AboutTina Expertise I can help on all aspects of the condition, treatment, support. I cannot diagnose but only give my personal expertise, and refer you to others who can help. I am in touch with doctors, therapists, and professionals on a regular basis. I can help with disability issues pertaining to lymphedema or cancer.
Experience 13 year cancer survivor, Lymphland Support group owner, Owner of Lymphland.com website, writer for Butterfly Gazette, forums coordinator for ELymphNotes online lymphedema magazine, patient and advocate for 10 years, Yahoo answers advanced level answerer.
Organizations Lymphland Support Group Owner, Lymphland.com website owner, National Lymphedema Network member, American Society of Lymphology member, ELymphNotes forums coordinator and writer, member of many online support groups. Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Grief Counselor, former bank loan rep, pharmacy ass't
Education/Credentials college graduate, volunteer in pet loss grief counselling.
Expert: Tina Date: 1/3/2008 Subject: symptoms of what disease/condition
Question I am 38 year old male. Extremely fatigued, swollen underarm lymph node, itchy rash, notice I'm healing slowly, strange body odor, lower back pain, occasional dizziness. I've been less than well for some years. About 3-4 years ago, I went through a bout of digestive problems, indigestion, heartburn, alternating constipation, diarrhea, fatigue. Went to many doctors, had many tests without finding anything wrong. I was going through a divorce and much was attributed to stress. Symptoms subsided, but remained an issue. Recently found I had vitamin B12 deficiency. Doctor said to try just taking B vitamins before resorting to shots. Borderline hypertension. Are these all related?
Answer Greetings Jan, what kinds of tests have you had? Healing very slowly is a sign of anemia, so that would solve that symptom. What kinds of doctors have you been referred to?
It could be multiple problems. One of them is lupus, which does not always show up on blood work. They test antibodies and if you are not in a full attack, they may not show up. I would ask again for thyroid, hormonal, lupus, and fungal infection tests. Do you have any allergies that you know of? It could be an underlying allergy attack as allergies do affect the digestive tract and colon and would cause some of the symptoms as well.
I would ask for the above tests, start keeping a food journal what you ate, when you ate it, when your symptoms flare up, how you feel and what you might have done that day. Sometimes adults can develop mid-life allergies and have no clue what is wrong with them, it might not be enough to produce a breathing problem but can cause alot of disruption in your life with the fatigue, lymph node reactions, rashes and digestive problems.
Ask your doctor about the tests, keep the journal for a month and if you don't get anywhere with the tests or journal write me back and we'll brainstorm what to do next.
