long standing problem

[tina2401]

I am a 28 year old women who has been suffering from these problems for years and my GP has no answer to it.  I've always been overweight ever since I was at high school and have had several problems loosing weight even when monitored by the nurse.  I suffered at 21 with Pancreatitis and there was no reason for this at all.  I eat relitively healthily, don't drink, drink smoke and since having pancreatitis have suffered more with these symptoms.  The big one being that I'm always tired.  I can sleep anywhere for a good hour and wake up refreshed occasionally iritable but so much better.  To go with this I always have cold hands and feet.  Occasionally they go from one extreme to another and get really hot but usually thats after a hot water bottle and snuggling up under the duvet, but 90% of the time my hands and feet are freezing and I shiver constantly with this.  I excersise as much as I can and increased it as i'm trying to loose weight.  I was given Raducil 2 years ago and managed to loose 4 stone which the nurse was pleased with but said I should have lost more and that tests should be done to see why I didn't loose more despite having loads more enegery, not feeling tired and excersising about the same as I am now!  I bought this up with my nurse last week reeled of that i'm always tired, suffer from a very heavy monthly flow, going through every emotional possible, shortness of breathe to the point I now have 2 inhalers, feeling drained all the time, cold hands and feet and struggling to loose any weight at all. I had a blood test for thyroid and glucose and it came back clear.  any ideas why i feel like this>

[tina2401]

Thank you for your comments.  I've only had 1 blood test for my thyroid and glucose where is was a fasting blood test.  I've had no iron, nutrition or respiratory studies and my GP is reluctant to to do anymore tests and seems to think i'm making it all up.  I do occasionally get a swollen tongue so I am thinking the allergy thing may be a part of it!

The sleep thing sounds familiar, I know I sleep walk but obviously don't know how much I'm doing it.  How do i go about a sleep study?

I've moved recently and my new GP just doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with me.  It took some pushing to get them to agree to do a breathing tests cos I had problems specially when I excersise.  See I am active but also can do the traditional slob moments eating the odd take away, just like anyone, but i try not to do it often and keep excersising regularly.

thank you again for your advice!

[KatEyes]

Hi. It may be that your symptoms are not all from the same source so it may take some detective work for the doctor to make sense of them if they don't make sense as a whole. You didn't specify which specific tests you've had done, so here's my thoughts...

Thyroid - There is a panel of tests that can be done. A single test may not reveal a problem. Hopefully you had more than one test.

Glucose - Did you have more than a fasting blood sugar? It would take a glucose tolerance test to give a full picture of what your glucose levels are doing over the course of a day.

Anemia - Have you had iron studies (much more detailed than a CBC)?

Sleep - If there is any reason to suspect the quality of your sleep isn't adequate, maybe a sleep study should be considered. Two (of many) common sleep disrupters are obstructive sleep apnea and limb movements. Poor quality sleep can cause excessive daytime sleepiness, and set off a cascade of health issues, including weight gain.

Respiratory - Have your lungs been evaluated to make sure they are efficiently transferring oxygen to your body as it needs?

Circulatory - Is your heart effciently pumping blood to and from the body?

Nutrition - Have you been evaluated for nutritional deficiencies?

Most of the things I've mentioned can be initially evaluated by your family physician, and if there's an indication or if there's no resolution of symptoms, you may referred to an endocrinologist or other specialist as indicated. Best wishes, and keep pushing forward. I have an excellent doctor, but it wasn't until I said to him that I needed him to not stop till he found answers that he knew how very bad I was feeling. By the way, the majority (not all) of my problems stemmed from sleep disorders.