Posted 1/25/2017 6:53 PM (GMT -8)
Hi, my husband thinks I'm a hypochondriac, but I have quite a few symptoms and have been on and off a slew of meds for years. I am a 56-year-old woman, and am finding that some of my meds are no longer working so I started searching the internet (as we all do nowadays) and discovered that a lot of my symptoms match those of CF. Here's my list of symptoms:
Fatty liver (tests throughout the years have shown this, no cause known)
History of asthma & breathing issues (albuterol no longer helping)
Chronic cough
Coughing up thick sputum with blood (have been told it’s reflux, but medication no longer helping)
Osteopenia
Chronic constipation
Chronic bowel pain
Previous colonoscopy showed narrowing where large & small intestine meet, with no explanation
Prone to heat stroke - get too hot and pass out
Chronic bronchitis
Frequent sinus infections
Crave salt
Chronic non-allergic rhinitis
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Hypothryoidism
Sleep apnea
Fibromyalgia
Barrett's esophogus
History of stomach ulcers
Fatigue
I am wondering if any of you "older" folks who were diagnosed later in life with CF can tell me if this sounds like something I should be tested for. Or, am I just a hypochondriac like my husband says! I am on about a dozen medications right now. At one point my doc thought I might have congestive heart failure or COPD but I didn't have insurance at the time so we addressed it by 'trying' different medications. None seemed to really help. The coughing has become worse in the last few years, and now I regularly choke up a thick mucus tinged with blood (it takes days to get it to cough up though). I don't know if I should ask my doctor for this type of test or if I'll be wasting money and time.