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what could be wrong with my mum? (medical)?

sorry this is so long! Since a young girl, my mums had agonizing pain in her lower right side of her pelvis. Throughout her life this has come & gone. Lasting a max of a wk at a time. 1 dr said appendix. Another said a deep rooted growth. No action was taken. Mum has, for many yrs had probs with eating. She bloats & feels full quickly, feels sick, & has her heart race or make excess saliva on certain foods. She suffers a lot of excess gas and indigestion.She had anorexia yrs ago. But her current eating probs r physical. As a result mums quite boney & can only eat limited things. This is getting worse recently, & shes now mainly living on toast. Even this upsets her sometimes! A few months ago she developed an unbearable pain in the centre of her back. She found it v hard 2 breathe due 2 this & saw a dr. It subsided within a wk Over the following wks however, she complained she felt weak & all over her body her bones felt like they ached. She often complained of a pain in her neck & thought she must b sleeping wrong. She was diagnosed with tennis elbow in her right arm during this period also. 2 months ago, we went for a fairly long walk (maybe half a mile). She had walked it loads of times in the past, but this time by the next day she was in agony. The left hand side of her lower back kept giving way & felt like it was grinding. Her right side, low in her pelvic area was killing her. Both these things have stayed that way since then. Her back pain comes and goes, but her pelvic pain is persistant. She had ct scan & ultrasound. Ct showed a fibroid. Slightly bigger than a regular one, but nothing unusual. No sign of problems with appendix & no deep rooted growth. She now has to go back for internal ultrasound. That they can tell, her ovaries r ok. She is going 4 a smear test, as shes never had 1! She had a blood test 2 months ago- clear. An x-ray on her lower back highlighted some slight bone thinning. So shes due a bone scan. However, recently shes developed a strange movement in her right shoulder. It feels like someone massaging her shoulder heavily, & can b v painful. Shes also recently been waking up with a numb right arm & a numb, strange feeling in right side of face. It can sometimes be v painful, or just numb/limp. Went 2 drs and he referred her 2 neurologist & gave her aspirin. But aspirin makes her ill & her vision go strange. So she cant take it. Last night while awake, she had an 'attack' of some kind that was v scary. The movement in her shoulder started, then masses of pain in the back of her neck. A sort of agonizing burning. Then a massive prolonged pain in the top of her head that kept getting worse & worse. Her right hand side of her face went weird & tingly. Then her whole face was odd & tingly, & her jaw locked so she couldnt clean her teeth. As this attack was wearing off she began to shake violently & uncontrollably. She stayed conscious throughout & could understand me. & i could understand her. She remained upright & alert. An ambulance came, did some function tests, got her to say & do things, & did a heart, blood pressure & blood sugar test. Her blood sugar was slightly high. But all else normal! He recommended we went 2 dr 2day & get a blood test. Which we did. But dr said no need! mum still feeling v weak & still has strange movement in her shoulder. This movement can get worse depending on if shes bending or stretching or what activity shes doing. Or sometimes what position shes in. Some history on my mum- Shes 59. White. She had a heart attack in 1985, probably linked to her anorexia. She does not drink and has not smoked in many yrs. During her anorexia in 77-79, she weighed 5st and lived on carnation tinned milk. In 1997, during a period of a lot of emotional upset she had what may have been 2 mini strokes within a week. But it was never diagnosed. Her face went limp on that occasion & she dribbled & slurred speech. Her right arm & face were numb, but she was not left with lasting effects. In 2003, she had a wk where she lost a lot of very heavy blood. This was not a period as she had stopped the yr before, and it was far more painful. Again, i'm sorry this is so long. And thank you for reading. Any help or ideas r welcome. x

Public Comments

1. This sounds like case of TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrom). TMS occurs when emotional stress is released through pain and numbness in the body. Your mother's symptoms coincide exacty with the illness. For example, the worst symptoms seem to occur when she's in a period of emotional upset (her mini strokes) and of course her anorexia will also have caused a heap of emotional distress. When TMS attacks occur, muscles in the affected area spasm, causing extreme pain and numbness. This sounds like the attack your mother had in bed. Another symptom of TMS your mother has is irritable bowel syndrom, which could explain her indigestion and excess gas. This book explains everything about the illness: http://www.amazon.com/Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body-Pain/dp/0446675156 The cure for most people is simply being made aware of the fact that your symptoms are caused by your emotions. However, because your mother's symptoms have been very long lasting, I suspect that she will need some form of psychotherapy. This is also explained in the book. When you look through the customer reviews on the website there will be a lot of stories that sound like your mother's story. I can't be 100% percent sure though, because some symptoms can't be fully explained by TMS. This means that something else may be going on, so I'm not taking any responsibility. You should certainly not stop any medical treatments going on right now.
2. i think she's anorexic. try to see a psychologist for management.