Hi,
I haven't been diagnosed yet and have only just started on the path. Currently waiting on the sti test results. It was the doctor at the sexual health clinic that mentioned Behcets and of course I have been reading what I can about it since. I have the mouth and genital ulcers but not sure about the other typical symptoms. I get the occasional headache but not migraines. I did have a really bad headache last year and nothing seemed to touch it. I don't have any joint pain or swelling. The only skin conditions I have had are a rash on my arm that was like eczema and I have recently started to develop another one on my leg.
The mouth ulcers are the worst, I would say I have had mouth ulcers continuously since 2010. There might be a day or two without them but they soon flareup again. Had the usual blood tests and all was fine so they put it down to stress and left it at that. The genital ulcers appear every couple of weeks and are usually fairly mild, except the current batch which I have had for over a week. I usually just used sudocreme to treat them but the doctor at the clinic said to just bath them in salt water. They also appear on the head of my penis, which I understand is not common for Behcets.
The scary part for me is reading about the neurological side. My memory is very bad, I can't recall anything from my childhood, can't recall parts of my teens and twenties. Short term memory is also quite bad. I have been putting this down to not having a good childhood and getting older (47). The other factor is my father and uncles have all had strokes. One uncle a very bad stroke that has left him disabled, another with very minor ones that only came to light when they scanned him and my father has had 3 but recovered from them.
Sorry if I'm babbling a bit but I feel that this is the closest I have come to a reason for the mouth ulcers. I have always said it felt like my body was attacking me. Do my symptoms sound typical? I think the problem is that until you know about this you can put headaches joint pains etc down to other factors and not link it together. I will get my STI results in November and I'm expecting them to come back negative. Is it then best to go back to my GP to get a referral to the Birmingham center, or can the clinic doctor do it? Should I begin a diary of all my aches, pains and ulcers so I can present a history and with my bad memory?
Thanks for your time
Dave