• _cnt0@unilem.org
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    1 year ago

    It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and true. A few years ago I had the flu. Took me three weeks to be completely fit again. Then, like two weeks later, I suddenly got dizzy, I felt like vomiting, I was cold but sweated like a pig. I thought I was going to faint. I laid down and slowly felt better. But it came back every ~30 minutes. Over the day it got better until in the evening I only felt exhausted. The next day I felt good again and went back to work. Around 9 in the morning, BAM, it hit again. I went to the physician and my systolic blood pressure went haywire going up and down between 90 and 180 within 5 minutes. He prescribed me something “for the bloodstream” without any clear diagnosis. It didn’t do shit. I visited him I don’t know how many times. Then I went to the next physician. And the next. I somehow kind of learned to live with it. One year later the third or fourth physician actually did some tests: You have a severe vitamin D3, B6, and B12 deficiency. Your immune system is fucked. Your stomach is fucked. Your metabolism is fucked. I finally got some treatment that actually improved something and felt significantly better but not good. Two years and ~three physicians later it turns out that my problems are somehow linked to my allergies: your immune system is fucked. There’s some trial and error with different medications, at the end of which I actually feel better but still not good. Three years and another two physicians later the fuzzy diagnosis is that I had/have “long flu” (mind you, this is all before covid). It damaged my nerves and somehow mixed up my metabolism. There’s a weird “cross-relationship” with my allergies. Now I take medication daily which lets me at least function and work. I still do not feel good. I haven’t felt good since six years. But, there’s an entry in my file from 5 years ago that I’m a hypochondriac, that won’t go away, despite later tests confirming that several things were severely and factually wrong with me …

    • Chetzemoka@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      Oh hey, fam! Welcome to the club. I have all that as well, they think also as a result of a viral illness prior to Covid. Metabolic (mitochondrial dysfunction) and neuroimmune. At first, I was told I have anxiety, oh no wait, schizoaffective disorder, oh no no wait, conversion disorder, as if any of those things are even remotely similar. Lo and behold when I finally got a physician who has some idea how to diagnose and treat my symptoms, I’m doing much better. Like you said, I’m functional even if I don’t feel great. And funny enough, none of my treatments include psychiatric medications.

    • SimpleMachine@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You can actually have the hypochondriac thing removed from your medical records if you want it gone. It’s a HIPAA requirement that you have full control over what’s in there. You’ll have to send the request to every facility you’ve shared your record with that don’t have connected systems.