<p>I agree with Hanna, when a person has a lingering un Dx issue it is extremely frustrating and counterproductive, you cannot do anything to get better until you know why you are worse ;)</p>
<p>I had an issue that took 9 years to diagnose and once the Dx happened I was essentially cured.</p>
<p>I also know a family who has an issue with autonomic nervous system disorder and in learning about it whilst the person with the series passing out issue has serious symptoms now, there were small lifelong symptoms, but they were too nebulous to be classified, yet they greatly affected quality of life.</p>
<p>The OP is self-diagnosing because they aren’t getting satisfaction from folks in the medical community. They also need to feel like they are doing something or they will go nuts. Anyone that has been pushed from doctor to doctor who truly has a chronic or rare illness understands this frustration. Unfortunately, today, a patient has to advocate for themselves and sometimes must help find answers. Sometimes a family member has to do this for them.</p>
<p>I know too many anecdotes of friends and family members getting pushed around and ignored, and only due to their own persistence, finding solutions to their problems.
I can’t even begin to tell you some of the stories I’ve heard - its awful what people have to go through when they have something a even a little rare. </p>
<p>I have a friend who nearly died of malnutrition because of Celiacs - it’s totally unnecessary to suffer so long with something that is not that uncommon.
I also have a friend who had a root canal - but really had a chronic sinus infection. Nothing like having a root canal when you don’t need one.</p>
<p>nysmile, I don’t know if this is what you’re getting at, but I do think that it’s smart to explore psychosomatic causes for this kind of mystery illness. The problem is the wrongheaded perception that a psychosomatic illness is “all in your head.” It’s “all in your head” only in the sense that a brain tumor is “all in your head.” Psychosomatic illness is real, not imaginary – it’s just likely to respond to a different sort of medical treatment than an immune disorder would.</p>
<p>Too often, people say “Seek counseling!” as an insult. And non-psychiatric doctors are sometimes guilty of the same attitude when they send a frustrating patient to a psychiatrist. There can be an implication that the patient is faking it or deliberately wasting the doctor’s time. It’s really destructive.</p>
<p>My question as to whether or not this OP has considered counseling was not at all to be meant as an insult. I was not trying to imply that the OP is faking her illness but rather that sometimes the mind can indeed play a role in ones physical well being and psychosomatic symptoms may be playing a part. My wording may have been wrong but at no time did I mean the suggestion for counseling to be taken as an insult. Even if her physical symptoms are not psychosomatic (symptoms seem to be worse when she is away from home and at college), it may help her cope with her symptoms.</p>
<p>uh, no. i’ve been physically ill for the last year and a half, minus a few months in the late spring and summer. i wouldn’t make up something that made me feel this miserable.</p>
<p>and to set the record straight, i did get a positive test result: according to my doctor, i have an antibody deficiency that significantly reduces my resistance to infection. i googled “pneumococcal antibody deficiency” (what she called it, not me!) and what i quoted above were some of the first things that came up.</p>
<p>this thing has been making me physically miserable for over a year now – a year during which i’ve grown up more than i ever imagined i would in college, found an academic passion and the outlines of a career path, found some good friends and a few role models, learned a lot about myself, met the love of my life, and on the whole been happier than i ever was in high school – and yet this persists. i’m not making it up. none of my doctors have suggested that i am. it’s just that they’re still figuring out what’s going on, because clearly it’s not the usual alcohol poisoning or flu or whatever the hell else college health centers normally deal with.</p>
<p>i’m sorry if this sounds sharp, but no, it is not psychosomatic; of that i am absolutely certain.</p>
<p>nysmile, again, i’m sorry about the tone of that post. but no, these are real infections, and the antibody issue i mentioned was confirmed by an actual blood test by a reputable hospital. i just don’t quite know what it all means yet.</p>
<p>by the way, menloparkmom, i was prescribed a five-day course of azithromycin when i had pneumonia, and it did seem to clear things up for a while. i’m not taking anything right now, and i won’t be able to see a doctor until early january when i’m back from break, but that’s definitely something i could ask about.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that you’re not faking your symptoms. I wish you the best and good health for the upcoming New Year. Hopefully your doctor can find the root of the problem.</p>
<p>“i won’t be able to see a doctor until early january when i’m back from break”
WHY? You NEED to be seen over the break. And you need to INSIST on getting a long course of zitromyacin, or some other antibiotic.</p>
<p>cam: maybe go see some one in your home town- I had a problem for years that I self diagnosed with the help of an odd doctor comment that was meant as a joke, but I took it seriously and it was right- you never know when you will run into a doc who has experience with your issue</p>