[Histrionics]

Hello, I am new to this so please let me know if I am not doing this correctly. I am a 39yo female, have had depression x 20yrs, anxiety/panic x 15yrs, and PTSD. Right now I am barely hanging on. I have 8 months of sobriety and see a therapist weekly. I don't know where to start, but I am having new physical and emotional symptoms that are scaring me. Physical- Weight gain, hair loss, melasma, random high/low heart rate to a point where I have had to call paramedics(>140 or <60), debilitating fatigue, (simple things like washing my hair are exhausting), I haven't slept through the night in over a year, edema in feet/lower legs, stomach problems, incontinence. Mental/emotional- uncontrollable, scary mood swings (past 4 months), nightmares/sweats, extreme panic episodes. More recently I have been finding myself confused by things as simple as writing the date on a form, having difficulty understanding things, memory loss, complete losses of time - eg- no memory of having done or said things. My therapist knows most of this, however, I wanted to get checked out by a doctor to make sure nothing physical was wrong. He refused to run a single blood test to check things like my hormone and thyroid levels or even help with my antidepressant medication. He said to see an obgyn and put in a GI referral (but no one has called and they haven't returned my calls). The only test he ran was a urine renal panel which showed elevated levels of creatinine and protein, and did nothing with those results either. So I went to a gynecologist to see if they would at least check my estrogen levels- he defended the other doctor and refused to run any tests as well and told me to tell my concerns to the first doctor to have tests run. I left in tears, I feel utterly defeated and don't know where to turn or what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I just don't have much fight left

[Calla lily12]

Originally Posted by Histrionics

Hello, I am new to this so please let me know if I am not doing this correctly. I am a 39yo female, have had depression x 20yrs, anxiety/panic x 15yrs, and PTSD. Right now I am barely hanging on. I have 8 months of sobriety and see a therapist weekly. I don't know where to start, but I am having new physical and emotional symptoms that are scaring me. Physical- Weight gain, hair loss, melasma, random high/low heart rate to a point where I have had to call paramedics(>140 or <60), debilitating fatigue, (simple things like washing my hair are exhausting), I haven't slept through the night in over a year, edema in feet/lower legs, stomach problems, incontinence. Mental/emotional- uncontrollable, scary mood swings (past 4 months), nightmares/sweats, extreme panic episodes. More recently I have been finding myself confused by things as simple as writing the date on a form, having difficulty understanding things, memory loss, complete losses of time - eg- no memory of having done or said things. My therapist knows most of this, however, I wanted to get checked out by a doctor to make sure nothing physical was wrong. He refused to run a single blood test to check things like my hormone and thyroid levels or even help with my antidepressant medication. He said to see an obgyn and put in a GI referral (but no one has called and they haven't returned my calls). The only test he ran was a urine renal panel which showed elevated levels of creatinine and protein, and did nothing with those results either. So I went to a gynecologist to see if they would at least check my estrogen levels- he defended the other doctor and refused to run any tests as well and told me to tell my concerns to the first doctor to have tests run. I left in tears, I feel utterly defeated and don't know where to turn or what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I just don't have much fight left

What is the doctor's reasoning by not ordering any tests? That sounds crazy! I was going to suggest hormone levels (thyroid especially) I would pressure the doc to do these tests. I don't understand how some doctors think (or don't think) HUGS if you want them.

[nicoleflynn]

I would think a total workup...a physical is in order. I would find another doctor soon.

[treevoice]

Hi,

I'm very sorry to hear you are having such intense issues. If you are recovering from some sort of substance abuse, that may have something to do with some of your symptoms. Did you have any help from a doctor through that process and are your current doctors aware of your recent sobriety?

Depending on the nature and severity of the substance use, that may have caused some damage that you are recovering from. I'm an alcoholic and the first year after I got sober I had all kinds of crazy issues, from insomnia (and insane nightmares when I did sleep, sometimes even daytime hallucinations) to suicidal depression and panic attacks (which made my heart rate do all kinds of crazy things that made me think there was something severely wrong with it), and definitely memory, cognitive, and digestive issues. These are not uncommon symptoms in recovering alcoholics.

In any case, it seems crazy to me that your doctors won't run basic tests. Do you maybe have any issues with your insurance that's causing you to have to deal with these particular doctors? Might be a good idea to try someone new if you can.

Best of luck! <3