u/JayyyDaGreat

I've had consistently low hemoglobin, a trending drop in my platelets over the last half year. I've been feeling fatigued and dizzy for awhile and it's affecting me at both my jobs. I have experienced coldness in my extremities especially my right hand along with numbess in my legs. My doctors seem to be downplaying my symptoms and moving incredibly slow to give me an explanation on my results. I don't know what's next and what could be my problem.

I typed way too much in the Anemia subreddit and was ignored or spooked people away, so I'll answer questions as asked if anyone can give me advice on what I should be asking my doctor for next, or if a hematologist and rheumatologist are specialists I should be requesting a referral to.

I've had several CBCs and the latest results were from a pathologist smear with hemoglobin electrophoresis, a week has passed and I haven't been told the interpretation of why my platelets are so low and how to address my anemia. I'm wondering if I need b12 and other vitamins looked at? I'm very tired of getting my blood drawn guys :(

This was certainly the accomplishment. circled the car because apparently some people can't see what I'm seeing

I'll try not to make this long but I think adding as much detail as possible might help someone reading understand my situation.

I'm a tall guy who has been weightlifting for about 4 years. I don't do cardio but I know I should. I work from home 40 hours and do another job at a store another 10 or so hours. I can definitely feel myself chronically burning out and since last October I've been feeling progressively unwell. I had a bad case of tonsillitis in November and every couple weeks since until around March I was having colds and sore throats and muscle aches.

I've always struggled with random bouts of fatigue and a cold sensation in my hands and feet. I have had chest pain and a racing heart when climbing even 1 flight of stairs. I have been to urgent care several times in the past 3 weeks for chest pain but my EKG comes back clean and there's never any troponin. The hours after the last blood work I did last Wednesday for the pathologist smear left me feeling extremely weak and dizzy. It went away the next day but then yesterday I felt even worse and couldn't stay standing for too long. I even had blurry vision. I went to urgent care again, received fluids and was told my platelets were 183. I don't understand how it can be 103 May 6th then 183 May 9th. I'm just absolutely baffled at what could be wrong with me. I'm guessing the next steps are see a hematologist and a rheumatologist.

I was diagnosed with a coronary artery anomaly at 16 which my dad brushed off and told me "try not to push yourself." I'm currently 26 and have been doing strength training for awhile as I said earlier, but I always noticed it took me a lot longer to recover and my heart rate would stay elevated for awhile. I feel like I'm going off topic towards cardiology but I'm thinking it's connected to the other issues I'm having now. My platelets have trended downwards from 210+ in 2020 to 156 last month to 103 this week. My iron levels seem fine but I haven't had my doctor explain to me what this most recent blood work could mean. I don't think I'm being taken seriously but the symptoms I'm having daily are alarming. I feel like breaking down because I'm not able to focus on either of my jobs, I'm spending a lot on urgent care visits, specialist, appointments with no answers.

I spoke with one cardiologist who claimed not to see any anomaly after an echocardiogram but I understand that can be missed with such an exam. I had to go to a 2nd cardiologist and insist on getting a CT angiogram done which is unfortunately scheduled for June. I want to definitely rule out some underlying cardiovascular issue that should caution me from pushing too hard at the gym, maybe cutting back on work hours and getting more sleep. I regularly struggle to get more than 6 hours a night.

I'm actually doing at home sleep study because I suspect I've been living my entire life with sleep apnea. I've been told on multiple occasions my snoring is like a jet engine, I stop breathing in my sleep and choke myself awake. I sleep better elevated and use nasal strips which seems like a big clue I need to get that fixed. I procrastinated a lot on my health because as a young guy in his 20s I thought I should be invincible but the last 8 months of my life have been a struggle to feel normal and healthy.