how do you know if its pni or youre ill?

[carlie x]

please could ppl help me out with physical symptoms. How r u meant to know if its pni, a bug or a serious illness?
I keep feelin like im comin down with a cold but never do, i feel really rough. I have this horrible headache and a pressure across the bridge of my nose, im tired and have noe energy. Its been since friday. My mood has also dropped i feel pants
i would really like to hear about other ppls physical symptoms cos i am convinced i have cancer. a friend of mine told me her friend kept felin like she had flu and it turned out she had breast cancer.
im really strugglin to get out and about cos i feel physically nd mentally pants!
has anyone else experienced the flu like feelin? sorry if iv babbled, im really strugglin feelin like im back at square one, im on meds surely it should be a gradual improvement not goin backwards? when does it bloody end.
carlie x

[monica]

Hi

I too suffered from many wierd and inexplicable symptoms eg. pressure round my eye and behind it, headaches I'd never suffered from previously, feeling ' out of it', excessively tired. All these things also lead me to believe I was suffering from some sort of terminal illness. I had countless blood tests and all came back ok. I also saw several eye specialists, a neurologist, ent specialist and had ct scan - nothing.

I dont' know hat causes these mysterious symtpoms - and whether a drop in serotonin levels or hormones is the reason. I'm sure some of my symptoms were stress related as when I started antids they seemed to go fairly quickly, ut others like the pressure behind my eye took a good year to completely go.

Have you been to the drs? Looking at it now objectively (cos when bad with PNI I could not rationalise at all), if it had been something serious someone would have picked up on it. Maybe a referal to ent specialist if it's going on a while might be good even if to exclude another reason. I think Veritee had sinus probs for which there truned out to be a physical cause. She had a op to rectify the problem.

Even if there is no serious cause, the symptoms are hard to deal with. I found acupuncture brilliant for the pressure round my eye, however the down side was £30 per session. breathing and relaxation techniques helped with headaches, tingling, numb ptaches as I think these were stress related.

It could also be a blip. PMT, stress or sometimes no reason can bring them on. I found I felt crap phycially during blips, too. How long ahve you been on the meds for? have you found them to be generally good?

Monica

[winegirl]

Hi Carlie

It is hard to tell the difference, and i had many visits to the gp ruling everything out first. There are still days when i am not convinced the whole physical side is PNI related.

I have actually just had an appt at ent specialist too, i think its important to push our drs, but it is also very easy to fall into the trap of comparing our symptoms to those of serious ilnesses.

Also, the meds can make you feel pretty crap for a few weeks. Perhaps this could be adding to your symptoms. I know it stinks hun, but really know how you feel. Please keep talking to us and keep us updated with how you are finding the meds x

Winegirl x

[carlie]

hey monica and winegirl thanx for your quick responses. I have bookes an appointment for next week, earliest i could get. Im goin to ask for blood tests to check for any signs of cancer as i cant stop thinkin its that.
I was doin so well til friday gone, all of a sudden i was at a friends and anxiety overcame me and i had to leave. ever since i have felt physically and mentally crap!
I have been on anti d's now for about 5 months, yet im still gettin big blips and weeks where im back at square one. I thought meds were meant to stop the bad weeks and jus have the odd bad day?!
my doc has suggested i up the dosage but i refuse to do that as i have been on these before and i had real bad problems comin off them. its gonna be bad enough comin off the dose i am on without it bein even higher.

i took some sudafed earlier and tht helped for about an hour, now i feel crap again. my head is banging, my nose hurts and i jus feel exhausted like iv not slept for a week! i have!!!!!! sleep whenever i can.

So come december i will have had this rotten illness a year, please lord let it go away why does it last so long. Iv had depression before and with meds i was over the worst of it in months, but pni seems to be never endingx
carlie xx

[winegirl]

Good luck with the appt next week hun. I am sure all will come back clear. I have had that many blood tests since having the pni that i no longer have a phobia of needles! LOL

Please keep talking if it helps, we are here for you x

Winegirl x

[carlie]

thats if the doctor will give me blood tests. feel crap again today. had enough. its never ending, dont see the point in bein on meds if its not an upward spiral! surely thts what its meant to be? not all these back to square one experiences.

[winegirl]

Hi Carlie

I made the dr's give me blood tests. Think they got bored of my moaning and agressive attitude. I think with the meds we just expect to get better and better, but i think it is ups and downs. The downs seem worse when you have had a couple of ups!

Please try not to despair, we are here for you and fully understand what you are going through x

Winegirl x

[monica]

Hi

Could part of the problem be that the meds aren't working effectively? Mayeb it's worth asking dr about that. I found that my immune systme was stuffed with PNI - I had tonsilitis non stop for about 3 mths; maybe you are also run down?

I was on citalopram and found that for the frist five? months that I was making good progress, then I had lots of ups and downs, some which even lasted a good 6 weeks and I think that is very normal with PNI. However, fi you feel you're not making much progress, ti's worth talking to dr about it. Good luck withthat

Monica

[winegirl]

Hi Carlie,

Haven't heard from you for a few days and was wondering how you were getting on hun? Have you felt any better at all? Have you had those blood tests that you wanted? Hope all is ok x

Winegirl x