Shall I ask anyone to provide any insights about my wife?
My wife is a 42‑year‑old woman. One day she began to feel unwell. Her neck felt extremely tight, her legs felt heavy, and she experienced leg pain. Gradually, she developed persistent dizziness and headaches. The dizziness feels “floating,” similar to the sensation of being on a boat. When watching TV, she feels that the images move too fast and appear uncoordinated.
She gets tired very quickly. Over time, the dizziness persisted, with intermittent headaches. Sometimes she feels as if her ears are being pulled by her neck. Her eyes feel very strained, and it seems that her focus and eye coordination are not working properly.
She becomes easily fatigued, and even after sleeping, the fatigue does not seem to go away. She constantly feels that her body is very stiff. When sitting, she has to use a lot of effort in her upper body to support herself and remain upright, as if she has no strength left.
She also experiences pain in her hands. The right side of her pelvis feels very tight and “stuck.” During movement, some of her joints—such as her shoulders and knees—sometimes make clicking sounds and are painful.
She has been undergoing physiotherapy for around nine months, but there seems to be no improvement in her current symptoms. She has also noticed that every time she finishes physiotherapy, or even after doing simple movements or exercises at home, the area that was exercised becomes painful.
During this period, she has seen an orthopaedic doctor, a neurologist, an internal medicine specialist, a cardiologist, and an ophthalmologist. She has been receiving physiotherapy for nine months so far (and is still continuing). She has undergone nerve conduction studies, relevant cardiac tests, hormone tests, and blood tests, all of which came back normal.
She has had X‑rays and MRI scans from her neck through the entire spine. The only finding was mild cervical spine degeneration consistent with normal ageing. In May this year, she underwent another MRA/MRI, which showed narrowing at the nerve exit (foraminal narrowing). However, the orthopaedic doctor said that this would not explain or cause the pain and symptoms described. All other findings were reported as normal.
The ophthalmologist diagnosed her with severe dry eye syndrome, and she has been scheduled for a temporary tear duct plug procedure.
Doctor suspects fibromyalgia or Sjögren’s syndrome, while another doctor suspects PPPD. We are currently waiting for the ENA test results, and she has also been scheduled for tests related to PPPD.
At present, the neurologist has prescribed Lyrica 25 mg three times a day. She has been taking it for about 10 days, but it does not seem to have helped much. The doctor has suggested increasing the dose to 50 mg.
We still have no idea what is going on.
Do any of you have insights?
Could there be other underlying causes or issues?
Regarding medication, do you think increasing the Lyrica dosage would help? Do you think this medication is effective?
Does anyone have an idea what condition I might have?
Are there any ways to improve the current pain?
Should she continue with physiotherapy?
Thanks!
All the best!