You may think that I am over reacting, but this is a real possibility. I have almost EVERY- single symptom and I have had them for years. I certainly think I need to have this checked out before doing anything else.
Hodgkin's Disease symptoms
- A painless swelling in the lymph nodes in the neck, underarm, or groin
- Unexplained recurrent fevers ( I don't have this one)
- Night sweats
- Loss of appetite
- Unexplained weight loss
- Itchy skin
- Red patches on the skin
- Severely itchy skin, often affecting the legs/feet
- Alcohol-related pain
If I really do have Hodgkin's Disease, this could have all been resolved over a year ago. My PCP yelled at me for losing weight and completely dismissed the swollen lymph node on my neck as nothing to worry about. She said it was probably a virus and the rash I had at the time was probably just poison ivy. I told her I wasn't even outside, so there was no way it was poison ivy (didn't matter to her). I still had my hair back then, so it's been at least a year! I'm thinking it was some time in May 2007. My sister was diagnosed with her brain tumor in March of that year, so that sounds about right.
I had night sweats the whole week before going to the ER. I never experienced anything like that before, so it was strange. They weren't drenching, but it was certainly waking me up at night. Now more recently, I had terrible night sweats on Nov 1, 2008 and Nov 2nd, 2008. My entire side of the bed was soaked like I had jumped into a bath tub, but I just figured it was diabetes insipidus. Maybe it still is?
The loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss really sneaked up on my this time. I knew I had been eating less but I didn't realize just how much less. Yesterday I got some food in me, so that is good. However it is still wanting to go right through me for some reason. I can't figure it out.
Itchy skin/red patches of skin. Look at the 1st picture on the 2nd row. I did some digging last night and I found an entire forum dedicated to Hodgkin's Disease. A ton of them had the itching, red skin prior to diagnosis that a doctor shrugged off as poison ivy, dermatitis, a need to change laundry detergent or to get rid of a pet. The itching I am experiencing is so unbelievably itchy it actually makes me shake. I remember having an itchy face when I went to the ER in 2007. No one cared. All they were thinking about is whether my husband beat me or if I wanted drugs. Never at any time did I ask for pain medication, so I can't understand this. Yes the pain in my neck was terrible but I actually hate taking pain meds as all of you should know by now. My goodness, I don't even like taking a Tylenol or an Aleve. That whole encounter totally puzzles me to this day!
Prior to visiting the ER I started to develop the "pain" from drinking alcohol. This was the strangest thing. It would start at my neck and go through my stomach. At the time I thought that perhaps yeast or gluten was bothering me, so I just stopped drinking alcohol. My husband started researching what can cause this and it came back to Hodgkin's Disease. You can read a small case report of it in this medical journal.
When we went to the ER that night, we hadn't gotten the blood work results from the doctor yet. If I had them, then things would have went much differently. As you can see, I list "illness" from alcohol as part of my mercury poisoning symptoms. Even if I drink 3 sips of alcohol, I begin to feel very sick. Therefore I no longer drink it in any amounts. Mercury poisoning can cause this though, so I'll have to see.
I know I have mercury poisoning, but what if it is more? I certainly shouldn't turn a blind eye to all of this. Especially because of everything that has happened in the past 4 years. My health just went downhill very fast. It was like someone had turned on a switch. My sister had a very rare type of brain tumor and she is likely listed in some case study somewhere today. She told me there were a ton of people watching her during the surgery because she was a "medical anomaly". These are words her doctors used.
Let's hope that in a few days I'll report that everything is OK. If it isn't OK, then I'll have to decide what's next. I refuse to take their poison chemo/radiation, so I'll have to figure something else out. This is going to be a stressful week to say the least.
