Hi, I'm 19, and I've been ill since 8. When I was 14 I became severe, and since then the way my body seems to tell me that it's had enough and that I've reached my limit by giving me a really uncomfortable hot flash. I also find that the hot weather seems to speed up that process, so I then reach the overheating stage faster than I do in the colder months.
I just really want to know if any one else gets the hot flashes, for the same reason?
Yes me. I've been a lot happier through winter and am dreading summer. Anxiety, stress and as you put it, reaching the limit, gives me those hot flare ups as well. My face goes red and I feel I'm boiling up. I'm 60 and went through the menopause when I was 50 and its much like that only with a lot of pain.
I hope that helps you a bit. Sadly, hearing that someone else is going through it (especially someone as young as you) doesn't make me feel better.
In any event, I wish us both cooler, stress free days.
Gemma
Sounds similar - I am also dredding summer. The last couple of days have been hell because of the heat 
I hope you're able to stay cool hugs to you xx
Having hot flashes at 19 is definitely not normal. Have you seen an endocrinologist? The first step is to rule out any hormonal abnormalities that could be causing this. If that doesn't solve it, maybe that specialty can at least send you to someone who can help.
This has been going on since I was 14 and the doctors won't investigate that kind of thing We asked about Endo or anything of that sort and they just brushed me off
Is this when you exercise?
I didn't know that they'd given you a "diagnosis". I looked it up. ME is lumped together with chronic fatigue syndrome, (CHF). Both are "diagnoses of exclusion", which just means they ruled out everything else they could think of, and still don't know what it is, so they decided you fit in that category, and there's no way to treat it. They told me that my neuropathy is "idiopathic", which is just Latin for "we don't know what it is". The thing is, everything HAS a cause, even if they don't know WHAT that cause is. When I was a teenager, I had severe headaches, once a year on my birthday. They wanted to send me to a psychiatrist to discuss the "fact" that I was having emotional difficulty with getting a year older every summer. When I was nineteen, I moved 300 miles South, and from that time on, the annual headaches occurred once a year, a week BEFORE my birthday. Eventually, I figured out on my own that I was allergic to a particular hedge that bloomed in New York on my birthday, but bloomed in Maryland a week earlier. I knew it wasn't psychiatric, and I threw away the referral to the shrink, but some people would have just gone to the shrink like some sort of a sheep going quietly to the slaughter. There are a number of tests that need to be done first, before settling on a diagnosis like ME/CHF, and I hope at least that they did do all that. I am including a link to an information site. Perhaps you've seen it already, but it contains a list of the tests they should have done. You can try to get your medical records and see what they did or didn't do. ( meassociation.org.uk/about/... ) Then perhaps you can try to figure out if there was anything in your past that could have triggered the symptoms, like an infection or a chemical exposure or a nutritional deficiency. You might want to look into alternative or nutritional approaches that might help. I wish you the best of luck.
They didn't really do anything besides bloods... I tried to explain that I had other issues, but they wouldn't listen and just kept trying to ram excercise therapy on me :/
Of all those, all they did was test for anemia, which came back positive.....my iron levels were like 3, and every time I get it back to normal through iron tablets it falls back down again.
They also did a stool test and it said that there was in inflammation in my digestive track somewhere, but investigations never really materialised. I haven't even been tested for allergies - we had to pay for a test privately (the hair one), but I don't even know if that was accurate because it literally came back saying I need to exclude EVERY food group, which obviously isn't doable
Either way, I know something is wrong, and Im pretty sure that I have more than one thing, but if they aren't listening so I can't get this stuff looked at
Exercise might well be the worst thing for it. You're just going to have to educate yourself and try to figure out what works and what doesn't. I am an eleven year survivor of esophageal cancer, and had my guts all rearranged surgically. My fellow survivors and I know far more about our condition and what to expect from it and how to manage it than any of our doctors do. Even most gastroenterologists are clueless as to what kind of aftereffects result from the surgery we had for it, so they can't advise their patients on the best ways to deal with it. I suspect you are facing a similar problem. Again, I wish you luck. Also, have you run across "The Spoon Theory" of chronic illness. It's a short video and/or essay by a woman with Lupus who coined the term and wrote about the problems of living with a chronic disease. You can probably find it on Google or Youtube.
I just saw your new post. I think when I was reading about ME/CHF it said that it is NEVER accompanied by anemia, and that if there is anemia present, they need to find another diagnosis.
I already learnt about excerise the hard way. It isn't the right option :/
That sounds about right. I'm sorry you've had to put up with it too :/ I wish you all the best also xx
And I have heard of the Spoon Theory, although personally I find it easier to explain fatigue in terms of money - normal people don't have to budget, but I do, and I can go into "overdraft" if I want, but I will pay for it the next couple of days with "interest".
If you cant get drs to do bloodwork, try to get it done privately. There are companies who you can send off to. Sounds like your b12 needs looking at possibly thyroid too.
Unfortunately, usual gp bloods dont cover either of these or with any 'depth' but so many people get told things are normal when clearly there is something going on- why else would our body be telling us otherwise. You have said about anemea so that should be being addressed especially as the tablets seem to make no lasting difference.
One word of advice, if you do decide to get b12 looked at- DoNot take any supplements which contain it as it will skew results.
Good luck i hope you can get answers and feel well again soon.
Hi
Just a quick question have you got blood test results you can post on the site. As Lisa Helen says you need to check B12 serum and folate, low ferritin levels and a full blood count.
Is your low iron count iron levels or iron ferritin. It sounds low and ferritin levels in the low range can indicate things like malabsorbsion which is how pernicious anemia is identified. Have you any other symptoms like fatigue memory loss or numbness.
Mark
Fibromyalgia, menopause or just age?!
I’m new here. Have neuropathy. Decreasing my intake of gabapentine. Anyone taking this medication? 