# help me /dr apt tom/dont want to sound crazy



## 18336 (Feb 28, 2007)

Hello everyone,im new to this area, but not to the ibs forums. all my life as far as i can remember i have always had knee pains. but more recently i have been experiencing extreme chronic pain in my joints radiating up and down limbs. it makes my limbs feel heavy and painful its hard to tell where the pain is coming from. my legs especially, but also lower back and arms as well. my legs get so painful sometimes its hard to walk. i try to wrap a heating pad around legs but its not big enough plus i have to put pressure on the pad in order to feel the heat. it occured heat might help when i was standing in front of the sink and the heat was blowing out of the vent it felt soothing to my legs. plus i take so much advil, it just doesnt work sometimes if the pain starts and i dont take it right away. the dull feeling of pain or achiness is pretty much always there. i seem to notice i get more intense symptoms around the onset of menstration. ive investigated ms, fibro, lupus, ra, osteo-arthritis, i dont seem to fully meet the criteria of any, but some from each category fit. plus another thing, i used to kickbox go to gym and walk, now i do vigorous excersize eg.. stairmaster on level 5 or even 4 which is low to moderate and i feel like ####. my heart is racing while excersizing then my bp seems to drop way down like very low bpm i feel like i have to lay down. i had an experience this summer in the bad heat of july cleaning out basement bringing stuff out to a dumpster i had ordered for my tennant house making trips back and forth in the humidity and hot sun, my head started to go forward like i had to carry it had to lay down before i passed out-again my bpms were low i could feel it my daughter called ambulance hooked up to monitors at the hospital my heart rate was going btwn 35-50 bpm. one doc didnt know and wanted to keep me overnite, the other said i know what your problem is- heat exhaustion . sounded kind of reasonable at the time, but since then when i break a sweat trying to excersize i get almost the same symptoms. my whole life i have worked in the hot sun and it never bothered me its hard to believe. i think something more is going on . my doc said to me deconditioning thats why you feel like that during excersize. start slow work your way up. he also said my heart rate at the hosp. was at 50 bpm because i had the heart rate of an athlete. contradictory. i was only doing 3 mile regular walks at the time- that does not constitute an athlete. i cant be an athlete and be deconditioned at the same time. but i have to get to the bottom of this i need to excersize and summer is just around the corner and i am afraid of the heat and sun and vigorous excersize. they are all causing my heart to excelerate and then drop down to the point of almost fainting. i think these things are somehow related. they seemed to start last year sometime. i guesse i would ask for auto-immune testing as a rule out and a stress test and to see a bone doc and a rheumatoligist? help-nancy


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

What may help is put together a sheet of what symptoms you have with what frequency.If you've been recording the heart rate, etc and can bring that document that will help.Are you taking any prescription medications. Some of the ones for IBS can reduce your heat tolerance, so have a list of all medication and ask them to do a review to see if you are having problems with something you are taking. I have the been fine on something for years, and then gradually develop side effects.Focus your discussion on the symptoms, don't go into a list of I think I have one of these diseases. Let the doctor work from the data up to what tests you need, not from your conclusions backward.K.


----------



## 18336 (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanks for your feed back kathleen. My meds for the ibs are random. probiotics and peppermint oil and some natural relief things for constipation. if i am not sweating or exposed to heat direct sun it doesnt bother me. the fibro like symptoms are always with me at least lightly. but you are right i wont tell him what i think it maybe, ill just give symptoms- thanks


----------



## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

I sure hope you can get this figured out! I always reccomend the same thing Kathleen said. I think it's good for patients to keep a very thorough symptom log, so they can give the doctor a complete picture of what's going on. It sounds like you have lots of specific information to share with your doctor, and I hope that will help a lot.I wonder if your blood pressure is dropping when your heart rate drops. It sounds to me (with just this limited information) like you should have a tilt-table test to find out a little bit more about your fainting problem. Here is a little info you might enjoy reading about the "Head Up Tilt-Table Test":http://hrspatients.org/patients/heart_tests/tilt_table.aspI have a disorder called "Neurocardiogenic Syncope", and so do several other members here on our board. I am not sure if it is exactly what you are dealing with, but your symptoms sure sounded familiar to me! Heat is also one of the major triggers for me, that will bring on a fainting episode.I think this issue needs to be dealt with separately, and you should see a cardiologist to figure this thing out. Fainting can be very dangerous, especially if it happens at a bad time - in the shower, while driving, etc. Fainting is not normal, and is NOT a sign of being "out of shape", or in shape, or anything else. Fainting is not a normal part of life, and can be very dangerous. Unfortunately, there are a lot of doctors who don't see that - even my cardiologist did not see mine as a big deal. But I think it merits looking into, and a cardiologist (not a neurologist, even though that's the first place lots of doctors refer us with fainting symptoms) would be the specialist.I agree that when you see your doctor, you should focus on your symptoms, instead of saying what you think you might have. Maybe on your first visit with your doctor tomorrow, you could pick the 3 most troublesome symptoms, and focus on those. (Maybe your pain, your fainting, and whatever else one of your worst symptoms is.)If you've ever fainted (or had a fainting episode) in a dangerous place, you should tell your doctor that too. If you've ever had an episode when you weren't exercising, or exerting yourself, you should mention it. Have you ever had an episode while taking a hot shower? Anything like that would be good to mention, and tell your doctor that it happens regularly, and you can't predict when it's going to happen, so it's a pretty dangerous situation for you.Please let us know how your appointment goes! I will be keeping everything crossed for you!!


----------



## 18336 (Feb 28, 2007)

thank you m&mi did have my apt. today and i think i made him a little crazy with alot of things to talk about. i could see the stress (he was running about an hour behind anyway, not my fault) pain in the joints= he rotated all my joints and checked for swelling he said i have very good motion and good feeling in the knee caps and he did the fibro pressure points on my chest no pain there i knew that anyway. sending me for an exray on the knees just to check and doing a blood panel for that just to be sure. he did agree with me that i could not have the heart of an athlete with a pulse of todays 88 bpm he went back to the computer to check that day in the hosp. he thinks he was on target with the heat exhaustion, but he said keep a record of my bpm after i do vigorous excersize and we can start somewhere he cant go on my heart rate drops down really low bpm he needs accuracy. so i think i will buy one of the monitors at the store so i can be accurate. i will also take note in other situations like sun. i know that the last time i was in a hot tub it started to overwhelm me, and i avoid hot showers because they just are'nt comfortable for me. thanks again for the suggestions and i will take a look at that website too.


----------



## M&M (Jan 20, 2002)

Nancy,I think that's a GREAT idea! To monitor your heart rate, and keep track of it. That will be such a BIG help. That is a really fantastic idea. That is the best way to really start to try to figure out what's going on there.I really hope that will help both of you to figure what's going on, and what you can do (or avoid doing) to feel as good as you can.Please keep us posted on how you're doing! And feel free to visit our little section of the board!


----------

