thyroid/lupus

[anbuma]

have an appointment today at 10am with DR.feeling apprehensive as I ask myself will it be a waste of my time.i know my thyroid and the lump in my neck are more enlarged and that my stomach "bloating"as dr calls it could be related to thyroid??I got up this morning and sure my nose is more swollen it definitely (at sides -bone)and it has spread to my cheek bones and brow bone.if I can bring myself to tell him why I believe it is lupus it means going back 2 years ago.ihave printed off some of the posts on here to show him from those who have exactly the same experiences as me ie facial swelling and bruising.nasal sores.he told me not to go on the internet anymore but this site is the only place where i get some comfort knowing others are experiencing the same as me.want to tell him that I have lupus symptoms and that CTS and swollen abdomen could be thyroid related.have along list of things I want to bring to his attention and ask him.who knows if I will do so?

so just gto home after my appointment and he said my vision was OK and that my thyroid was OK .I said how have I lost weight elsewhere and weight gain is all abdominal its not my diet.today my stomach is applying even more pressure on my ribs.

I forgot to ask fro a referral to ent and rheumatologist,so emailed the surgery when I got home along with a printout of a post from someone here who has exactly the same experience as me .don't know how much longer I can live with these . every time I lookin amirror I see how huge my stomach is , how swollen my nose is and the bruising around my eyes.surely something can be done to rectify these .

[Ladyviva]

Hi anbuma, i am a newbie here so all i have known has been down to the lovely people here!.....Some of your symptoms sound similar to mine, especially the bloatedness/hardness of the stomach and this was very distressing to me..........Fortunately, this has eased off since taking liquorice root. So that's one symptom down for me, 20 to go!!

Hope this helps, V

[anbuma]

how did you discover vit d3 and licorice root/.did your dr advise you?i cannot cope with this anymore-the discomfort in my abdomen and pressure on my ribs.i cant get thru to my dr that my appearance is bothering me .I don't go out unless i have to-hiding under a baggy coat. my nose and face is swollen and I have bruising around my eyes(about 2 years now)and It bothers me every time I look in the mirror but no one takes me seriously.i feel like I cant cope anymore.i would normally say its only my dogs that keep me going but right now I feel I cant even consider them.

[Ladyviva]

My gp has washed his hands off me .... Am under siege from so called "normal" results...... In my quest to get myself better, i bought some liquorice root which i understand is good for the stomach.. Started taking them every morning since last saturday, the bloatedness is slowly easing off!....... I used to experience hardness and rib tenderness as well, but these supplements have helped, even the extreme fatigue is more like tiredness now........Am still not well but i am a little bit better now........ Just awaiting ultrasound scan of the thyroid gland, then will decide what to do next. ......Hope it works for you?.....V

[anbuma]

my dr said today that "he couldn't feel anything" when I said about thyroid glands despite me having tightness in neck. hoarseness-croaky voice, weight loss (could be something else)feels like my throat is being cut.he also said I had CTS-a symptom of thyroidism. my neck is swollen larynx and a lump under my chin are more prominent.

[vajra]

A few fairly random angles from my own background, as i've no idea what's going on A.

The diagnosis of lupus is a pretty fuzzy business, and seems to come down to positives across quite a wide range of tests - no single test apparently is definitive. Its easily Googled. I for example had several positive ANA titres when very hypo, but my then GP was insistent it didn't imply lupus - although other sources seemed less certain of that. It does imply significant systemic immune disturbance of some sort.

As usual she was happy to argue the point on the result, but didn't seem to have a view as to what if anything should be done about it, or what it might imply. She was adamant (as many times before) that my thyroid was 'normal' too.

The pathologist who reviewed it after a thyroidectomy some years later said i had had advanced auto immune disease of the thyroid, while the surgeon described the right lobe of the thyroid as having as a result of the suto immune disease grown way down under my right collarbone.

I know in retrospect that i also had/have a range of food sensitivities and immune disturbances - i had bouts of various related and serious illnesses. Not to mention that i was in a terrible state and displaying pretty much every symptom of hypothyroidism and chronic fatigue that there is - it cost me my career.

I was never diagnosed with even hypothyroidism, never mind was this enlargement or the immune situation detected. (even though in retrospect after it was found by ultrasound scan it was pretty obvious) Neither it nor the cancer it contained was never detected by her or by several other docs - it was found late on in a hospital stay during a search for the cause of dangerously high blood pressure.

Bloating and facial stuff can be the usual consequences of hypothyroidism and possibly underlying high cortisol/chronic stress ('moon face'), while a lumpy thyroid could suggest there's something autoimmune or another cause of growth. Or the lumps could be just swollen lymph nodes caused by an infection - in restrospect i had both most of the time.

I've had the 'stomach pressing in the ribs' problem - i couldn't get my breath while trying to tie my shoe laces. It faded very quickly in recent months with getting my cortisol levels under control.

I guess it's territory where testing is likely appropriate - maybe a thyroid panel, thyroid antibodies, vitamin and mineral panel and maybe an ANA titre and the Genova salivary stress profile. (needs to be more than just T4 and TSH though - there's various lists about here)

The problem as illustrated by my history and that of poster after poster here will be to get the right tests (a wide enough range) properly done and interpreted - and to get your sysmptoms properly heard and assessed. To get past the 'your thyroid is normal, you're just a bit depressed' syndrome.

Others will be more familiar with UK options than me. My instincts would be to if possible head for private labs, in that my faith in testing by the health service here has been pretty badly knocked about over the years...

ian