Meh.

[rosiedoes]

I'm starting to feel like the local blood bank, right here.

I got a call this afternoon, asking me to come in and see the doctor, about the results of my tests (remember: that was blood test #4 since mid-November). So, I went in, and Dr T basically said that there's something ambiguous going on in my results. They could just be natural fluctuations due to factors like colds, or they could be a sign of any number of rarer, chronic and more complicated conditions. So, given the symptoms that prompted them to check in the first place, he can't say, "Yeah, don't worry about it - you're not dying or anything, you just have an untreatable skin condition," because it might be something that takes more figuring out.

I'm guessing they've decided it's not the tumour, though, because he hasn't mentioned that since.

He didn't give me any more specifics, though, than "it could be something rarer and more tricky to pin down" and that it might be "a more chronic condition".

So. Friday will be blood test #5 - and judging by the number of things he wrote down on the form, it's going to be another one of the three-vial jobs.

Nice.

And for bonus points: I got home and cut the top of my pinky really badly while making a sandwich. Excellent.

Comments

[haterswannabeme.livejournal.com]

5 blood tests? I know sometimes you need repeat results for consistency, but is your doctor sure he knows what he's doing? ;)

perhaps he needs Diagnosis Pro, king among medical students; he can try and narrow it down from this list of 286 possible causes: http://en.diagnosispro.com/differential_diagnosis-for/sweats-excess-perspiration/24812-154.html

Are you worried about anything or more curious to see what's wrong, and hoping for a diagnosis?

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Well, the first one was to test against loads of things like Diabetes, wacky hormones, a tumour of the adrenal gland, all that sort of thing. He thought that would probably rule everything but Raynaud's out.

Most of the results went missing, and the ESR came out weird, but it may have been because I'd had an infection.

So we re-did the ESR.

When the results of that came in, I had an appointment and saw a locum, who then requested a blood test for my Thyroid.

The other day, Dr T came back and asked me in for a full blood count and ESR. It's those results I went in about today.

And now he's testing for a bunch of other things.

I do believe he knows what he's doing and the symptoms are more than just hyperhydrosis, it's to do with my skin falling off on my extremities - enough that I currently have no finger prints because so many layers of skin peeled off that it's now thin scar tissue, my hands and feet either being icy cold, or very sweaty (and my toes going blue), abnormally short and heavy periods (and suddenly, major period pains after never having had more than a twinge, for the last 13 years), and what I personally think is hypoglycaemia.

My body temperature goes up or down instantly - I'll go from being out in the cool or cold air to pouring - literally pouring - with sweat the second I step inside a shop or get on public transport, even if I haven't exerted myself at all. I find that if my hands can't breathe I have near-panic attacks and want to claw off my skin within seconds.

There's a lot to it and I trust Dr T. I think he's being thorough, more than anything else.

Mostly, all I'm hoping for is to be able to control my sweating. It's so awkward in summer - I can never wear light coloured clothes and have to use men's anti-perspirant. My face sweats so much that my make-up runs and my fringe gets drenched and goes curly within minutes of leaving the house... That's all I really care about. Sorting that out. It's never that it smells bad - it's just the wetness of it.

[ashe-frost.livejournal.com]

Think of it like this: for every thing you don't have, it narrows down the search to find what you do have.

Having blood taken is obnoxious (especially if you get some vapid nineteen year old who doesn't wait for the alcohol to dry just to make sure it burns extra when she has to stick you six times before she finds a vein), but it's for a good cause, right?

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

I always have the same nurse - a lady named Sarah, who is very good. We don't use alcohol on our needles - each of them are disposable, so it comes out sterile and goes straight in.

The thing is, right now I don't think they've completely ruled anything out. He just hasn't mentioned the adrenal gland thing recently.

[ashe-frost.livejournal.com]

They don't use alcohol on our needles, either, but before they inject the needle, they wipe the skin with an alcohol pad so no gross stuff gets in with the needle. It burns if they stick you too soon. I mean, I'm a pro with blood work, so it's not so bad, but it's annoying, because they poke more people in a day than I've been poked in my lifetime so you'd think they'd know that.

Anyway.

I'm sure they'll find out what's going on with you. It just takes lots and lots of time.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Meh. I hope they figure it out before summer, man.

[ashe-frost.livejournal.com]

Or, you know, any time now.

It doesn't sound comfortable.

At all.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

It is seriously not. Especially if you're dressed up to go somewhere.

And when it comes to managing the temperatures of my extremeties - my feet can be numb from cold and still sweating. My hands get so cold sometimes my touchpad doesn't seem to register them.