Inflammatory disease ? ... joint and muscle pain , fever , i Posted: 06-28-07 07:41am
am a 26 year old female. I just had my
second child three months ago via
c-section which went perfectly, however
since then my health has nosedived and
nobody can pinpoint why. I have always
been healthy, and not much runs in my
family although my mother did have
cervical cancer and my grandmother had
breast cancer. here's whats happened: I've
had constant itching- especially on my
palms, horrible pain everywhere- my
joints, muscles, sometimes it feels like
in my bones, and my skin hurts, burns, all
sorts of sensations. I've had a very low
grade fever(mid 99's to 100) now
constantly for two months. I am covered in
bruises that don't make sense- I am not
iron deficient. I get random searing pains
throughout the day. my veins are
incredibly prominent, and hurt, my skin no
longer resembles my skin.it's covered in
bruises, red patches, red dots, eczema-
none of this is terribly severe looking to
anybody but me. I know this is not what my
skin looks like. a few of the red dots
have oozed blood.my skin also always looks
slightly sunburnt even though i haven't
been out in the sun at all.I have a
swollen spot( nothing dramatic but still
unusual) on my foot right below my ankle.
I've had dizzy spells. my muscles are
exhausted. I get horrible muscle and
abdominal cramps, my eyes hurt and are
bloodshot. I have lost 6 pounds in the
last week. i am 5'4 and went from 124 to
118. i've also had a sudden increase in my
blood pressure . I've always run extremely
low. last week it was 130/92. all
bloodwork has come back normal- lymes,
thyroid, rheumatoid, all kinds of viruses,
and platelet count. I had a clean head MRI
and neuro exam, and a clean chest x-ray. i
no onger know where the real symptoms end
and my stress over all of this is causing
other ones to start- but the fever pain
and bruising in particular scare me, and
my doctor doesn't seem in any rush to send
me anywhere( although I do have a
rheumatology appt in 3 weeks). I apologize
for the length of this, but i'm scared,
angry and frustrated and any feedback
would be much appreciated.
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DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
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Lupus Answer A3063 Posted: 08-08-07 07:46am
According to the symptoms you report
(joint and muscle pain, fever, itching of
the palms, skin bruises…) it is hard to
suppose any cause without several
diagnostic procedures. You could be
experiencing some type of inflammatory
disease. The nature of the inflammation
could be infective or rheumatic.
Infective diseases are proven by isolating
the infective agent or by proving specific
antibodies in the blood. Non-infective
inflammations are usually rheumatic and
can include several conditions: rheumatoid
arthritis, lupus, scleroderma,
dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue
disease, polyarthritis etc. These diseases
are identified according to their clinical
manifestations, serological tests and
additional diagnostic procedures (X-ray,
CT, MRI, blood work, ultrasound etc.).
Some malignant diseases (lymphomas and
other) can also cause the same symptoms.
It seems that your GP has done everything
in his power but it appears that your case
needs expert help from a rheumatologist
and an infectologist.
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