To Continue From Where I Left Off...

So, my pregnancy was pretty normal until about the 4th month.  Then the overwhelming fatigue set in.  And it REALLY set in.  I barely had enough strength to stand in the shower.  Lifting my hands to wash my hair was excruciatingly difficult - as though I were lifting a ten pound weight or something.  I laid on the couch all day every day falling in and out of sleep.  It kept on this way until I finally decided to see my Dr.  Something was really wrong.  I had to take a cab to the clinic (normally an easy walk) because I was so weak.  My Dr. did all kinds of blood tests and of course everything came back within normal ranges.  My Dr. said "it must be a pregnancy thing".  She told me to make sure to take my vitamins and to get enough protein (I'm a vegetarian). 

Anyway, about 3 weeks after having my daughter, I started to feel the flu symptoms again although this time it was very different.  One evening my whole body began to ache much more severely than it had before.  I started to sweat and I felt sick.  I can't describe the symptoms exactly - just sick.  I felt like I had to lay down or I would pass out.  I felt as though I had a high fever but each time I took my temperature it was normal.  The episode went away after a couple days but returned 6 months later and has never left.

I went back to my Dr. and she did a battery of "exotic" (& expensive) blood tests.  My ANA came back positive so we started exploring the many auto-immune diseases that exist.  More blood tests.  This time my ANA came back negative so my Dr. decided I didn't have an auto-immune disease after all.  All the blood test results came back within normal ranges again.  I was so frustrated because I really wanted to know what was wrong with me.  She put me on high levels of steroids for a couple weeks, which seemed to help, but was not a long-term solution.  My Dr. called a Rheumatologist she knew (I couldn't afford the consult fee at any specialist).  He told her to double the anti-depressants I was already on for depression.  I am now taking 400mg Welbutrin, 200mg Zoloft, 5-10mg Cyclobenzaprine and 2mg Lorazepam every day.  I wasn't back to my normal energy levels by any means but it was really helping for a while (about a month).  Until yesterday I thought I was on the mend.  I guess not.