Unexplained illness 
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive September 2008:
Unexplained illness
I'm coming here because my DH's brother has had these symptoms for a few months and the doctors are at a loss.
Symptoms are nausea, tired abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness when it is bad and loss of appetite.
They've run all sorts of tests and I'm getting worried. They said that nothing is turning out as the culprit.
To add, he also went to war (in Iraq) and I think the doctors are army doctors but maybe there's something related to his time over there too.
I have no explanation or ideas but wanted to offer my thoughts and prayers. I hope that they can figure out what is going on with him.
Sending you all ((HUGS))
An odd suggestion, but what Diagnosis X. I love seeing the show and all the symptoms that go unnoticed. I don't know if they have a listing of all their episodes, but it might be worth checking. You might want to check online about illnesses that stem from the war and chemical warfare.
I have some friends that swear they were affected.
Check his diet. I heard something on KYW this morning about a whole range of symptoms stemming from drinking high-caffiene drinks or otherwise "overdosing" on caffiene. Can your BIL check his diet and start keeping a diary, and maybe cut out all but fairly plain, unseasoned (and especially unsalted) stuff, stick to water and milk, and gradually add other foods to see if any of them upset him?
What kinds of specialists has he seen. I would assume a gastroenterologist - what about an endocrinologist?
Ginny, he has been known to drink tons of caffeine so I'll ask him.
This is what he wrote yesterday:
They’ve done tons of blood tests, x-rays/CT and scopes and nothing out of the ordinary other than what the blood thinners cause. We thought it was Celiac, but the test came back negative (we tried the diet anyway, but no luck). The only thing that came back was Epstein Barr virus, which the doctor doesn’t know what to make of (usually mono, but he doesn’t thing so).
I’m going to check out the VA. (To see post-war effects.)
At the moment, I’m a bit sick of doctors (even though ours has been really great).
West Nile possibly? Or Lyme Disease?
I was going to suggest Lyme Disease as well.
Lyme Disease symptoms can imitate other diseases and can be misdiagnosed.
EARLY LOCALIZED DISEASE
Signs and symptoms of Early Local Lyme Disease often starts with flu-like feelings of headache, stiff neck, fever, muscle aches, and fatigue. About 60% of light-skinned patients notice a unique enlarging rash, referred to as erythema migrans (EM), days to weeks after the bite. On dark-skinned people, this rash resembles a bruise.
The rash may appear within a day of the bite or as late as a month later. This rash may start as a small, reddish bump about one-half inch in diameter. It may be slightly raised or flat. It soon expands outward, often leaving a clearing (normal flesh color) in the center. It can enlarge to the size of a thumb-print or cover a persons back.
To be considered local disease the rash must be at the tick bite site with no other major organ system involvement. A rash occurring at other than the bite site in an indication of Disseminated Lyme Disease.
Don't confuse a local reaction to a tick bite, with signs of infection. A small inflamed skin bump or discoloration that develops within hours of a bite and over the next day or two is not likely to be due to infection - but rather a local reaction to the disruption of the skin.
DISSEMINATED LYME DISEASE
Some people do not notice these early indicators of infection. Early manifestations usually disappear, and disseminated (other organ system involvement) infection may occur. General symptoms alone do not indicate Lyme disease.
GENERAL
Profound fatigue, severe headache, fever(s), severe muscle aches/pain.
BRAIN
Nerve conduction defects (weakness/paralysis of limbs, loss of reflexes, tingling sensations of the extremities - peripheral neuropathy), severe headaches, stiff neck, meningitis, cranial nerve involvement (e.g. change in smell/taste; difficulty chewing, swallowing, or speaking; hoarseness or vocal cord problems; facial paralysis - Bell's palsy; dizziness/fainting; drooping shoulders; inability to turn head; light or sound sensitivity; change in hearing; deviation of eyeball [wandering or lazy eye], drooping eyelid), stroke, abnormal brain waves or seizures, sleep disorders, cognitive changes (memory problems, difficulty in word finding, confusion, decreased concentration, problems with numbers) and, behavioral changes (depression, personality changes).
Other psychiatric manifestations that have been reported in the scientific literature include: panic attacks; disorientation; hallucinations; extreme agitation; impulsive violence, manic, or obsessive behavior; paranoia; schiziphrenic-like states, dementia, and eating disorders. Several patients have committed suicide.
EYES
Vision changes, including blindness, retinal damage, optic atrophy, red eye, conjunctivitis, "spots" before eyes, inflammation of various parts of the eye, pain, double vision.
SKIN
Rash not at the bite site (EM) - This skin discoloration varies in size and shape; usually has rings of varying shades, but can be uniformly discolored; may be hot to the touch or itch; ranges in color from reddish to purple to bruised-looking; and can be necrotic (crusty/oozy). The rash may develop a bull's-eye rash or target look. The shape my be circular, oval, triangular, or a long-thin ragged line.
Other disseminated skin problems include:
lymphocytoma, which is a benign nodule or tumor, and
acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) which is discoloration/degeneration usually of the hands or feet.
HEART and BLOOD VESSELS
Irregular beats, heart block, myocarditis, chest pain, vasculitis.
JOINTS
Pain - intermittent or chronic, usually not symmetrical; sometimes swelling; TMJ-like pain in jaw.
LIVER
Mild liver function abnormalities.
LUNGS
Difficulty breathing, pneumonia.
MUSCLE
Pain, inflammation, cramps, loss of tone.
STOMACH and INTESTINES
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, anorexia.
SPLEEN
Tenderness, enlargement.
He's had the illness for a few months, so he's not so sure it's Lyme disease...no rashes or anything.
That's the greatest myth about Lyme disease. There doesn't have to be a rash. A great number of folks who are diagnosed with Lyme don't ever present a rash as a sympton.
Lyme disease can last a lifetime. An ex-boyfriend's sister has suffered from the side effects for almost 20 years now. It took them probably 10 years to get her dx. Her situation is rare, though.
Heidi, when my son was first dx with his jra, they were ruling out lyme. I came across a whole bunch of info and ended up getting emails from a laday who had very similar symptoms to your bil, just like tayjar, it took 10 years to dx. But untreated lyme can just make you very sick.
It couldn't hurt to have the bloodwork run.
I know he had the ct scans but what about an MRI?
A good friend of mine had similar symptoms plus horrible vertigo. She was sick for 18 months and went to doctor after doctor with no resolution. It turns out it was due to allergies. She is now receiving allergy shots and has been healthy for 6-8 months. I know it sounds strange, but it might be worth exploring.
Jen - it constantly surprises and amazes me how many *undiagnosed* illnesses now are actually due to allergies. It shouldn't surprise me - think about it - with all the meds being prescribed, and people dumping them in the water supply by way of flushing them down the toilet, all the pesticides, all the hormones and antibiotics used in animals, all the environmental factors that are affected also by those things - it's really a miracle that ALL of us don't have a lot of health concerns due to allergies.
I have allergies to foods, iodine and several antibiotics, as well as environmental (weeds, pollens, trees) - and it took a number of years to determine that certain symptoms and illnesses were due to those.
You could have hit the nail on the head there - allergies can make a person sick sick sick.
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