Friend’s mystery ill health

It might be worth exploring the psychiatry route though. My friend has a lot of auto immune stuff going on and developed a tremor and she had loads of tests and when she was referred to the psychiatrist, she had PTSD amongst other things - also triggered by a recent trauma but the physical side was being caused by past trauma. It;s ongoing though, I can't tell you she is cured it is horrible watching someone deteriorate, so thank you for being such a good friend to her

Further to Jane’s post, it’s worth bearing in mind that a psychiatrist deals with the more medical and pharmaceutical side of things, as opposed to a psychologist.

My friend has been diagnosed with FND- Functional Neurological Disorder ( I think that’s the terminology).

Persistent headaches, dizziness, crab like walking, just generally unwell. She has had blood tests, scans, consultant examinations. It seems to be a generic diagnosis that covers this type of condition.

She’s had a lot of stress in the past few years, sick DH who died a couple of years ago, work and business hassle, property problems.

She just wants to feel ‘normal ‘ again.

Not any real treatment to offer it seems.

Oh, the poor lady. That sounds terrible.
You sound like a lovely friend, she is fortunate to have you

I have fibromyalgia, and there is no test that picks that up. For years doctors have said this was all in your head, particularly as symptoms are numerous and not everyone gets the same. Thankfully this condition is taken more seriously now and research suggests it is an auto immune disease.
I am not suggesting your friend has fibromyalgia, but using it as an example of lack of knowledge and joined up thinking can miss a diagnosis.
There is no holistic approach within the NHS, so you end up going to one specialist who draws a blank, then you have to start the whole process with another one.
Perhaps you could sit with your friend and list all the symptoms no matter how obscure. Even to convince her that they are real and not in her head.
I hope she finds the answer and can recover.

My daughter works as a “healer” with people who have suffered trauma. She is a firm believer that trauma can cause physical symptoms. She recommende a couple of books. One is HEAL, The other is When the body says No. sorry don’t know the authors offhand but they’d come up on Amazon or google

It’s interesting that a neurologist has suggested she see a psychiatrist. Has she done that, and if so with what result? I don’t wish to be unkind, but has Munchausen Syndrome been suggested? As I’m sure you know, this causes the sufferer to manufacture a whole raft of symptoms in order to gain attention. I wouldn’t for a moment be so cruel as to suggest that OP’s friend is a deliberate attention seeker, but is it possible that this is why referral to a psychiatrist was suggested? (Sorry about all these ‘suggesteds’.) Please don’t think I am being unfeeling in putting this forward, but it does cause numerous symptoms to be reported to doctors which can’t be diagnosed as they exist only in the mind of the sufferer.

There is something called hysterical conversion.

I am not a clinician but as far as I am aware it is is when getting upset results in physical symptoms, from little things like muscles tensing if someone is nasty to you, or having a vomiting feeling and wretching wind up if you have just had someone cold call at the door and then started shouting at you when you politely declined his offer to clear your roof gutters and you shut the window and felt, well, sickened and upset.

Has you friend had panic attacks, the first one "out of the blue" and later ones as a result of a slight trigger, such as bright lighting in a supermarket?

Sometimes the treatment favoured by clinicians is immersion in the problem, but in some people that makes it worse, it is better for them to be just signed off sick for a month, renewed for another month and they just potter around home and then sometimes the stress level decreases and they get better, as if the brain needs idle time so as to sort things out without needing to deal with further input.

There used to be a department in our local hospital that ran vague symptoms clinics.

Sadly though it's gone now.

Many people get diagnosed with fibromyalgia or CFS when they have some actual condition that could be treated.

It might be worth checking how M.E. (CFS) and fibromyalgia or other autoimmune illnesses affect people to see if your friend's symptoms are similar. I've had both for years. Annoyingly most of my family think its in my head.

That is the second time you have said I am not a clinician but …..EP and have gone on to offer potential causes of physical conditions.
There are several doctors and other health professionals on GN and even they would hesitate to offer even an online suggested diagnosis to a total stranger (in fact “friend of a stranger”) in this way.
Yes, some of us can contribute opinions from our own shared experience and this can help OP to feel supported or even encouraged to seek further medical help.
But it can be extremely dangerous and is at best irrelevant to post anecdotal Dr Google- type diagnoses.

EP that ‘hysterical conversion’ that you mention, it sounds just like a natural reaction for many people. I thought that it was normal to feel sick, knots in stomach etc if you are distressed.

MayBeMaw

That is the second time you have said I am not a clinician but …..EP and have gone on to offer potential causes of physical conditions.
There are several doctors and other health professionals on GN and even they would hesitate to offer even an online suggested diagnosis to a total stranger (in fact “friend of a stranger”) in this way.
Yes, some of us can contribute opinions from our own shared experience and this can help OP to feel supported or even encouraged to seek further medical help.
But it can be extremely dangerous and is at best irrelevant to post anecdotal Dr Google- type diagnoses.

I have not purported to offer a diagnosis.

What I have done is state openly and clearly that I am not a clinician and then have written something about a medical condition or vitamins. So, most careful to not to seem to diagnose, most careful to not be telling anyone what to do,. but jjust suggesting things to consider doing, like askimg the doctor if the blood tests included vitamin B12 level. Pointimg out that I am not a clinician so it is just chat in a forum.

That seems a reasonable thing for me to have done given that the thread has been added to Gransnet.

It is entirely up to the lady as to whether she asks her doctor that question. I do not need to know whether the lady does that or not, nor the answer if she does ask.

But, if the question is asked, then the answer could be 'yes' and it is fine, or it could be 'no' and a B12 test be done, the result obtained and either it comes back as fine or indicates that the level is very low, in which case action can be taken, which could be an injection.

Some people have a vitamin B12 injection every three months/

So, I mentioned vitamin B12. If the test has been done the question to the doctor and the answer could take less than a minute.

So a list of questions about vitamin B12, vitamin D, and coeliac disease to consider asking the doctor. Nobody here is purporting to diagnose the lady's issues, would you rather that nobody in this forum mentioned such things based just on their own personal experiences, the experiences of friends, people at work years ago and so on?

I'm "guilty" of it, too.
Nothing to worry about, because it may just offer an avenue that hasn't been explored.

FannyCornforth

EP that ‘hysterical conversion’ that you mention, it sounds just like a natural reaction for many people. I thought that it was normal to feel sick, knots in stomach etc if you are distressed.

I am not a clinician and as far as I know 'yes'.

But I think that it can be more severe and long lasting as a result of extreme distress such as witnessing a bad road accident.

I saw a film once (documentary medical film, not a movie) on television about some American soldiers in World War 2 were so distressed at what they had seen that they could not walk, and in the film a doctor injects a man with something and he is then able to walk and he is amazed and is saying "I can walk, I can walk' as he slowly walks round the room while a doctor and a nurse watch.

MissAdventure

I'm "guilty" of it, too.
Nothing to worry about, because it may just offer an avenue that hasn't been explored.

But it is not guilty, even with guilty expressed in quotes.

Do people really want a thread where the sound of silence prevails?

I've no idea, EP.

I really empathise with your friend, I was sent away from GP and the hospital feeling like a hypochondriac. I was treated for mental health issues I didn't have which made everything so much worse!

I eventually got to the point where I was barely on my feet, anxious, paranoid, shaking continuously and just not fit for life in general but not really aware because they were treating me, I should have been getting better in my mind so I was just forcing myself to carry on!

I then went to the doctor for bursitis in my hips thinking, well, I have a previous diagnosis of this, they can't send me away, they will have to treat it. That is the point where the doctor decided to test my thyroid. No idea why she made that connection but it saved my life.

I had thyrotoxicosis and was diagnosed with Graves disease. I was in a life threatening situation with a heart rate over 200 at times and literally every symptom. Except luckily, no thyroid eye disease.

Tell her to keep fighting, just because they haven't found the cause doesn't mean her symptoms should be disregarded.

I note that Germanshepherdmum suggested Munchausens syndrome but was not brought to task over it as Elderlyperson was.
Psychiatric illness can produce a whole raft of physical symptoms which are very real for the patient. A psychiatric consultation should not be ruled out.
I hope your friend gets help soon Newquay

I totally agree sodapop I think some posters are very quick to pick on ElderlyPersons posts when he is only offering ideas like we all are, he s made it very clear he’s has no professional qualifications but is trying to be helpful in thinking of things it could be.
I mentioned Thyroid problems, diabetes, and lymes disease
No one jumped on my ideas

Do you know what is your friend's diet?

Is she vegan?

I don’t think OP will come back EP. Her friend has consulted numerous specialists, had scans and ‘endless tests’. Whether this has been done privately or on the NHS isn’t clear. We are simply told that the friend is able to pay. The only specific suggestion mentioned was seeing a psychiatrist. The friend is attracting much attention though, which is what sufferers of Munchausens seek. I have already put forward that suggestion, which would tie in with the psychiatric referral and we are not told if that has been acted upon. If my suggestion is correct, it wouldn’t have been as sufferers do not want to be ‘cured’. I must emphasise, before I am criticised, that I have no medical training. Also that I am not unsympathetic or unfeeling. But I have encountered this in the past, albeit the ‘by proxy’ variant.

OP, Calendargirl has posted at 10.21 that her friend has been diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder, which has nothing do to with Munchausen’s Disease.

I knew a young person who was also diagnosed with this, it mainly affected his movement and balance.
He had to be home schooled due to it. It was a very sad situation.

Sorry - Munchausen’s Syndrome, I should have said.
But again, absolutely nothing related to FND

Thank you for all your contributions. She is in a position to have private visits and scans etc but they don’t seem to be doing any good. After she’d seen a neurologist he suggested a psychiatrist as, as we all know, many of these psychical symptoms can follow trauma-she was not receptive to that sadly. She’s is such a bad way I don’t think she knows which way to turn. There’s a group of us concerned-including retired medics-and we all feel so helpless.
As I’ve said before i don’t know who you can go to to do overall checks eg specific bloods and for other diseases mentioned here.
They’re managing on ready meals now. She doesn’t want any of us to visit and she doesn’t want to even talk on the phone which is SO unlike her. She WhatsApp me every now and then which is how we keep in touch.