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Advice on-maybe-thyroid problem
Well, I have a long story in need of answers. I hope you will be able to take the time to listen, because I'm slowly starting to get worse. I just really need someone to talk to. I'm 15 and since almost the beginning of last year I've been struggling with very bad intestinal problems. I was out to eat with my friend and her family the night before her mom's wedding (this was last July so I was 13 at the time), and I couldn't finish my food for the life of me. I was back and forth to the bathroom bc I thought I was going to puke (embarrassing). I couldn't talk bc it go so bad. I got so nauseated I thought I was going to pass out. I can't exaggerate when I say I really thought I was going to puke everywhere and then pass out. This happened quite a few other times-especially when we went out to eat at restaurants or got out in public. Every single time. It would especially act up when I got in vehicles. I was thinking maybe it was motion sickness, which I do have a bit of. I went to the doctor and he said maybe my anxiety issues are the problem-which I've always had, just got worse when i started to mature. But that's a different story, that I don't want to get into. He prescribed me Celexa. He said it would also help with my headaches. I didn't have that many problems until the end of November where my stomach started to get worse. I've been to the doctor so many times for it, I can't even remember everything that's happened. Or the months when this happened. I've had xrays done, blood work and everything else in-between. I also lost about 10 pounds when this all happened. I went from 130-120. I wish I could gain it back. It's so easy for me to lose, but gaining is the hardest thing.
He put me on the laxative Linzess for when I get constipated. He also put me on a new medicine for stress called Paxil. (I forgot to take it for a few days and I started to have really bad withdraws. I'd never felt so insane in my life.) Paxil never worked for me, nor Celexa. Even though according to the doctor it worked for a great bit of his patients. (That made me feel hopeless.) But I still felt the same. Every day. He tried to get me a therapist, but at this point we're paying out of pocket for our insurance. The Linzess works great, but only for when I'm backed up. At this point I'm having constant stomach aches and abdominal pain that is always on my left side. The abdominal pain got so bad one night I stayed up till 5 in the morning on the heating pad. I have them every day and I'm having them now as we speak. I also get really bad heartburn, to where it will make my throat burn and my chest and upper back hurt.
2 months ago he put me on Amitiza for constipation in women and for IBS-C. He also switched me back to Celexa. It made me feel really sick this time for some reason. So I stopped taking it and went back to Paxil so I could avoid withdraws. Amitiza works great. I had major trouble the first 2 weeks with it. It made me so nauseated and it would give me chest tightness and headaches. I even threw up my breakfast one morning bc of it. I went back 2 weeks later for my check-up on it and he said to start taking it once every other day before bedtime so I don't feel anything. After that, I've had no more side effects. The medicine is great and keeps me flowing, but the constant pain is getting worse.
I've always had trouble with night sweats, but lately it seems to be getting worse. I will also have random moments where I will break out into hot sweats-like when you're on your period or going through menopause. I remember having those before, but I've been noticing them a lot more now. When that happens I will have chest tightness too. I also sweat a lot in general, especially under my arms. I've went through so many deodorants to see what would work and about a week ago I finally found something that actually works.
The ends of my hair have started to become more dry recently, or atleast it seems to me.
I'm having joint pains-especially back pain. The lower part of my back always hurts, but it's gotten to the point where it will actually lock up and I can't move. It happened one night where I went to bend down and it locked up so bad I had to have my mom help me get the heating pad. It didn't work and I spent the next 3 days with an achy lower back pain. A week ago I was at my friends house and the top of my back at my ribs on both sides (which never hurt, only my bottom) started to feel the same way. I thought it was going to lock up again but it didn't. I put icy hot patches on but that didn't help. I went to sleep and when I woke up I was okay but the longer I was awake the more it started to hurt again. I can't stand for long periods of time or else my back will start to majorly hurt. I dread actually getting up bc of it. I always feel achy-every where. Like my whole body is just sore and dull and limp. Recently my hand has started to cramp and the other day when it did, it actually made the upper part of my arm cramp too and then my whole arm became limp.
Tiredness. So tired. No matter how much I sleep, or how less I sleep, I'm extremely tired. I complain to my mom about it all the time. I sleep almost 12 hours a night bc of it. I've tried sleeping way less, but even then I'm tired. I feel so wore out bc of it.
My headaches are starting to come back. When I was little I got migraines so bad I got a shot for them. I will go through phases where I will get them and I've had one every day for over the last week. I get fatigue a lot too. Not as bad as before.
My appetite has increased so much lately too. Which doesn't help my stomach problems.
For the longest time I've had an abnormal amount of discharge, I just never thought anything about it. It's gotten to where I'll have to change underwear bc of it. Wiping is a damn chore, and just today after I was in the store and I felt a whole lot come out, I went to the bathroom when I got home and noticed that there were dried brown patches now too. It's starting to freak me out. I don't know if that has anything to do with thyroid problems, but I guess I could mention it since it's something I'm stressing about too. All these symptoms I've felt before in my life, but they're gradually getting worse. I've looked up these symptoms and lots of people with them have thyroid problems. I just want to take some advice for like the first time in my life from people that are going through the same thing. I feel like I have the body of an 80 year old and I'm only 15. Hell, 80 year olds probably feel better. I've listed everything I could think of, there might be more. I'm tired of these medicines not working. I just want some hope.
He put me on the laxative Linzess for when I get constipated. He also put me on a new medicine for stress called Paxil. (I forgot to take it for a few days and I started to have really bad withdraws. I'd never felt so insane in my life.) Paxil never worked for me, nor Celexa. Even though according to the doctor it worked for a great bit of his patients. (That made me feel hopeless.) But I still felt the same. Every day. He tried to get me a therapist, but at this point we're paying out of pocket for our insurance. The Linzess works great, but only for when I'm backed up. At this point I'm having constant stomach aches and abdominal pain that is always on my left side. The abdominal pain got so bad one night I stayed up till 5 in the morning on the heating pad. I have them every day and I'm having them now as we speak. I also get really bad heartburn, to where it will make my throat burn and my chest and upper back hurt.
2 months ago he put me on Amitiza for constipation in women and for IBS-C. He also switched me back to Celexa. It made me feel really sick this time for some reason. So I stopped taking it and went back to Paxil so I could avoid withdraws. Amitiza works great. I had major trouble the first 2 weeks with it. It made me so nauseated and it would give me chest tightness and headaches. I even threw up my breakfast one morning bc of it. I went back 2 weeks later for my check-up on it and he said to start taking it once every other day before bedtime so I don't feel anything. After that, I've had no more side effects. The medicine is great and keeps me flowing, but the constant pain is getting worse.
I've always had trouble with night sweats, but lately it seems to be getting worse. I will also have random moments where I will break out into hot sweats-like when you're on your period or going through menopause. I remember having those before, but I've been noticing them a lot more now. When that happens I will have chest tightness too. I also sweat a lot in general, especially under my arms. I've went through so many deodorants to see what would work and about a week ago I finally found something that actually works.
The ends of my hair have started to become more dry recently, or atleast it seems to me.
I'm having joint pains-especially back pain. The lower part of my back always hurts, but it's gotten to the point where it will actually lock up and I can't move. It happened one night where I went to bend down and it locked up so bad I had to have my mom help me get the heating pad. It didn't work and I spent the next 3 days with an achy lower back pain. A week ago I was at my friends house and the top of my back at my ribs on both sides (which never hurt, only my bottom) started to feel the same way. I thought it was going to lock up again but it didn't. I put icy hot patches on but that didn't help. I went to sleep and when I woke up I was okay but the longer I was awake the more it started to hurt again. I can't stand for long periods of time or else my back will start to majorly hurt. I dread actually getting up bc of it. I always feel achy-every where. Like my whole body is just sore and dull and limp. Recently my hand has started to cramp and the other day when it did, it actually made the upper part of my arm cramp too and then my whole arm became limp.
Tiredness. So tired. No matter how much I sleep, or how less I sleep, I'm extremely tired. I complain to my mom about it all the time. I sleep almost 12 hours a night bc of it. I've tried sleeping way less, but even then I'm tired. I feel so wore out bc of it.
My headaches are starting to come back. When I was little I got migraines so bad I got a shot for them. I will go through phases where I will get them and I've had one every day for over the last week. I get fatigue a lot too. Not as bad as before.
My appetite has increased so much lately too. Which doesn't help my stomach problems.
For the longest time I've had an abnormal amount of discharge, I just never thought anything about it. It's gotten to where I'll have to change underwear bc of it. Wiping is a damn chore, and just today after I was in the store and I felt a whole lot come out, I went to the bathroom when I got home and noticed that there were dried brown patches now too. It's starting to freak me out. I don't know if that has anything to do with thyroid problems, but I guess I could mention it since it's something I'm stressing about too. All these symptoms I've felt before in my life, but they're gradually getting worse. I've looked up these symptoms and lots of people with them have thyroid problems. I just want to take some advice for like the first time in my life from people that are going through the same thing. I feel like I have the body of an 80 year old and I'm only 15. Hell, 80 year olds probably feel better. I've listed everything I could think of, there might be more. I'm tired of these medicines not working. I just want some hope.
Thank you for the suggestion. I plan on going to the doctor at the beginning of the year. We are paying out of pocket for insurance now and it doesn't start over till the beginning of next year. I will post results if I do.
I've sweated excessively for three reasons - hyperthyroidism (doesn't cause constipation however), vitamin B12 deficiency, magnesium deficiency. For some, excessive sweating can be due to hypothyroidism but in my case I didn't sweat at all. When I had magnesium deficiency, I felt like I was 100 years old!
You are very young, so you need to find someone (relative, adult friend, social worker) to advocate for you. Navigating the medical system these days is very complex, and you are on some serious prescription drugs.
If you want to start to rule out thyroid as a cause of some of your symptoms, a good place to start is to ask your doctor to test FREE T3 (make sure it's FREE, not total), FREE T4 and TSH. Be aware that all of these should be around the middle of the reference range, not at the high or low end. If you want to post results and reference ranges, we'll help you interpret them.
Considering your gut issues, I'd also want to test some of the vitamins and minerals that can cause fatigue: vitamin D, vitamin B-12, a complete iron panel (including ferritin). Those are just the prime suspects, you might ask your doctor to test more extensively.
If you want to start to rule out thyroid as a cause of some of your symptoms, a good place to start is to ask your doctor to test FREE T3 (make sure it's FREE, not total), FREE T4 and TSH. Be aware that all of these should be around the middle of the reference range, not at the high or low end. If you want to post results and reference ranges, we'll help you interpret them.
Considering your gut issues, I'd also want to test some of the vitamins and minerals that can cause fatigue: vitamin D, vitamin B-12, a complete iron panel (including ferritin). Those are just the prime suspects, you might ask your doctor to test more extensively.
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