May '10. The dr. decided to stop at 5 because I was not responding to treatment. Now 5 months later I am still experiencing the same symptoms and have worsened memory and cognitive functioning. I also have strange, painful lumps that appear on my shoulders and will stay there for weeks then disappear. I will try to say something and will trail off and forget what I was trying to say. I also will forget things that I say and do completely. Obviously I couldn't attend college and am stuck at home desperately going from dr. to dr. The internist and neurologist I am currently seeing are at a loss and agree something more than just" depression" is going on. My eye pain has also continued. When I go outside the sunlight causes stabbing pain in my eyes and it also hurts to look left, right, up and down. I have been seeing an ophthalmologist and she said I had “ abnormal eye movements.” She ordered a ct scan of my eyes and since this revealed nothing she diagnosed me with “ arthritis in my eyes.” I wasn’t aware that this condition even existed. After months of trying to cope day after day I again agreed to admit myself to the hospital. This time I tried a different one since the last two admissions were not successful. I admitted myself to duke in August ‘10 for about 12 days. I had more testing and still received no answers. I decided nothing was getting accomplished and I was again wasting my parent’s money so I was discharged, leaving with nothing more than more medications (one of which I made clear that I had already tried.) Since nothing has worked, and my psychiatrist doesn't know what else to suggest taking and I am now on no medications. I take a vitamin (they suggest 15 pills a day) called Empower plus. Even with all my symptoms I have attempted to work full time but only lasted 3 weeks. I enjoyed my job and regret having to quit, but I was in too much pain, couldn’t perform basic tasks that needed to be done, couldn’t remember things I was doing or saying to customers or employees, was having trouble counting money, couldn’t remember seeing customers I had just seen, and my boss was concerned when she noticed my occasional slurred speech, stuttering and memory problems. This is also not like me because in the past. I have never had to quit a job for health reasons and wouldn’t miss a day of work or school unless I was extremely ill. My family, friends and I are all at a loss. Since then I have received the results of the CT scan done on my abdomen and my physiatrist said “ Im not sure what’s wrong with you or what is causing you such pain when you run, but I’m going to prescribe an anti inflammatory medication and it may reduce the pain.” We have suffered tremendously. I have had so much blood drawn, guessing and testing. I miss being a healthy, happy, functioning teen. I have missed out on so much (my senior yr., senior prom, playing basketball, summer vacationing, missions trips, college) and have had to put my dreams on hold after working so hard to achieve them my whole life. I can no longer plan my future because I honestly don’t know what will be happening next week with my health. Any advice would be helpful. I have also listed below all the medications I have taken over the last 15 months. * again sorry for grammar or typing errors. It was SO hard to type this out*
-celexa
-lexapro
-cytomel
-luvox
-trazadone
-abilify
-yaz
-wellbutrin
-zoloft
-prozac
-pristiq
-emsam
-lamictal
-invega
-lithium
-seroquel
-cymbalta
-deplin
-clonzapam
-lorazapam
-Empower Plus
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~*slmercer*~
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