General fatigue

I'm asking this for a friend, not me... no really, I AM asking this for a friend! ;)

He's one of these "aah, I'll tough this out"-kind of guys, but now I'm getting a bit worried about him. I finally bullied him into seeing his dr, but he hasn't got any conclusive results yet. I see many of you have experience with thyroid issues so I wanted to just throw this out and see if anybody has any ideas.

Normally he's a fit, slightly obsessive about training, guy in his early fifties. A bit heavy but in good shape. About 6 weeks ago he was biking home and "bonked", said he just ran flat out of energy. The next week or so it felt like a cold or the flu. Then he started saying that his throat was still swollen, and suspected it was his thyroid, he's had problems with it before. For the past few weeks he's been so tired and weak that he's barely managed to drag himself to work, and has called in sick several days.

Last time he had thyroid problems he had a zillion tests, most of which didn't show anything, but he took tyroksin (?) for a while anyway which helped a bit. Now he has high cholesterol and the dr wanted him to try taking nitroglyserine. His family has a history of heart disease. My own father had fatigue as almost his only symptom before needing a five-double bypass.

He's scheduled for x-rays, CT and ultrasound. Any of you have any other ideas on what this could be?

Almost sounds like Mono with the sore throat - massively swollen glands...

Hope your friend gets to the bottom of this...

It DOES sound like mono.

I've always thought of mono as a young adult's illness, but my 48-year old sister was just diagnosed with it. (And she didn't even have the fun of getting it by kissing somebody.;) ) She had same symptoms as your friend.

I would assume they'd rule mono out before all those expensive tests he's scheduled for, though.

Best wishes and get well soon to him.

X-rays, CT scan and ultrasound of what body part?
I'm no doctor but I've had way too much experience as a patient. It seems more reasonable to me to start with a full blood panel and an EKG/EEG and stress test.

He's had blood tests and an EKG, not a stress-EKG yet. The scheduled scans are of his thyroid, since that's the prime suspect.

I'll ask about the mono, good tip. It's a bit hard to get details since he still likes to think "he's not really sick" even though he's a walking shadow of his former self.

Men. :confused:

I would think issues with his heart would be much more obvious (affecting his skin pallor, etc...), but the glands make me think mono as well.

It could be that it's more than one problem.

Given his weight, is it possible that he has anemia brought on by something as simple as bleeding hemorroids?

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Originally Posted by lph

Men. :confused:

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Yep...can't live with 'em...can't live without 'em!:D

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Originally Posted by Mr. Silver

Given his weight, is it possible that he has anemia brought on by something as simple as bleeding hemorroids?

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Well, that's one detail I'm definitely NOT going to ask about! :D

I asked him if he'd been checked for mono - and he'd never heard of it...

Not everything is easy to diagnose. If your friend doesn't get a diagnosis, he will need to think outside the box, and take himself to other specialists.

My husband was undiagnosed for almost 10 years. Finally, we took him out of the HMO system and to a specialist at the university hospital. The specialist had an idea of what the problem might be. The test required a team of neuro surgeons to go in through an artery in the groin and send a wire up into the brain to capture blood for sampling, and thus it was a hospital stay. Once the test was completed, the diagnosis was positive that my husband had Cushing's Disease, caused by a tumor growing on the pituitary gland that emitted chemicals into the blood that caused the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys to malfunction.

Needless to say, the cost to us was over $30,000 to get the correct diagnosis. I won't divulge the rest of the story because it is too depressing and changed my life irrevocably.

Darcy

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Originally Posted by lph

Well, that's one detail I'm definitely NOT going to ask about! :D

I asked him if he'd been checked for mono - and he'd never heard of it...

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Mononucleiosis. Norwegian name is kyssesyke -- kissing disease. He might even be flattered to have that one ;)

joda - spurte om han hadde blitt sjekka for mononukleose - "hæ? Dei mongogreiane dine har eg aldri høyrt om." Indre sogning med lite tiltro til helsevesenet..

Darcy - thank you for your story. I'm sorry it was a sad one.

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Originally Posted by lph

Well, that's one detail I'm definitely NOT going to ask about! :D

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I know what you mean. Here's why I suggested it though...years ago, I read a story about a doctor who was haunted by an elderly patient's illness and death from chronic problems.

Following death, the autopsy revealed bleeding hemorroids were the cause of the chronic anemia that killer her...:(

Thyroid levels can affect cholesterol, and energy. His thyroid my have nodules on it, making it difficult to swallow and making his throat sore. He may be sensitive to cold or hot, have hair breaking off or sudden bald spots.

My SO has thyroid problems. Over time they upped her replacement therapy so much that she had super-naturally low cholesterol. Most of her health care providers responses were....wow we don't see a problem. How lucky you are to have such great cholesterol.

Hopefully your friend is able to get to a diagnosis quickly, whatever it is.

Did you friend ever get to the bottom of this? I had mono 11 years ago, without the fun of having a boyfriend. Imagine how bad a 15 year old gets teased about the "kissing disease". Anywho, mono caused the glands in my throat and neck to swell like crazy. The ones down the back of my neck you normally cannot feel were acorn size. I feels like strep throat except you are even more tired. Nothing cures it but rest. :rolleyes:

Thanks for asking Aggie! haven't spoken to him for a few days, but apparently the UL showed a swollen thyroid gland, so then it was off for a CT scan. Macho or no, he was intensely relieved that something was measureably "wrong". He's a little better, capable of going to work for a full week but no exercise.

I sent him a couple of links to the thyroid discussions here, and he'll ask his dr to make sure he's checked for mono. Don't know exactly what happens now, but at least he's getting it checked out!