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To my 19 year old self & any other teen going through ill health. #Undiagnosed #ChronicPain #Depression #Anxiety #HormonalImbalances
I need you to do these things I'm listing here to save yourself 8 years of mismanaged & misdiagnosed illnesses & psychological stress caused by medical professionals themselves.
Looking after yourself must be your number 1 priority.
1. Create a symptom diary & organise your symptoms by systems i.e. Digestion, circulation, musculoskeletal pain. Include food too.
2. Don't just say "excruciating pain" it needs to be described better. Use pain level scales online, find a table that fits your description on levels 1-10 & show that to a Dr when your describing the level. Use your words to describe the pain e.i. Burning, dull, stinging. Describe where it is e.i. bone, muscle, tendon, ligaments, temples or even glands.
3. Don't allow your dr's to tell you "your too young" or "it's how your brain processes..." Or "you have depression" or "it normal for a complex case.." ask for investigations & know you are allowed to disagree with the professionals if it doesn't match your experience.
Other tips... These three conditions are for some reason not known about to the majority of medical professionals & are often missed & misdiagnosed as other conditions.
POTS - palpitations, fainting, cold sweats, dizziness, headaches, purple feet & hands, burning hot feet, fatigue, stomach issues.
Often misdiagnosed as anxiety.
Self test to see if you have it - the poor man's tilt table test.
Buy a blood pressure monitor.
Lay flat for 20min take BP & HR, stand & immediately take BP & HR again, stand for 10 minutes or as long as you can safely & take BP & HR again. Do this for 2 weeks, if you have an increased heartrate of 30bpm every time you have signs of POTS, take the findings to Dr with info on what it is & ask for a referral to a cardiologist.
Hypothyroidism/Hyperthyroidism
These can create similar symptoms similar to someone with chronic fatigue syndrome, depression & extreme stress. It's actually a gland that isn't functioning right & causes a lot of hormonal imbalances & symptoms.
Hypermobility spectrum disorder are often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia or completely ignored as painful. This condition is very painful & multi-systemic, meaning it effects other parts of the body other than just bendy joints or "double jointed" it can cause easy dislocations/subluxations, fragile skin, digestive illnesses, psychological or neurological illnesses & nervous system illnesses & there's so many myths about this illness even on the NHS website so please look at EDS support UK for correct information.
I'm trying to save teens the heartache & confusion I had when I was 19 experiencing all of the fear around my body & no Dr understood or took me seriously because of my age. I've struggled for 8 long years trying to get the answers, but I am still misdiagnosed as every specialist I've seen missed the signs. This is a problem as I wasn't medically aware myself, I didn't know & they should have.
