Sick for 2 years with no answers

[danielle12345]

Hi,

I am 26 yr old female, and I have been feeling increasingly horrible over the last two years and I have been to 3 different doctors, but they have each just run a test or two and said results are inconclusive and quit looking for answers.

My symptoms are constant tiredness and fatigue, fever (every day between 99-100 but usually not higher), night sweats 2-3xs per month drenching through my sheets and waking me up, my ribs on my left side ache constantly but the pain is worse when I eat, weight loss (I'm 5' 5" and dropped from 139lbs to 122 lbs over the last 3 months probably because I can't eat) and neck pain/headaches (starting in my neck)

I have had blood work done and the only thing really far out of range is my EBV titers (5 times the high end of the range).  Doctor said I probably had mono at some point and the titers would go down over time, but titers have gotten higher over the last 2 years instead of lower.  My lymphocyte count was above the normal range, but not by that much.  RBC and WBC on the low end but still within range.  No signs of infection found from blood or urinalysis.

I had a CT of my neck taken and was diagnosed with cervical lymphadenopathy.  Radiologist recommended follow up but my physician said lymph nodes should be greater than 2cm to require biopsy.  Largest was 1.5 cm.  I asked about having a repeat scan at least, but he says it's not necessary.

My LDH was extremely low (70 with low range starting at 100) the first time it was tested but then higher 3 months later (at 286 with normal being 100-200).  Not sure what this means. Dr. says it's not that far out of range and I shouldn't be worried.

So on one hand I was previously worried about lymphoma because of the enlarged lymph nodes (of course worst case scenario always comes to mind, lol), but on the other hand I've had the symptoms so long now I doubt it could be. One Dr. told me it was all in my head and sent me to a psychiatrist, but they said I'm not depressed and don't appear to have any psychological conditions that would cause physical symptoms.

I recently found a new doctor who promised he would help me figure out what's wrong, but he admitted he's not sure.  Lots of things are slightly off, but nothing is conclusive.  He is willing to do pretty much whatever tests I want and my insurance is great, but I don't even know what to ask for.  If anyone has any ideas on what I should ask of my doctor, I would very much appreciate it.

[OliveLilly]

An enlarged cervical lymph node, or any "enlarged" lymph node for that matter, is indicative of infection. The body is filtering things that aren't supposed to be there, and you should follow up on this.
The location of the enlarged lymph node is also very important because it indicates which area of the body that the material is coming from. Any lymph nodes swollen should not be hard or "fixed." IF they don't move freely this warrants immediate investigation, and could mean something more serious. If the swollen lymph node is near your left clavicle, I would make it a point to explicitly speak to my doctor about this, because it could be serious.

[Gina04]

I would inquire about fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and leukemia.  You can also do a search now for symptoms of these conditions and see how they compare with what is going on with you.

[iris986]

Have your doctor check you for Lupus.