Immune Disorders Forum - Possible immune disorder ?

Conditions and Diseases > Immune Disorders Forum > Possible immune disorder ?

Q: Possible immune disorder ?

asked by: stacyndonna on June 10th, 2008

New User

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!

Replies(3)

Dr. Nikola

replied on June 11th, 2008

Doctor

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.

stacyndonna

replied on June 11th, 2008

New User

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.

Dr. Nikola

replied on June 12th, 2008

Doctor

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.

Learn About Us

Get Help

Join In

Do More

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health
information:
verify here.

The site is not a replacement for professional medical opinion, examination, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical doctor or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment or making any changes to existing treatment. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information written by any author on this site. No health questions and information on eHealth Forum is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor. Posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author, and not the administrators, moderators, or editorial staff and hence eHealth Forum and its principals will accept no liabilities or responsibilities for the statements made. Schizophrenia health sitemap.
This page was last updated on January 1, 2009.
© 2008 eForums, Inc