An ongoing list of concerns

[imfallingapart]

I never remember having problems with me under the age of about 15 years old. Over the last ~10 years, I feel like I'm falling apart. I have so many things that I feel are wrong with me. Doctors either won't

take me seriously or I become easily overwhelmed with the process of finding a specialist and waiting 6 months to see them that I end up not. I am seeing a GI specialist on the 15th of April that I have been

waiting to see since December. Feel free to leave me any thoughts you may have on my symptoms. I assure you that I do not want to dismiss symptoms and for better or for worse, so I've listed those which are

of most concern. I appreciate anyone who gives this post the time of day. Here goes:

24 yo male, 5'10", white Caucasian, 205 lbs

Medical history: Accutane (~15yo), Prevacid (~17yo, presence of H. pylori tested positive at 23)

Family and blood-related diseases:
Grandparents: Lung and stomach cancer
Parents: Frequent heartburn, corrective lenses
Mother: Manic bi-polar onset from loss of father
Cousin: Multiple Sclerosis


Persistent dry-eyes in morning
Excessive tiredness throughout day accompanied by frequent yawning (about once every 5 minutes)
Persistant itching
Brain fog - unable to perform simple addition and subtraction efficiently, recall events, and frequent misuse of words or creating own words
Concentration problems - Quickly bounce from topics, inability to read and comprehend(results in extreme lethargy)
Anxiety - loathe human interaction, short-fused, avoid verbal communication due to fear of embarassment (inability to commit attention)
Pain in joints - pain in knees with no known cause, bumps on wrist resulting in pain bending (comes and goes)
Back pain - lower lumbar back pain, sciatica related?, left side
Abdominal cramping - frequent diarrhea or lose stool (often 5-6 BM in the morning), unable to eat large meals, bloating
Low-grade Depression - frequent thoughts of decreased quality of life puts me over the edge and causes stress
Sudden onset of muscle twitch in upper left eyelid, now advanced to movement of the neck
Facial whincing - as if anticipating pain through physical exertion - any trigger (opening a jar, bending over, sex), usually unaware
Gait issues - ankle and foot pain
Tongue cramping - if I stick my tongue out to brush it or just open my mouth wide to look at my throat, tongue will cramp up and stay cramped for several hours
Reversed schedule - nocturnal - energy at night, low energy during day
Sensitivity to light - eyes never adjust to sunlight
Constant clearing of throat - feeling of something being stuck, chronic cough
Pin-sized red dots under skin on thumb - itchy at first and resulted in hardening of skin; still visible but dry and flakey
Pressure in head resulting in moderate headaches
Goldfish Memory - Things go in through one ear and out the next - inability to remember even the first three digits of a phone number, or the last thing someone said in a movie
Apathy - indifference to events, no sense of importantance, inability to discover interests or desires
Severe Procrastination - always wait until the last moment to do something, oftentimes will make up excuses to extend deadlines
Profuse sweating - heat sensitivity, need to be within 60-70º, always stripped down to minimal clothing to reduce temperatures
Cold sensitivity - extreme chills and shivers when exposed to climate change; uncontrolled teeth chatter (eg. going from 70ºF to 50ºF)
Hemmohroids -  pea-sized external
Unable to lose or gain weight - despite frequent gym participation, body weight stays same; muscles soft and undefined on relaxation
Bad breath - always severe bad breath upon awakening
Decreased ability to perform - slow and poor decision making, easily turned around and lost, decreased coordination
Drooling - minor but sometimes I catch myself, frequently spit when talking
Easily fatigued - Taste of metallic and dizziness when heartrate rises above 150 bpm
Shortness of breath - easily provoked, results in sweating
Short-attention span - easily distracted, very forgetful on short-term
Insomnia - toss and turn unless I stay awake until completely exhausted of energy
Weak tendons - weak grip and poor performance on endurance exercises (wall squat, sit-ups), results in uncontrolled muscle shaking
Decreased typing skills - 100 wpm (15yo) > 65 wpm (25yo), possibly related to spelling problems or disconnected thought process
Absence of being - disconnected from reality; staring into nothingness with blank mind for several minutes at a time
Excessive libido - followed by bouts of very low libido
Frequent urination - small bladder and feeling of having to pee
Mania - Urge to only do activities in chunks of time - once I start I need to finish (4-24hr blocks), during this time I have no desire to eat or drink
Irritability and impatient - quick to throw a temper tandrum, unable to control anger
Excessive shyness and stoic expressions - inability to react properly in situations; often laughing for lack of words
Lack of correlation between responses to questions - misinterpreting questions and taking an extensive amount of time to answer simple questions (eg: What to eat? What to wear?)
Extremely emotional - feel guilty for everything that goes wrong, take blame for others, longing for the good memories of childhood resulting in extreme sadness
Red, flushed color of nails - goes away when pressed on; extremely curved nails (grow around shape of finger), very thin, small ridges, frequent hangnails
Lack of facial/body hair on certain parts of body - cannot grow mustache, very swirly beard, parts of body have no hair at all, despite being extremely hairy
Unexplained stretchmarks on inner thighs and lovehandles - despite consistent weight
Abnormal baby toe - very short and curves under its neighbor
Popping in left ear when lying down that seems to come and go about every 30 seconds; possibly the result uncontrolled head jerks when head is stabilized by pillow
Heartburn - 40mg Prevacid, morning and night on empty stomach, undigested food comes up hours after eating with burps, dull chest pain in heart region
Slight vertigo - seems to be difficult to focus on a single point without moving around
Sluggish - all actions require precision at the sacrifice of urgency - (eg.:1hr for a 15min activity)
Unorganized - Inability to find and locate objects, frequently missed appointments
Easily overwhelmed - the thought of things is enough to persuade me not to do it (eg: make food because of cleaning dishes, skip class because of weather, write a paper because of lack of good idea)
No filter to thoughts - oftentimes inappropriate words or wandering of thoughts provoked by ordinary situations
Inability to think on feet - unsure how to react to social cues and norms, poor communication skills
Low self-esteem - inability to look one directly in the eyes, feeling of helplessness in crowded places, intimidated by height
Hand and arm numbness - been waking up at night with arm or hand completely asleep despite normal positions
Inability to multitask - cannot talk while doing anything

[DagnyT]

Please go see an endocrinologist and or a rheumatologist. The shape of your nails is called "clubbing" and can indicate serious problems with your lungs or heart outother organs.

[imfallingapart]

Thanks for the info. I was aware of the side-effects of accutane. The problem with this is that I took it over 10 years ago. It was to my understanding that I might experience depression, dry lips, or liver damage, hence the monthly blood workup, but these effects should have long faded.

[bbxx]

Hi. Not sure if any of this will help, but
accutane can cause a lot of side effects--
http://www.drugwatch.com/accutane/side-effects.php
and here is a link for prevacid
http://www.drugwatch.com/prevacid/side-effects.php