weekend, exhaustion, and a symptom list for the doctor

[baratron]

I officially Did Too Much at the weekend, and am suffering for it now. Worked on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Richard & I went out for dinner with Tim & Peter, but I don't think this was too much of a problem because we ate just outside Waterloo station, so it was only a few hundred yards out of the way. On Sunday, I fancied really good Indian, so we went up to Drummond Street in Euston - this was a mistake. Although I closed my eyes and rested on the tube journeys in each direction, it took a colossal amount of effort for me to walk from Euston station round to Drummond Street (which is, btw, about 5 minutes) - I was leaning heavily on Richard as well as my stick. Got home and went straight to bed, but this wasn't enough. On Sunday night, I slept for 16 hours, and woke up at 4pm. I put stuff into the washing machine and made some food, but by the time I'd finished that felt exhausted and nauseous with pain, so ate and went back to bed - rested and slept for another 4 hours before getting up again. Well, I say "get up" - I sat up in bed reading, or playing The Sims, resting for a few minutes every half hour or so. Richard sorted out dinner for me, and I sat up a bit longer, then went to bed and slept for another 16 hours. Today, I feel a bit better than I did yesterday - I can actually walk as far as the kitchen and back in one trip without having to stop and rest, but I still hurt all over, and feel dizzy and tired.

I am seriously thinking about getting a wheelchair to use outside the house. I'm sick of being housebound 4 or more days out of 7, and not being able to go shopping or to the bank.

On the basis that there are 4 or 5 illnesses with a similar list of symptoms, I've written out a complete list of my symptoms for the doctor:

Symptoms I have had for a long time (more than 5 years, some more than 10 years)

• Trouble sleeping - initial insomnia, delayed sleep phase - unless exhausted.
  
• Extreme thirst.
  
• Depression, anxiety, emotional lability.
  
• Nightmares - frequently about trivial topics which do not seem frightening when awake.
  
• Pins and needles - in feet, legs and hands.
  
• Confusion, "brain fog" - difficulty in thinking, as though intelligence has been reduced, trouble with simple calculations. Especially bad when tired or stressed.
  
• Poor short term memory - go into a room to do or get something and have forgotten what by the time I arrive.
  
• Severe premenstrual syndrome.
  
• Weight gain despite eating sensibly. Have gained weight constantly since my late teens and not managed to lose very much even when exercising regularly.
  
• Recurrent flu-like illnesses: cold or flu every month, lasting a week to 10 days.
  
• Low libido, and too tired/irritable/uncomfortable to have sex even when desire is present.
  
• "Clicky" joints and occasional pain in knees, ankles, wrists and elbows, particularly on the left side.

Old symptoms which have recently come back (reappeared in past 3 months or so)

• Tiredness - made worse by physical exertion.
  
• Non-restorative sleep - still tired when I wake up.
  
• Need to sleep for more than 12 hours following physical exertion - sometimes need to rest for 2 days following an hour or so's moderate exertion (e.g. shopping).
  
• Pain in joints - particularly in knees and ankles, but also affecting hips, wrists, elbows and hands. Pain in legs made worse by walking or standing. Much worse in a cold room or cold weather.
  
• Difficulty in walking or standing for more than 10 minutes on a good day, for more than 2 minutes on a bad day.
  
• Back pain from sitting up for more than 6 hours at a time, even in a supportive chair.
  
• Muscle weakness, fatigue and tenderness. Made much worse by any exercise - even just walking from room to room on a bad day.
  
• Occasional chest pains - intercostal muscles. Much worse in cold weather.
  
• Dizziness and lightheadedness, particularly when tired.
  
• Ringing or whooshing noises in head when tired.
  
• Intolerance of bright lights when tired.

Entirely new symptoms (appeared in past year)

• Headaches - forehead feels hot, with mental confusion and lightheadedness. Made worse by mental or physical exertion.
  
• Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, intestinal gas - irritable bowel syndrome.
  
• Worsening of existing nasal allergies - e.g. dust mite and smoke - perennial rhinitis.
  
• Entirely new allergies with violent asthmatic reaction - e.g. shoe polish, some newspaper print, artificial perfumes, air fresheners.
  
• Itchy rash on arms, back and head - possibly allergy-related, but unlike allergic rashes I have had before.
  
• Very dry skin on hands, face, arms, breasts, back and around ankles - possibly eczema.
  
• Night sweats - wake up in the middle of the night with bed and pyjamas drenched.
  
• Clumsiness - spill water over myself when I drink it, walk into door frames etc.
  
• Strange sensations of skin and muscles: it feels like a large insect crawling over skin or that a muscle is trembling, but this is misreported information from nerves.
  
• Disrupted menstrual period - instead of the regular 28/29 day cycle I am used to, irregularity in alternate months: maybe 25 days followed by 35 days.
  
• Cold hands and feet, often accompanied by rest of body and forehead feeling hot. Yet if fever is present, it is too mild to show up on a forehead thermometer.
  
• Dry eyes as well as dry mouth and thirst.
  
• Almost constant flu-like illness from December until now, with sore throat when bad.

If there's anything you've heard me complain about that isn't on the list, let me know so I can add it.

I should probably go back to bed now - I've written this in three chunks with breaks in between, but even then I'm starting to fall asleep over the keyboard.

Comments

[elisem.livejournal.com]

The wheelchair sounds pretty good; anything that lets you conserve some of your energy and maximize your out-and-about time without costing four days to recover for every one out sounds very sensible to me. Good luck with it. And with everything; that's a difficult row to hoe, that list o' symptoms.

[lindsical.livejournal.com]

I thought about a wheelchair... but i have a walker instead... it helps with the psoratic arthritis.

didnt you say somethign about hot flashes once?

[nitoda]

Definitely mention all the dietary intolerances ...

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I have a strategy suggestion. Feel free to disregard if irrelevant.

(But first, I want to offer you sympathy and good wishes in coping with this long list of troubles.)

Some doctors seem to stop taking me seriously as a good observer of symptoms when I stick things in there that sound like me making a diagnosis. So, depending on what kind of doctor this list is for and how well he or she knows you, I might consider altering some of the things to be more 'facts' than 'conclusions'. Such as describing the premenstrual characteristics rather than saying severe premenstrual syndrome, or saying "Clinic A diagnosed as excema, 1999", or saying "typical of descriptions of irritable bowel syndrome"