Hives, joint pain, swelling, among other symptoms. Doctors call me a “medical mystery”. Please help!
Hi everyone, I’m making this post because I feel like the only way I can get any medical advice is through here since medical care is slightly poor where I live. I will try to make this as short as possible, but if you have any questions, please ask them in the comments. To answer the required questions to make this post, I am a 22 year old female, weighing approximately 175 pounds and am 5 foot 5 inches tall. I am on the medication Rupall (rupatadine).
When I was in grade 9, I had a double ear and throat infection, which caused me to have a massive breakout (pictures attached) which included itchy hives across my entire body and extreme swelling, which was very painful. After this big breakout, I have suffered from hives, joint pain, swelling, high blood pressure, low iron, off and on issues with high heart rate, raynaud’s, among some other symptoms that I am not listing as I’m not sure if they are relevant. It should be noted that I also had a big breakout when I was about three years old because I had an infection in my finger.
The biggest issues I deal with are the hives, joint pain, and swelling. I am on a medication now called Rupall (rupatadine) which helped my hives a lot. Instead of getting hives daily, I now get them from heat, stress, exercise, illness, or infection (however, I frequently have very red cheeks and have red dots on my face). The joint pain comes and goes, but is worse if I am doing activities with my hands such as painting, knitting, gardening, etc. I have attached a picture of my ankle, which shows the swelling and joint pain I sometimes get (no, I did not injure my ankle prior to taking this picture).
I have been to every type of specialist available where I live including an immunologist, rheumatologist, allergist, etc. So far, I’ve been diagnosed with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria (chronic unidentified hives) and Polyarthropathy (joint pain). I’ve been tested for lupus through blood tests, such as testing my ANA, among other tests. Nothing came back indicating lupus. To every doctor I’ve seen, I’m essentially a medical mystery and was told by one doctor that I’m a “ticking time bomb”.
Unfortunately, I am unable to upload more than one photo, so I’ve chose one that shows the type of hives I get frequently (I am unfamiliar with Reddit, so maybe I can post more in the comments?)
I thank everyone who took the time to read this post. Any input at all can really help me at this point. I appreciate you all so much!