Aa
Can't find a diagnosis
Over the past 5 yrs. my husband has complained of pain in his legs, dry mouth, metallic taste in mouth, salty taste in mouth, waxy skin, oily skin, powdery feeling to skin, wash water turns grey, eyes are gritty & constantly watery, tinitus, severe low back pain, fatigue, etc. He has been seen by ENT, Ortho, Rheumatology, Neurology, Ophthamology & Dermatology with all test results negative. He was treated for bladder cancer and has been ca free for 3 yrs now. He takes Effexor, Klonopin, Voltaren, Hydrocodone, Fentanyl patches and several other meds. He has been sitting in the recliner in front of the tv all day every day. He goes to his Dr. appointments and occassionally the store. He explains how sick he is to everyone including strangers, he has a negative attitude but says he wishes he could get better. He is 60 yrs. old but shuffles around like he's 90, holding on to everything so he doesn't fall, moaning and sighing constantly. I have asked him to try to be more positive, get some exercise or at least some fresh air but every time I look, he's back in the chair. I'm at the end of my rope. I do everything in the house, outside, work part time and he still expects me to wait on him. I have liver cirrohsis & autoimmune hepatitis but am doing very well on Azathioprine aside from needing a nap in the afternoon. My question is, is it really possible for him to be so devastatingly sick? CJ
I don't believe I said anything about no one believing him. I've been through an undiagnosed illness myself...took 20 yrs. to find the problem. I just don't think it's a good idea for him to be stagnant until that diagnosis is made, that only causes organs to start shutting down, organisms to find a nice place to grow...kind of like turning to "pond scum". This is why post-op patients are encouraged to deep breathe, get out of bed and walk even though it's painful. If you know you're sick, it's your responsibility to not give up and rot no matter others may think.
BTW....I was also prescribed clonapin, as a muscle relaxer.....I later found out it is actually an antidepressant...that also had me screwed up terribly. It took me weeks to detox from that one.... At times I took double the dose because I thought it would help my spasms....wrong again...it is bad news and I felt so much better after I got all that crap out of my system.
Try Benedryl....for real, seems simple right, it is. Get the dye free ones. (clear) Xyzal is a prescription form of it, but I found the OTC just as effective.
Lori
Try Benedryl....for real, seems simple right, it is. Get the dye free ones. (clear) Xyzal is a prescription form of it, but I found the OTC just as effective.
Lori
Ok...found the best place to research symptoms caused by medications.
This is the link for just the Effexor...which to me was by far the worst...and I found that if the adverse events reported by clinical trials is slighty elevated....double the number of actual cases of adverse events....it has been my experience that even what they consider to only affect a few people in the trial....affects much more of the general population than has been reported on these trials...because I nearly had all listed possible adverse effects.
Click on the trials that say completed, and has results, then follow the links for different types of results on each thing. Personally, I would look up all the meds on this site.
Effexor has a high rate of tastes in mouth, skin conditions, and many of the adverse effects you have listed for your husband. If you do not understand what the condition is, simply highlight it and search google for that term in another window.
Clinical Trials. Gov:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=effexor
Hope this helps you.
Lori
This is the link for just the Effexor...which to me was by far the worst...and I found that if the adverse events reported by clinical trials is slighty elevated....double the number of actual cases of adverse events....it has been my experience that even what they consider to only affect a few people in the trial....affects much more of the general population than has been reported on these trials...because I nearly had all listed possible adverse effects.
Click on the trials that say completed, and has results, then follow the links for different types of results on each thing. Personally, I would look up all the meds on this site.
Effexor has a high rate of tastes in mouth, skin conditions, and many of the adverse effects you have listed for your husband. If you do not understand what the condition is, simply highlight it and search google for that term in another window.
Clinical Trials. Gov:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=effexor
Hope this helps you.
Lori
Maybe the meds have something to do with his symptoms. you should google the side effects of all the meds he is taking and then print it out if you find something suspicious and take it with you on the next doctor visit. My father was on 20 different meds and it messed him up bad but when we switched doctors, she removed over half of them and he is like a new man...
Almost forgot to mention....the drugs made me shuffle, shake, knees bounce, neck had retractable pain, always trying to stretch it out....I could never find anything....even if it were sitting right in front of me....Bad Bad reaction to the drugs....horrible.
My husband stuck by me thank god, I hope you will have the strength to see him thru this.
Lori
My husband stuck by me thank god, I hope you will have the strength to see him thru this.
Lori
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Undiagnosed Symptoms Community
Discharge often isn't normal, and could mean an infection or an STD.
In this unique and fascinating report from Missouri Medicine, world-renowned expert Dr. Raymond Moody examines what really happens when we almost die.
Think a loved one may be experiencing hearing loss? Here are five warning signs to watch for.
When it comes to your health, timing is everything
We’ve got a crash course on metabolism basics.
Learn what you can do to avoid ski injury and other common winter sports injury.
I have suffered for years with undiagnosed pain and terrible symptoms that made me feel like I was dying, same response, all my scans and blood work are fine, then they tell me to see a psychiatrist, and here...take all these drugs for your symptoms.
Bags full of free samples, that wound me up in the ER just about every time with the anti depressants and bipolar drugs.causing severe adverse reactions. Look up tardive dyskensia and see what the drugs are capable of.
Ask him if he felt this way before taking the drugs, you probably already know the answer to that.
If the docs are not finding anything life threatening...then look deeper and ask yourself,
What he is taking!
What are the risks?
What can possibly happen by taking this drug?
There is an answer and symptom treating will not get you any closer....trust me, been there and nearly died three times from meds, and they will tell you that you really need to continue the antidepressants....and you DONT> many cannot tolerate them at all, espeically with a potential disorder....screwing with brain chemicals are just a bad idea in this case....as I have found for myself. I tried them all, before I wised up.
With docs help, I would say detox safely, slowly off the effexor bad, bad, hevay duty head med....made me feel like I was tripping on LSD for weeks, acid, burping, nausea..yea at first you feel good...then comes the bad months later...
My brother actually tried to commit suicide AFTER he had been put on Effexor.
Because my system was out of whack...with HPTH, all drugs affected me adversely, for example, the asthma inhaler for my nine month long lung infection Foridil..made the center of my tongue go dead, and I sounded like a baby trying to talk....difficult..lost my vision due to extreme blurry vision, had to wear an eye patch to see....muscle spasms, IBS, migraines, bone and joint pain, limbs going numb...abdomina spasms...omg I did not want to move off the couch, ever.
I had to continue pushing for the right test and finally walked in and said hey, why not run a thyroid panel and PTH level, and calcium plus vitamin D. They did, it was all I needed for my diagnosis after 12 years of seeing specialist after specialits, and none ever ordered these simple tests. Three months ago, finally I am diagnosed with Hyperparathyroidism, and Thyroid nodules.
My advice as a suffering patient...just like you is this:
1. Drugs mask what is really going on, and may do things to your body that one would never imagine capable of a little pill. I detoxifed myself, using 2 benedryl four times a day. With the first dose, my vision began to clear for the first time in months....so I continued for about a month on that...because the head drugs take so long to get out of the system. My vision would start to blurr again, so I took more and it would clear...all the proof I needed that it worked.
2. Ask for an appointment with your primary care. Have him run a thyroid panel, also check PTH, calcium and Vitamin D. His symtoms to me sound like possible thyroid issues, or endocrine system issues.
That calls for an Endocrinologist, if any of those numbers are high or low...get a copy of the labs...these results can be subjective.... about the only type of MD I didn't see you list was the ENDO.
I had gone thru 24 specialist before I figured it out my dam self. I have a tumor on my parathyroid making my calcium high and wreaking havoc on every system in my body, yes you can live suffering like that for really long time.....and it makes you not want to live at all the pain is so great.
Never give up, never give up, the answers are out there I promise you.
So many doctors make a living treating the symptoms rather than the disease these days that it is obscene. There are some good ones out there though....just hard to find. Avoid young ones, they are paying student loans for the next decade.
"We Begin to Die the Day We Become Silent About the Things that Matter"
Martin Luther King...
this banner is over the doorway at my VA hospital, and it kept me fighting for answers.
Best wishes, and my advice is only based on my experiences, so take that for what you will, I tried everything and I hope my story helps you a little...there is hope.,
Lori