I am freaking out about my health

February 2, 2010 4:41 PM

YANMD, but I need to consult the hive mind about some very worrying symptoms I've been having. I've been to a few doctors and so far, Scotland Yard Is Baffled.

This has been going on for a little over a year, though it's only been bad enough (and I've only been insured enough) to see a doctor about it recently. I'm an otherwise fairly healthy guy in my mid-20's, but for the last year I've had extremely low energy no matter how much sleep I get, occasional lightheadedness and faintness, diffuse hair loss, and a period of a couple of months in late 2008 where my heart would start pounding for no reason- not fast, just extremely hard. I was still insured at the time and saw my GP about it, and my heart was perfectly healthy. After getting insured again through my new job, I saw a dermatologist about the hair loss, and got a similar reaction. It didn't look like male pattern or an infection, but it was definitely noticeable, and my scalp was inflamed. She prescribed me a topical corticosteroid spray that hasn't really done anything.

I started having trouble concentrating at work and remembering things, and my low-grade depression got much worse. For a while I just wrote it off as stress, but it's become a bit more urgent after an episode where I passed out on the way to work in late December. I underwent a pretty exhaustive series of tests while in the hospital, none of which turned up anything.

The doctor I'm seeing now has told me my symptoms sound like a thyroid complaint, but my endocrinology results (taken about 5 hours after I passed out) didn't indicate anything wrong- 0.35 TSH, 5.7 T4, 92 T3 total. I'm on an antidepressant to see if that does anything for my fatigue, with no positive difference so far.

Has anyone else experienced similar (vague, worrying) symptoms? Would it be worth my time to get a second opinion? How worried should I be about the fainting episode, and has it made me more worried than I should be about the other stuff that's been happening?

posted by Merzbau to Health & Fitness (18 answers total)

have you seen an endocrinologist? this sounds like it's worth a visit to a specialist.
posted by thinkingwoman at 5:08 PM on February 2, 2010

2nding endocrinologist
posted by brevator at 5:12 PM on February 2, 2010

How about B12 deficiency? My mom developed this gradually as pernicious anemia, and I remember her being totally wiped out all the time.
posted by cabingirl at 5:15 PM on February 2, 2010

Subclinical hypothyroidism. I second going to an endocrinologist. Just because your numbers are "normal" doesn't mean something isn't wrong. My numbers were all normal when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had a two inch tumor in one lobe. I had similar symptoms, and they didn't go away until my TSH was closer to 1.
posted by kimdog at 5:16 PM on February 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

Well, IANAD, but my thyroiditis took a few tests to be diagnosed, and my symptoms were very similar to yours.
posted by Bergamot at 5:20 PM on February 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

If the endocrinologist route turns up nothing, try a psychiatrist. I've seen all those symptoms in people with anxiety problems, some of them not even knowing they had a problem with anxiety.
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 5:30 PM on February 2, 2010

Lupus?
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 5:36 PM on February 2, 2010

Yep, sounds like it could be anxiety to me. Particularly the thing about your heart beating "hard but not fast" in your chest. Being aware of your heartbeat like that is like the poster child for anxiety issues.
posted by Justinian at 5:40 PM on February 2, 2010

I had very similar symptoms -- including hair loss, heart beating hard randomly, feeling lightheaded -- when I was taking Yasmin, a birth control pill. After some research I decided it was messing with my B12 levels (but I never saw anyone to confirm this). I decided to go off the pill, and within a couple of weeks I felt normal again. Of course you're not on a birth control pill, but it does sound like it might be a B12 deficiency, as cabingirl suggested. If you're taking anything else, it might be worth looking into the side effects.
posted by bethist at 5:50 PM on February 2, 2010

Except for the hair loss, all the symptoms match sleep apnea. Do you snore?
posted by desjardins at 5:51 PM on February 2, 2010

I'm watching this with interest, because I've had exactly the same set of symptoms and tests, and the same lack of answers!

FWIW, my doctor said I don't have pernicious anemia, but my mother does, as do all the women on her side of the family (I'm a woman), and I feel substantially better when I take a B12 supplement (I'm sure it's not placebo effect, because I first tried other things and lifestyle changes that I was more hopeful about, and that had no effect).
posted by crabintheocean at 6:07 PM on February 2, 2010

Do you eat a lot of eggs? A couple things here are Biotin deficiency symptoms, but that's usually almost always caused by massive egg consumption.

Also, are you taking an iron supplement? Iron overload has several of the symptoms you describe.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:12 PM on February 2, 2010

Also, are you taking an iron supplement? Iron overload has several of the symptoms you describe.

You don't need to be taking a supplement - there's a genetic condition called hemochromatosis that causes iron build-up. (It runs in my family so they check my load as part of my regular bloodwork)
posted by phearlez at 6:29 PM on February 2, 2010

Response by poster: No snoring, and no eggs, except maybe an omelet for breakfast once every week or two. Anxiety is something I'd thought of- I have a history of social anxiety, though it's been under control for the last five years or so. My friends and coworkers I've talked to about the fainting/blackout/whatever are convinced it was a panic attack, but this doesn't seem likely to me. Aside from nausea and lightheadedness, I felt fine that morning, and had just come back relaxed from a brief Christmas vacation. I don't remember being worried about anything more than "I don't want to puke in my car, I'd better pull over and get out," and had the presence of mind to grab a stop sign as I was going down to keep myself from cracking my head on the sidewalk.

As far as iron, I take a multivitamin with 40% RDA (started about six months ago), and since I eat little to no red meat eat leafy green vegetables with almost every meal and fish several times a week. I haven't done the math to be sure, but I don't think I would be getting too much.
posted by Merzbau at 6:47 PM on February 2, 2010

I have had these symptoms, minus the hair stuff and plus a few more vague sensations of not being well... and for me it's anxiety. Luckily, I've known pretty much from the beginning and I have a multi-pronged plan of attack involving meditation, exercise, healthy eating, stress-management throughout the day, plenty of relaxing creative time alone and with others, and adequate sleep. I also have taken medications for anxiety and seen a therapist.

I actually sort of doubt that your issues are caused by anxiety, but they certainly might produce some of their own, and having chronic health issues can be, as I well know, very difficult! So regardless of what the underlying issue is, it can't hurt to be extra sensitive to the needs of your body and mind at this time - try to create the optimal environment for healing to occur. Can't hurt, might help, and it may help to feel as though you are doing SOMETHING for your health while you work towards a solid medical intervention (I don't mean this sarcastically - feeling as though you are working on the problem is seriously helpful).
posted by Cygnet at 6:55 PM on February 2, 2010

Hypokalemia. My potassium was low for several years and I didn't know it until I switched doctors, and my new doctor used a lab that had different diagnostic criteria. The old lab considered anything under 3.5 to be low, the new lab used 3.8 as the cutoff. All the while, mine was between 3.5 and 3.1, but nobody caught it until I switched docs. I had the occasional pounding heart, episodes of near-syncope, and increased depression and anxiety. Now it's three months later, and I take a potassium supplement every day, and the symptoms have gone away.

FWIW, I've had hair loss issues the whole time; this is likely related to PCOS, but since I have a lot of hair nobody seems very concerned about that part :)
posted by chez shoes at 7:09 PM on February 2, 2010

Nthing seeing an endocrinologist, and also getting your B12 levels checked, if they haven't done that already. Blood work to check potassium, iron, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, etc. levels seems to make sense, if your doctor has not done this already.
posted by gudrun at 11:46 PM on February 2, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions, everybody- looks like I need to find an endocrinologist in my area. I don't know if my vitamin B12 and D levels were checked during my hospital stay- if so, I can't figure out what they're called on the packet of test results they sent me home with. As far as iron, my red blood cell count was fine- 5.42 out of a normal range of 4.7-6.0. My potassium was low when I was discharged, but I had been on a saline drip for almost 24 hours straight and not eaten anything. A test a few days later showed it back to normal.
posted by Merzbau at 5:50 PM on February 3, 2010