Possible immune disorder ? Posted: 06-10-08 13:04pm
Hi,
I am sorry that this will be long, but I
do not know what is wrong with me and I
can't seem to get an answer from the
doctors. I am a 35 year old woman,
married with 3 children and I'm a
teacher.
Suffered from severe and frequent sore
throats all of my life. As a child,
recurring tonsilitis and strep throats.
At age 18, had quincy tonsilitis (it
abcessed) and had to have an emergency
tonsilitomy. Did not remove adnoids.
Sore throat frequency drastically went
down for a time.
Also have always had constant runny nose
and sneezing. Had a bad case of
bronchitis at age 8 and to this day have a
cough that never went away afterwards. In
2004 I had allergy testing done and now
get allergy shots every week. Runny nose
and sneezing has practically stopped.
In the late 1990's I begin to have
frequent diarhea and cramps. I have
actually gotten down on the floor on my
hands and knees and screamed from the
pain. (My father has colitis.) I had a
colonoscopy in 2001 and they said IBS. I
control that with lomotil and levsin for
the most part. At times, I do have to
take soma or lorcet when I am screaming
with pain.
About 10 years ago, my sore throats came
back. Almost constant, very bad pain.
Usually no fever, no sneezing, etc. Bad
headaches started and then after about 6
months, suddenly went away.
It seems like everything comes in cycles.
I will have horrible IBS and then it will
stop. I will have horrible headaches and
then it will stop. I will have horrible
sore throats and then that will stop.
Then I will hurt all over - my fingers,
everything and then it will start back
over with the IBS. I have been to my
primary care doctor, an ENT, a GI, my
allergist. (My sister and mother had
thyroid cancer. I had a scan done and I
do have 4 very small nodeules that he
assures me are benign. I will have them
checked again next month.) They did a CT
for my sore throats and also scoped me.
They saw yeast and my lingual tonsils were
inflamed. They do not believe that I have
acid reflux.
I am sooo tired. All the time. I
sometimes don't know how I can go on.
Last night I woke up drenched in sweat -
and that was a first. It is also
depressing. I never know where I'm going
to be hurting, but I'm pretty sure it will
be somewhere.
I have researched and I wonder if I could
have an immune disorder. Can anyone
please help me? Thank you!
You probably had immune disorder (allergic
rhinitis) in the past but can't be sure
for now.
Have you ever been tested for asthma to
check the reason for that constant cough?
Have you made microbiological examination
of throat sample to identify possible
infection?
Have you ever checked your sinuses for
chronic inflammation? Chronic sinusitis
can cause headache and sore throat.
IBS is a functional disorder and is not
due to any immune disorder. There are
certain disorders (ulcerative colitis or
Crohn's disease) that are considered as
immune disorders and can have symptoms
similar to IBS. I believe that
colonoscopy, you made in 2001, rule them
out.
Pains in the fingers should be checked by
some rheumatologist. Have you ever been
tested for rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.
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stacyndonna
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 6
Posted: 06-11-08 09:29am
Thanks for your reply!
No, I have never been checked for asthma.
They have never done tests in my throat,
except a couple of times when they thought
it might be strep (only was positive once
since 1990.) They did an xray of my
sinus, but I don't really know the results
of that.
I did forget to mention a couple of things
- the glands in the right side of my neck
stay swollen most of the time. Also, my
mother mentioned to me that when I was
very young I had kidney infections
constantly. (I had forgotten about that.)
That went on for about 2 years. Then
they put the dye into my vein and did some
sort of test. I'm not sure of the
results, but I did stay on antibiotics for
about a year she said. Then it cleared
up. She did say that the doctor at that
time said that I had almost no immune
system. I have no idea of any details of
that.
You can request broncho-provocation test
and peak-flow-test to confirm or exclude
asthma. Skin allergy tests and
eosonophils' count in the blood can be
also done.
X-ray image of the sinuses can reveal if
there is some nasal septum deviation -
very common reason for chronic sinusitis.
Now, you can request another
microbiological examination of the nose
and throat to check if there is some
bacterial infection.
Swollen lymph nodes on the neck could be
due to the chronic throat infection but
after that long period of time you may
request node biopsy.
You can also request standard blood tests
for blood count, sedimentation rate and
CRP. A specific blood test for mono can be
also done.
