I've been diagnosed with multiple conditions...

[M2Benme]

Please choose (in your opinion) which condition stands out more.
Here are my symptoms,

Mild to severe... mild is 60% of the time.. severe is approximately 10%

All over body aches. (Sometimes hurts to touch skin in some areas)
stiffness and pain in legs and arms (especially when curled up or not moving for a while) neck too
Joint pain.. fingers, knees (especially right) hips shoulders and feet.
fatigue (occasionally sleeping during day even with a supposed good nights sleep)
anxiety (with tightness in chest)
Sore throat (constant)
right shoulder blade and neck pull out easily
Thyroid nodule (hyper vascular)
cold extremities (feet, calves, hands, fingers, nose, ears) will hurt and linger with pain if I'm not careful

Probably a few more little things here and there. Just can't remember.... Oh, brain fog sometimes.  haha

This is a real poll. (minus the last three poll choices) I would love to see if one supports more of the symptoms.

Thanks  

[kevieb]

I have had some bulging disks in my neck also---they have a tendency to come and go.  However, it was not felt that my bulging disks accounted for the pain I have in my neck and head.  However, I do have alot of problems with my fingers going numb, too.

Thyroid issues CAN explain many things--but i can't guarantee they explain all that you have going on.  Hopefully, when you are put on replacement thyroid they will get you on a proper dose.  Don't take a synthetic thyroid medication.  Two things that will never go away with synthetic T3 and synthetic T4 are fluid retention and dry skin.

I am fortunate to have a doctor that treats me according to symptoms and not according to the tests. The thyroid tests are not accurate.

I just had allergy testing done today---and we did food allergy testing this time.  I have learned to cook gluten free because i have three children with celiac disease----but now I have to learn to cook without eggs because I'm allergic to egg whites---i am less than thrilled!!

My allergist suggested the rotation diet where you don't eat the same thing andy more often than every three days----I think that would take alot of figuring and planning on my part.

I keep hoping to feel better some day--I'm not sure if it is a pipe dream or not---but I do know that I could eat alot better than i do--and I really need some exercise,  I wake up most nights around 3 am or so---I think it is pain that wakes me up----sure wish they would give me a pain killer that would last longer than 4 hours.

Good luck with your surgery--my husband has 1/2 of a thyroid----and the other half doesn't work---they couldn't rule out cancer, so they had to do surgery--he had a follicular adenoma, which is not cancerous.

[M2Benme]

hmmm interesting.

So, it seems even though medicine and the medical field has come a long way, There are still things that are hard to explain or go unexplained.

Certain foods can play a part too. I was told I should try the 7 day allergy diet. I can't remember the name off the top of my head. But.. oh wait. Something like elimination diet. I was ready, (almost) to start one. Until two items on the list that I  MUST have to survive and be semi human happen to be the first things to go.
I think I can do it, but should really be a few rooms away from living beings, creatures and valuables. :)

Since the day I wrote this poll... I've had an MRI of my neck and lower back  and a biopsy of my thyroid. And the results sent for afirma testing.

A number of places in my neck are bulging, weird, ones pressing on spinal cord, not enough stuff in-between. Hard to remember everything. Basically, they justified the shoulder and neck pain which runs down my arm to my pinky and other little fingers.
And now they are scheduling me for surgery to remove the whole thyroid. Biopsy came back positive for Follicular carcinoma.  

Thyroid issues could explain many other things?
Once it's gone will all the issues go away? minus the neck and lower back issues.

[kevieb]

You came pretty close to describing ME.  I started with headaches  and a stiff neck (hard to get comfortable when lying down) 13 years ago---and it has just progressed over the years to hurting all over.

My feet were so cold that I even wear socks with sandels in the summer (tacky, I know).  My ears are so sensitive to the slightest breeze, that it is almost embarrassing because I have to wear something to cover my ears on what would seem like only a slightly cool and pleasant day to most people or my ears will start hurting really bad.

My feet used to feel like ice when I took off my socks and slippers and got in to bed.

I won't go on with all my symptoms---but i finally flew across the US to see a doctor who treats my thyroid according to symptoms instead of blood tests.  i also have adrenal insufficiency.  I am on 4 grains of NP thyroid (similar to armour)---and my feet are no longer like ice cubes!!!!  My anxiety and depression are improving.  I still have a long way to go, but I also have an eosinophilic condition---my throat doesn't hurt, but I get hoarse a lot.

I don't have hashimoto's, though, my thyroid and adrenal problems are connected to my pituitary.

For years we just called what I have fibromyalgia, and I guess it is, since I fit the symptoms pretty much like you read them strait out of the book---I just think that my fibro is caused by thyroid and adrenal problems, and also by the eosinophilic condition that I have---I am waiting on food allergy testing to see what I am allergic to.

I recently had to be on a clear liquid diet for a day before a colonoscopy---I was surprised the day of my procedure to realize that even though I had not taken my pain meds that morning---I was not aching all over before I had my procedure done--and it was about noon when I realized it.  I think it had something to do with not eating any food---makes me think food allergies are causing some of my symptoms.

I guess i should add that I had extensive blood work done and I am on a number of supplements to correct several vitamins and minerals that are lower than they should be.

[Totie]

Hypo can give the same symptoms as FM.