June 3, 2010
Seeing my doctor again tomorrow because I don't feel any better?
I am a 21 year old woman. I eat extremely healthy (an all organic well balanced diet) with no junk food ever, take vitamins and nutritional supplements, I don't take any prescription or OTC medications at all, I exercise, get about 8 hours of sleep a night, drink plenty of water and don't drink alcohol or do drugs. About a year and a half ago, I suddenly started feeling really run down all the time, started getting acne on my face, chest and back (which I never had before), extremely swollen lymph nodes in my neck (like the size of small eggs swollen), and white firm balls of smelly stuff that comes out of my tonsils. I went to my old GP, couldn't actually see him, then passed off by his rude nurse who gave me some antibiotics and basically told me to go away. So I just delt with it, up until about 3 months ago, when my boss started noticing me falling asleep at work (I have "episodes" that last about 10 minutes where I physically cannot stay awake no matter how hard I try, then I black out, then I come to and feel normal again). I decided rather than go back to my GP's surly nurse, I would see a naturopath instead since I believe in treating things naturally anyways.
My new doctor is a very nice man, he comes highly recommended, and in my opinion takes a very sensible approach to natural medicine (he isn't off in the twilight zone and uses traditional medicine when applicable). In my initial visit, he spent an hour listening to what exactly my issues were, tested me for strep in his office (negative), reviewed all my supplements (and he made some suggestions on what to change and add) gave me a b-vitamin shot, and sent me for some blood tests (thyroid function, white blood cell count, mono, iron and calcium levels). Everything was pretty normal, my iron was a little on the lower end of the normal range. He put me on a light iron supplement every other day and told me to take a different liquid multivitamin to see if that helped, and told me to come back in 2 months to discuss how I feel, and he explained that this may be a very long haul to find out what's wrong, and that he will figure out the problem before giving me any type of treatment (I like that idea). It's been 3 months, I still feel like absolute crap, my acne is worsening, my tonsils still have smelly white crap coming out and my lymph nodes still look like eggs in my throat. My appointment is tomorrow afternoon. What do I say to him? I'm in the same condition I was 3 months ago, and actually feel slightly worse (I will admit the portion of my skin that the acne isn't on, like my belly and legs, looks significantly better after taking the liquid multi so it had some effect). Are there any suggestions you all may have to ask him about? Or ideas what may be wrong so I can ask him to test me for it? I like that my doctor isn't going to treat me before he knows what's actually wrong, but I feel like hell every single day, and the sooner we can figure this out, the sooner I can feel alive again.
I forgot to add, when he did the mono test, he also tested for epstein-bar virus. I was negative for both.
I do not care to use acne creams to cover it up, I want to figure out what is CAUSING the acne. I do not want internal birth control either. I am getting married in October, and we want to have kids in the next few years (yet another reason I'm trying to be healthy and feel better). I think it is unnatural to do that to your body, probably damages your reproductive organs in some way, and I refuse to do so. And I certainly don't want to see any more doctors who pass off my problems with a band-aid prescription without getting to the root cause. My doctor has also told me, if he feels it necessary, he will refer me to a specialist, but he will check in with that specialist to make sure I am getting proper attention, not just shoved pills to treat symptoms without a diagnosis.
Filed under Vitamin Acne Treatment by omercoil
Comments on Seeing my doctor again tomorrow because I don't feel any better?
Swollen lymph nodes means you are fighting some infection or virus . The tonsils are forming tonsil stones called tonsillith's which are usually very hard stones and when broken really do stink. The can form in anyone with tonsils A friend removed one and I still remember the smell, and it was years ago. I would want to be tested for any STD's or anything that would lower immune system functioning. You may be suffering from a few small conditions and looking to connect them in to one large one that is not there. I am more concerned about the lymph nodes than anything else. They are the one sure sign of something going on that should not be. As nice as you physician is I would want a definitive diagnosis and not a trial and error search. This can be done even if you have to check into a hospital. It has been going on too long and you have real symptoms. There is no point in being alarmed as there are so many things that can cause this so don't jump to conclusions. Even parasites can cause all your symptoms.
sounds exactly like what i have gone through…and I can't stress it enough:
GET LOTS OF SLEEP!
I only know the answer to the smelly things coming out of your tonsils and they are called tonsil stones. They are common and totally normal, so I don't think that has anything to do with your other symptoms. Honestly, your doctor is probably right that this will be a long haul, you have symptoms that could lead to anything. I wish you the best, good luck!
PHEW! that was quite the question. I am no doctor but the thing that stuck out to me most were the smelly white balls you reffered to. when you pick them out the leave little permanent crater things in your tonsils. I have them to and It freaked me out bad! but they are called tonsil stones and they are a build up of bacteria that collect and and hang out and ferment. causing bad breath and the craters i mentioned. they can't hurt you really but they may be forming because of whats going on in the bigger picture.. something is definately wrong but the only way to get the tonsil stones to go away forever is to have your tonsils removed.. even after they fix whatever else is going on you will probably still get them. sorry.
you're not gonna like some of thei things i have to say but hear me out cuz i know exactly whats going on with your tonsils at leastt.
one thing i think is that you are trying to be TOO healthy. trying to avoid all bad things can come back and bite you cuz you are more suseptable to some things. just think about it. we got vaccines that have a small amount of the bad thing it in so we can build up our immune system so we don't get the disease when we are older. does that make sense?
i honestly believe that if you STOP taking some of these suppliments and eating all organic foods you may feel BETTER. i know you think i'm crazy but thats fine lol.
i recommend you go to a dermitologist about your acne cuz there are creams and pills that can clear that right up. also some birth control pills can easily clear it up as well and lets face it you're gonna want some form of birth control at some point in the future anyways.
i recommend that you see an endocrinologist about your neck and tiredness cuz the dr you are seeing right now doesn't specilize in the thyroid and he may believe that your numbers are with in the healthy range but an endocrinologist may think the results are extremely out of range. (i've had thyroid problems for 3 years now and my GP is an idiot when it comes to test results and could have died at one point from thyorid storm).
and i recommend you see an ENT about your tonsil problems cuz you have TONSIL STONES. they are pieces of food that instead going down your throat wit the rest of your food they get stick in your tonsils. (i know this is what you have cuz i had it when i was 12 and i only get rid of tonsil stones cuz i had my tonsils taken out last september at the age of 23.)