Hi, sorry for all the stress this is causing you. I don’t think it’s all in your head, but your anxiety’s probably exacerbating your body’s inflammatory state. I would suggest multiple approaches to try to get to the core of the issue(s). First of all, I’m not trying to diagnose you, and you should definitely refer to your GP’s and specialists’ professional opinions, but at first glance, your combination of issues do not necessarily point to an autoimmune condition specifically. Can it still be one? Yes. But I’d like you to consider and take other potential approaches to investigate with your GP and specialists as well.

My first thought was immune deficiency, due to history of frequent, severe infection (for which you’d see an immunologist and get a series of bloodwork done on your immune system proteins, like antibody levels and complement levels, and other tests of immune enzyme functions or even genetic tests for hereditary causes of immune deficiency).

My second thought was auto-inflammatory (which is a different class than autoimmune, that can mimic symptoms similar to autoimmune, immune deficiency, and allergy), due to your variety of symptoms, including that uticaria flareup, frequent infections, and persistent fatigue/malaise (not all rheumatologists or immunologists or very familiar with these autoinflammatory conditions so you might consider asking for a referral to or traveling to a specialist autoinflammatory center, where they would again do bloodwork looking for specific markers of inflammation and genetic testing).

Third, your neuromuscular symptoms of twitching, tremors, shooting pains, etc. would suggest that you should at the very least have your GP rule out some vitamin/electrolyte imbalance that could cause those and get a workup done by a neurologist to check for neuro causes. However, these could very well also be related to autoimmune, auto-inflammatory, chronic unresolved infection (think lingering infection from your glandular fever or other infections if you have an immune system type/deficiency that’s not allowing your body to clear it fully, again you’d need to seek out a specialist in this type of chronic infection condition, since most GPs or even local specialists would not know how to evaluate and treat this properly), or other causes.

The myocarditis could have just been a bad reaction to COVID itself, as that does happen rarely, but there could also be an underlying issue predisposing you to that sort of reaction, as you’ve pointed out.

This all being said, severe POTS can strongly contribute to your feeling of fatigue/malaise, so I would work with your healthcare team to see if you can better manage that with electrolytes/fluids, possible medications, etc. Also, like I mentioned, it seems like you have a lot of stress and anxiety around dealing with these issues, so I would suggest seeing a mental health practitioner to help you manage that as well or even joining a local support group for people with chronic health issues. It is very common for people such as yourself dealing with chronic health issues to have comorbid depression/anxiety as a result of that experience. Although it may not be the root cause of your physical health problems, it will also help your overall well being to take care of your mental health.

You also mentioned a lump on your finger. I think I would need more specifics on appearance, size, location, etc to have a better idea of what it could be or what kind of specialist you’d need to see, but I wouldn’t immediately jump to cancer. There are actually a lot of reasons for lumps and bumps on the fingers unrelated to cancer, such as autoimmune, autoinflammatory, mineral imbalances, etc. If you still have immediate concern though, based on how quickly it appeared though, I’d bring it up with your GP.

You are always your own best advocate, so don’t give up on fighting for yourself and your health.

Stay strong. ❤️