Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
What Causes Persistent Body Pain, Fatigue And Dyspnea In An Elderly Woman?
Question: My wife is 64 years old. She has been sick now for 9 weeks. Her symptoms came on almost over night and they are as follow; she has body aches and pains, fatigues easy short of breath just by simple tasks such as walking, taking a shower, she is practically bed ridden, she is nauseous all the time and is worse with activity. She has been treated for Fibromyalgia with Steroids and Lyrica, She has been treated for Shingles with Valtrex because there was rash and blisters around her neck area. She was treated for Lyme's disease with Doxycycline for two weeks, she had a blood test for Lyme's disease came back negative. The Doctor has her on Cymbalta at the present. None of the treatments has made any difference if anything she is getting worse. Before she got sick she was a very active women working around home and taking care of our Grandson, she doesn't drink or smoke.Should I take her to the hospital emergency room for second opinion?
Brief Answer:
More blood work, maybe IV fluids
Detailed Answer:
Hi there,
These symptoms sound most like a viral infection, tic born disease, mosquito born disease, or other infectious disease of the blood such as HIV, tuberculosis, or hepatitis. About 30% of viral, tic, and mosquito born diseases do not have rashes or fevers. Unfortunately, cancer can cause all of these symptoms as well. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis can have these symptoms. Lupus and psoriasis could also be culprits. The doxycycline should have kills most types of infections beside meningitis. Tic fever can also present like this, so you can search her for tics.
If you had a full work up including blood work, urinalysis, chest x-ray, and everything came back normal, then you need to look a little further into blood work. She should have had a complete electrolyte panel, liver function panel with hepatitis panel, kidney function panel, urinalysis with additional electrolytes, vitamin panel, inflammatory marker panel with rheumatoid analysis and lupus analysis, blood cultures, and endocrine panel.
Vitamin D deficiency can cause all of these symptoms surprisingly. Kidney and/or liver dysfunction can cause these symptoms as well. Zika virus is going around and can cause symptoms like this. You can also have your stool screened for blood and infections, as well as cancer markers. Unfortunately measles and whooping cough are coming back, and they can cause similar symptoms.
She may also be dehydrated. I would recommend trying to double fluid intake with gatorade or pedialyte. Use tylenol for pain. Nine weeks is a very long time. If you can go to the emergency room and get admitted, that would be ideal. She may need fluids through in IV. A lot of the time, they send people home with these symptoms because they are not emergency. If she is having fevers, chills, uncontrollable nausea and vomiting, then she will get admitted. Most importantly, if the cymbalta is not helping, I would stop it. Cymbalta has a very vast side effect profile. I would go back to the doctor and get some of these blood analysis complete.
More blood work, maybe IV fluids
Detailed Answer:
Hi there,
These symptoms sound most like a viral infection, tic born disease, mosquito born disease, or other infectious disease of the blood such as HIV, tuberculosis, or hepatitis. About 30% of viral, tic, and mosquito born diseases do not have rashes or fevers. Unfortunately, cancer can cause all of these symptoms as well. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis can have these symptoms. Lupus and psoriasis could also be culprits. The doxycycline should have kills most types of infections beside meningitis. Tic fever can also present like this, so you can search her for tics.
If you had a full work up including blood work, urinalysis, chest x-ray, and everything came back normal, then you need to look a little further into blood work. She should have had a complete electrolyte panel, liver function panel with hepatitis panel, kidney function panel, urinalysis with additional electrolytes, vitamin panel, inflammatory marker panel with rheumatoid analysis and lupus analysis, blood cultures, and endocrine panel.
Vitamin D deficiency can cause all of these symptoms surprisingly. Kidney and/or liver dysfunction can cause these symptoms as well. Zika virus is going around and can cause symptoms like this. You can also have your stool screened for blood and infections, as well as cancer markers. Unfortunately measles and whooping cough are coming back, and they can cause similar symptoms.
She may also be dehydrated. I would recommend trying to double fluid intake with gatorade or pedialyte. Use tylenol for pain. Nine weeks is a very long time. If you can go to the emergency room and get admitted, that would be ideal. She may need fluids through in IV. A lot of the time, they send people home with these symptoms because they are not emergency. If she is having fevers, chills, uncontrollable nausea and vomiting, then she will get admitted. Most importantly, if the cymbalta is not helping, I would stop it. Cymbalta has a very vast side effect profile. I would go back to the doctor and get some of these blood analysis complete.
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
