I've been sick my whole life

[kelsieboo91]

Let me start out by saying that this "disease" of mine, has controlled my entire life.
I have been called a hypochondriac since I was young. People have told me that there is nothing wrong with me and that I'm just trying to get attention blah blah blah, you get it. I feel like I have missed out on my life because I have always felt like crap. And I am DONE with being told that I'm nuts.. because I am not. I am very sick and just need someone to believe me and help me figure out how to feel healthy..

Here are the facts :
-I am a 22 year old female. Born Aug. 31st, 1991.
-After I was born, I was sick and they gave me penicillin which supposedly I am allergic to. I have asked my mom and dad both what I was sick with and my reaction to the penicillin, but both don't remember.
-I have looked back at pictures of me when I was younger and I have white "patches" through my hair.
-My hair has always grown SO SLOW. I barely shave my legs (once a month) and have barely any body hair.
-My vision was excellent up until about age 8 or 9 and then it was horrible. And continues to get worse.
- My body shape has always been different. I have been fit my entire life. Soccer, Cheerleading, Softball, etc. and I have NEVER had any definition in my stomach.
-I've had strep at least ten times.
-"exercise induced asthma" when I was a kid
-Had the worst sleeping problems since middle school and even before that. I was prescribed ambien and lunesta. Anxiety meds. ADD meds. Everything but its like I felt uncomfortable or something within myself and my body. and when I finally get to sleep I don't wake up to ANYTHING. Not even for school, special occasions, birthdays...
-Always have had the WORST headache/migraines. Sensitive to light/ sound/ touch. anything really. Its like my head has always been really tight feeling. a lot of pressure.
-I hated my wrists being touched. Like they were very sensitive and it made me feel uncomfortable..
-was told I had HPV when I was 16 by the doctor looking in and then that was it. She said the only way to get rid of the "warts" was nitrogen. I let her do this about ten times until I couldn't take the pain anymore. It was excruciating. The so-called warts never went away really.
-always have had lumps in my breasts. they said they were cysts and they were nothing to worry about. but my breats have always felt stretch and uncomfortable. I don't like them to be touched. ever..
-Had a cyst rupture in my ovaries when I was 19. Got a vaginal sonogram and said that I have some small dime size cysts, nothing to worry about. My doc gave me a higher-hormone level birth control and that was that.
-since puberty (14) I have had horrible cyst like acne on my face, neck, shoulders and back

There are more.. feel free to ask.

I got in a serious car wreck April 2011. A car hit the driver's door going 50mph, I was driving. The impact made the airbags come out, I hit my head really hard and I blacked out. They cut me out and I was fine. Went home and worked the next day.
As the years went on, I kept noticing fluid in the back of my scalp. My shoulders were enlarged and I had constant neck pain. I went to my doc and she gave me hydro and a muscle relaxer.. didn't help at all so I saw a chiropractor. My x-ray showed that my neck bones weren't where they were supposed to be. I saw him for about a year and quit because I didn't feel any better.

Over the last year, I have been laid off my job because I was sick too much to be there. I have been the most sick I have ever been. My skin has felt warm but not fever-like. I can't stand the sun because it drains me and gives me headaches. SO FINALLY... about five months ago. June I think, I had a pimple in my eyebrow. It had a huge head that looked yellowish. There was just a hole in its place. The pus was foul smelling and sticky. I cleaned my face really good and put some neosporin on it. The next day, half my eyebrow was 'missing' and I could see pus under the skin around my eyebrow. I cleaned myself really good and hoped that it would go away. I woke up the next day with my whole left side of my face swollen. I called ask-a-nurse and she told me to go to the ER now. So I did. The doctor wrote me a prescription for doxcycline (sp) and laughed at me for going there. I told him I wanted something to be done now and so he gave me an IV. The pills reduced the swelling but the infection was still there. My whole left eyebrow was gone. I went to my regular doctor. He gave me bactrum and that cleared THAT infection. I noticed that there were long hairs growing underneath my skin, through my nose, lips, eyelids, eyebrows, cheeks, ears, scalp, neck, shoulders, armpits, arms, fingers, breasts, belly button, sides, back, genitals, butt, legs, knees, ankles, feet, toes, EVERYWHERE!! As I would take antibiotics and clean myself with antibacterial soap, these hairs would pop out of my skin. anywhere from an inch to a foot long. The hairs especially have came out of areas like creases or folds in my body like my wrists, elbows, stomach, legs etc. Where the hairs pop out, there is a thin white crust-like scale left behind that I can usually scrub off and more hairs will break open in a different place. Sometimes a honey colored crust will arise. My scalp is shedding layers of skin over tight lined scales that wrap through and around my head and face. Each layer has more staph... Every doctor has told me that IT IS NOT POSSIBLE for this to happen. Well IT IS! I have 5 plus witnesses that have seen the hairs randomly pop out of me. I have now been on antibiotics for 5+ months and still keep getting staph or impetigo outbreaks. I still do not have my left eyebrow and half of my right one. All of my left eyelashes are gone. I look like a freak..
So this is what I need..
I have had enough people tell me that I'm crazy and that its all in my head.
so please don't comment with those kind of responses.
As you can tell, this is super frustrating and I just need ONE person to believe me and accept what is happening and help me feel healthy for the first time in 22 years...

Thank you for reading all that. I appreciate it more than you know..
If anyone has any advice, please help me!!!

[ifigureditout2]

Been there.  Tough cases are often mercury poisoning. Google "Andrew Cutler" (Princeton PhD Chemist) for more info. You don't necessarily have to buy his books so don't feel like I'm trying to get you to buy something, the information is all out there on the net.

http://cutlersuccessstories.weebly.com/

[MF7]

Hi there, hope you're feeling a bit better now. Could try testing for Pyroluria. All the best!

[mkh9]

p.s. have you ever had an electroencephalogram or EEG? You can check if you have true migrianes and differentiate them from seizures. It checks the electrical part of the brain (unlike a MRI or CT which checks the structural). I had one to make sure that treatment would help. Are you still getting migraines?  Are you being treated for them? It wouldn't hurt to talk to a counselor because of all the trauma you have been through. It took the doctors 8 years to diagnose a migraine variant on me and no one would believe me either. They said all kinds of things about me. It is always best to get hard evidence. Mine was the EEG. Sometimes also autoimmune diseases can cause a weak immune system too. So I would start with the top stuff I mentioned and go from there. I know it is a lot and you have been through too much. But you do have your whole life ahead and if you can get treated properly at some point then eventually you may feel better. Some could be congenital (from birth) but that is what you need to find out. Which things can you fix and what needs chronic treatment etc. and what do you have to deal with.
mkh9
mkh9

[mkh9]

I'm sorry  you have gone through all this. I am not a doctor but I am a microbiologist and can try to give you some advice.

Have you ever seen a endocrinologist? Some of your early years sound like you may have some problems with hormones that make your growth different and hair growth different etc. and this doesn't seem like it has been addressed. Perhaps the current situation has something to do with that as well.

The infections may be due to low immunity. Have you had your complete blood count tested? What about the CD4/CD8 and complement levels?  If these are low it would explain why you have so many infections.

The car accident could have damaged your brain. Have you had an MRI or CT scan? Since you saw fluid in the back of your scalp those tests should have been done It could cause you to have a lot of symptoms. So I would see about getting these done.

As for controlling infections in the meantime. Try not to scrub your skin and be very gentle with it. Wash your hands well. If you get a staph you can use the topicals like Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment if you are not allergic to it and put it on the area when you first see it. Then wash all wash rags, towels and anything that came in contact with the area in hot soapy water. Staph and Strep are easily spread. If they get under your arm or in the buttock area they can become a boil and more difficult to deal with. It is better to get oral antibiotics for those. You have been on a lot of antibiotics and may want to get on some probiotics with live bacteria to balance your gut bacteria.

Some of these doctors such as the one that tried to remove the HPV are ridiculous as it is not serious and cause more harm. I'm not saying not to trust doctors but good to get another opinion when it doesn't sound right. But you were young then. What do your parents do to help here?
mkh9

[bymon]

Hi

Sorry but you do have a mental condition, one of the many forms of Body Dysmorphia. Go and look it up. The good news is that it's treatable, but you will need to 'shop around' to find the right Psychiatrist (not Pyschologist). Do NOT stop taking any medication you are on without talking to them first.

And dwell on this: If nobody else can see your supposed skin conditions, do you really think they are real?

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
I understand your concern regarding your condition. At this point, I recommend that you discontinue any medications or antibiotics and have the eyebrow infection and hair problem checked by a dermatologist. Direct clinical evaluation needs to be done.  Take care and do keep us posted.