list of symptoms - your opinions please

[carcrazy]

I only chose cough because I had to choose something so take no notice of that one.
Ok so I'll get my diagnosed illnesses out the way first....
Asthmatic. 42 year old ex smoker. Several stone overweight. Recently been diagnosed with emphysema. Had recent heart echo - no abnormalities found

My symptoms from the head down. All have only appeared since stopping smoking 2.5 years ago

Stupidly greasy hair, dont even get 24 hours before its greasy again.
Course brittle hair, feels like straw even with deep conditioning (ends only as hair too greasy up top)
Alarming hair loss, it seems to come out in handfuls at times
Onset of growth of some thick coarse hairs on jawline and neck, general downy growth on face.
Greasy skin on face neck and back, more spots in last 2.5 years than in previous 40
Voice change, its become deeper, coarse
Palpitations, always had the odd few but several bouts a week in the last 2 years.
Cycle changes, now every 14-21 days for 7 days at a time. was every 26 days without fail (apart from when pregnant) from 13 years to 39 years (always been heavy so no change there)
Painful popping pains in pelvis, usually mid way between bleeds.
Pitting swollen legs ankles and feet. Gain 3 inches around my ankles during the day unless i wear very fetching support tights. If I take a naughty diurin (not prescribed for me naughty) I can lose over a stone in water in a couple of hours. I only do this when my swelling is so bad that I cannot walk and the skin feels like its tearing.  
Tired, can easily sleep 12 hours at night with a 3-4 hour "nap" in the day
Easy weight gain extremely hard to lose it. I know my emphysema makes it hard to exercise so lack of mobility is partly to blame but when I dropped to 600-900 calories my weight loss was at a ridiculous 1 pound for the first 2 weeks then stopped. I only generally eat 1400-1700 calories anyway, and eat pretty healthily. Lots of vegetables, low carbs, low fat intake. I had been at a healthy weight from my teens to when i stopped smoking. i will admit to eating everything that wasn't walking the first week of stopping smoking but when i realised I had put on 9 lbs in 7 days I quickly stopped that. But 7 stone gained in 2.5 years. I am deperately trying to lose weight, keeping a food tracker, weight tracker but its looking like i'm going to have to accept 1lb a week then a few weeks of static (it'll take years!)

Medication. Ventolin, seretide, spriva daily, numerous courses of prednisalone for my chest (would have contributed to my weight)
Couldnt complete the weeks heart monitoring as I blistered with the pad adhesives. Still got the scars 4 months later.
Blood tests showed very healthy cholesterol levels.
Bloods for thyroid need rechecking in a few months due to borderline changes (whatever that means)
Blood count was fine but was low in ferratin reserves
All other bloods fine

I have ideas myself but only just getting the emphysema sorted and Dr seems to want to do things one at a time. Ultrasound scans next week for pelvic investigation

Your thoughts and suggestions welcome

[carcrazy]

My red blood cell count was normal but I was restested due to low ferratin reserves, They also did a blood calcium test at the same time (no idea on this one) Contributing to the low ferratin reserves would probably be my 14-21 day cycle that is heavy and lasts 7 days. I also have a blood clotting disorder, low in factors 8 and 11, both hover around the 65-75% of normal.

[carcrazy]

Thanks for your reply

I had full blood tests due to my symptoms,  but after no reasons for my chest conditions were found in the bloods I then went on to have xrays and ct scan from whch the emphysema was dianosed.
I specifically asked for tests to see if I was approaching menopause due to the hair, skin and spot changes and the Dr said i'm way off according to my results.
The thyroid tests needed to be done a year later due to the borderline changes so I will be back having more bloods taken in January unless I can come up with a good reason to push him to do them early,
I also need to ask about regular kidney tests due to some of the medications i'm on. Tranexamic acid, spiriva.

Anything else you think I should be asking about after the pelvic scans are done?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
All your symptoms: coarse hair, hair fall, weight gain, swollen ankle, tiredness etc and the fact that you have low ferritin reserves all point towards severe anemia, maybe low protein and also low estrogen. Hence the anemia component must be investigated in detail. Low iron could be due to poor intake, loss from body as happens in acidity and GERD, rectal polyps etc, due to improper absorption or due to storage disorders. Also you need to get a pheripheral blood smear done to know the RBC count, structure and whether there is cytopenia (general decrease in cell count). You should get your stool examined for occult or hidden blood. Also hypothyroidism cause hair changes and weight gain but generally causes non pitting edema of ankle and feet. However there may be a contribution of thyroid too in your symptoms. Heart function, kidney function and liver function (already done probably) should be assessed as the cause. Take care!

[carcrazy]

Could you explain why you believe that.

Anyone else have any ideas?

[alfa100]

u need to focus in thyroid test