Well the one true tidbit of advice I can give anyone from my own personal experience is dont give up pushing your doc to get to the bottom of your health issues.
The doctors diagnosed me with anemia when I was 25 yrs old. I am now pushing 40 and finally found a doctor who would help me.
When I turned 37, the doctor's advice was for me to have a hysterectomy to solve my iron deficiency problem. (that didnt work)
The symptoms did not go away nor did the anemia. They prescribed iron pills 3 times a day for years and still I did not get any better.
Of course any of you that have take massive doses of iron can understand the havoc it played on my intestines. Twice I ended up in the hospital from bowel problems and the doctors just blamed it on the iron consumption. The last hospital incidence I lost 10lbs in about 7 days. The symptoms just kept progressively getting worse.
About 10 mths ago I was suffering from extreme pain in my feet and legs to the point that I could not even get out of bed without being in tears. I saw a foot specialist and he diagnosed me with morton's neuroma which is a nerve problem in your feet. After crutches and 2 months being off work I finally was able to walk somewhat normal again. He suggested surgery on my foot but I opted out as they couldnt guarantee it would cure me. I spent 400.00 on shoes and inserts only to realize that the pain was not going away.
I went back to the doc in tears and demanded they run some more tests. The doctor's first reaction was maybe I was experiencing depression in my life and should consider anti-depressants. Needless to say, I had a few choice words for his advice and stated that I would like for some human around there to act as a doctor for once!! He got my message loud and clear. He did some testing and diagnosed me with fibromialgia. Hah I told him to have a nice day.
On to the next doctor....got to see a rheumatologist...he told me I had faciaitis (dont mind the spelling if it's wrong) or in his words psoriatic arthritis. NOT!!
Finally I got good and mad and point blank asked my fam doc what the heck is causing my iron deficiency?? There obviously was some reason. So more tests....finally they found that I also had vit b12 deficiency. Then more tests.... and finally they decided that maybe I had some sort of internal bleeding so off to the surgeon to have a colonoscopy done. Bingo they finally discovered my problem....then they did the bloodtest for celiac and it was positive....
It is only now that now we have some peace of mind in our family. A few years ago my aunt passed away and guess what she died from.....intestinal cancer..... The doctors now feel that she actually had celiac and that it went un-diagnosed for many years and eventually took her life...she was a big bread eater... yet she ate all the right foods, vitamins, went powerwalking everyday, fat free everything she was the epitomy of health yet she died at a very young age.....52.
Take my advice please....dont mess around with your health....and don't settle on one opinion from the doctors...
Thanks for letting me vent......
