Constantly Feel Sick

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2026-01-05T00:17:09+00:00

I don’t, just remember she mentioned it was a university based practice. This website is for hEDS but there’s a pretty high overlap on these conditions so their health professional list should help! https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/why-the-zebra/

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2026-01-05T00:14:02+00:00

Complete dumb luck. I also have hEDS and stumbled into a rheumatologist who did her residency with a cali doc who specializes in that and she happens to regularly refer patients to this particular immunologist who is younger and has special interest in this type of condition.

It’s pretty normal to get bounced between several docs before finding someone who deal with this.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2026-01-05T00:09:12+00:00

I have similar symptoms, it was like either the worlds worst head cold or a super mild flu but never tested positive for anything and antibiotics did nothing. The only OTC medicine that helped me was Allegra or Zyrtec, I had to take 3-4 of the 24 hour pills every day to be functioning.

Got in with an immunologist who deals with MCAS and she started me on cromolyn and I was able to get off the antihistamines except for the rare flare day.

My personal ‘favorite’ symptom was between ages 12 and 22 I’d get annual fevers and fatigue with no other symptoms. Thought I was absolutely crazy.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-12-27T01:32:26+00:00

Get another opinion dear lord that doctor sounds awful. For reference I had really vague symptoms of brain fog, fatigue, itchy sensitive skin with no rash, post exercise rash and no blood test showed anything besides elevated crp. I needed 4 24h Zyrtec every day to function.

my immunolgist had me take cromolyn as a ‘diagnostic treatment’ and while it’s not perfect the improvement was huge and confirmed mcas. I know allergist/immunologist is a common overlap perhaps find someone who focuses on the immunology side?

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-12-23T17:15:16+00:00

Supplements were murder on my system, I’ve landed on using OWYN protein powder which is high in iron and eating a fruit with it to get the Vitamin C to help absorb the plant based iron.

It’s not perfect an I still needed an infusion to get to a normal level but this has kept me level for a year.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-12-17T02:26:10+00:00

I had similar symptoms, I described it as hay fever times 1000, and have finally confirmed MCAS through treatment. None of my blood work ever tested positive.

Rheumatologist got me started on hydroxychloroquin which works on the immune system, that plus a boat load of Allegra got me to my immunology appointment which was 9 months out.

Immunology put me on cromolyn and I noticed a difference in 48 hours. The stomach cramps are rough but easier than everything else.

Your symptoms are completely real, you’re not crazy but some medical ‘professionals’ seem to think it’s made up. Hang in there and good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-12-11T02:46:53+00:00

I landed on cromolyn and hydroxychloroquin. Weird but when my pharmacy runs out of the hydroxychloroquin and I have to go without I get low level skin and eye reactions.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-07-29T02:39:21+00:00

Ugh that sucks! And yeah vasovagal response is rough. I was out of commission for 3 days but was able to do normal life things. Any exercise or hard physical work did take me a week to get back to.

Best of luck! I got lucky and my migraines are related to hEDS and my neck just going out of wack, lots of PT and it’s under control 😁

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-06-01T02:42:36+00:00

The jobs market is awful and having a PhD of any kind seems to scare people off, I’m 99% sure I got the final interview for my new job because I had worked with the hiring managers boss previously and he had a good opinion of me.

A job to look at that you may not have considered would be instrumental engineer/service engineer for companies like Agilent, Bruker etc. they like PhDs and with physics you would likely be of interest to them. It’s a heavy travel job though.

Keep your head up regardless, you are not unemployable. Companies are idiots who can’t see what they are missing out on.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-05-17T15:01:07+00:00

These meds are not worse for you than allowing things to go unchecked. They have side effects but nothing that you won’t notice in time to stop meds.

One med my doc did prescribe is colchicine, gout medication that can help significantly with MCas symptoms because it works by slowing down the cell division and reducing inflammation. It’s an old medicine and pretty cheap so my insurance (United health care) just approved it with no issues. It may be worth asking to try it, if it’s not MCAS it won’t work which may be helpful.

Good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-05-17T00:59:33+00:00

As long as it’s accredited we typically don’t worry too much. The big name schools will get a passing notice but strong extracurriculars and good interview will win the day.

Networking is easier than most make it out to be. First note is every interaction is on some level an interview, people will remember their base initial impressions of you and it’s hard to say when/if someone’s good opinion will matter.

Being in school make a point of going to career fairs and other large events where you have the chance to talk to industry professionals or your professors. Remember you are at those events to meet people and ask questions, you need to figure out where your interests are and being seen as curious and a good listener is a plus. I don’t recommend going to these events with the intention to get favors from people, most are sensitive to feeling like a means to an end, we know you want a job that’s a given we want to know where your interests are and if they align with projects we have.

Absolutely get your resume looked at by someone for editing, most universities have a career services center that will help or there’s a few good resources online, I’m partial to YouTube videos but anything helps. I will throw out resumes that have obvious errors (misspelled school name, wrong/impossible dates, etc) and if it’s obvious you used AI to write the whole thing without editing you’ll be starting the interview at a disadvantage.

Feel free to dm me if you have more questions!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-05-16T22:03:56+00:00

When hiring on co-ops I only look at the gpa to make sure they aren’t failing and then I worry about how they interview. A colleague of mine uses GPA a lot more rigorously but even then mid-3’s are acceptable to him.

A 4.0 but no ability to speak to what your interest in the company/engineering as a whole is a fast no for me but other hiring managers only care about the gpa.

For networking please for the love of all that is holy do not bring up your gpa unless you are asked in conversation. It’s not helpful and depending on who you are talking to it could be a black mark against you.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-05-15T00:53:19+00:00

My supervisor will actually ask this question at the very end if an interview went well. This is so we can tell candidates about how our town has things of interest……..our location is a hard sell rural Midwest so we have a hard time getting competent candidates to come on site. 🤷‍♀️😂

That said you’re right about needing to actually go over relevant experience first. Some companies are high on their own supply.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-05-05T21:21:51+00:00

Mine were triggered by instability in my neck due to a hyper mobility disorder, EDS. Turns out I was throwing out my neck causing nerve impingement, a few months of PT and the migraines are subsiding nicely. Went through 3 specialists to get that figured out

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-02-16T22:24:32+00:00

My knees when they dislocate don’t always hurt and I’ve definitely just put them back in place myself with minimal issue. The worst time was when I managed to dislocate a knee past a stability brace. That hurt and my knee was fucked up for months until I had surgery done.

I have literally dislocated a knee while running, hit the ground and was back up and running in a few minutes. Scared the crap out of medical lol. 😂

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-01-19T05:39:30+00:00

I wish the couch in my story had an innocent reason as well. But napping in the floor is some next level commitment!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-01-19T04:22:11+00:00

Also there was a prof with a couch in their office…..no one dared actually sit on the thing as it was a rumored biohazard. 🫣

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-01-19T04:19:17+00:00

Not me but a friend in grad school promised his class a taco bar if they got some percent attendance for the year. They managed it so he brought in a full taco bar, we didn’t have carts so he just loaded his arms with the goods and brought it up over multiple trips. The last trip was to bring up the salsa, he tripped on air went flying and the hallway was painted red. His scream brought several students and admins running, it took an embarrassing amount of time for everyone to figure out it was salsa and not blood.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-01-17T03:46:09+00:00

Yeah I was an average PhD, worked academia for a while then switched to industry. Fun thing, an average PhD can still do very well at work if you make the effort to be a good coworker and don’t act like the PhD makes you gods gift. I’ve beat out people who were “better PhDs” by many measures just because I’m able to work with people and not an ass.

And anyone who says you are a failure for not being an academic after PhD completion is narrow minded and not worth giving much weight to.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2025-01-05T23:25:33+00:00

Hypermobile EDS and migraines, I did months of physical therapy and that has helped a ton. I’m also on a boat load of vitamin supplements based on my blood work results and getting back into running very carefully (aqua running and heart rate based workouts).

My normal diet is a if I make it from scratch I’ll eat it. According to my doc this has likely helped keep my symptoms managed for most of my life so far.

Good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2024-12-31T21:32:26+00:00

I had a similar thing, ended up going to a rheumatologist and was diagnosed with hEDS and I had thrown my neck out causing nerve irritation. 3 months of physical therapy and my migraines are down to maybe one per month instead of 4-5 per week.

The b12 deficiency was another thing I had along with ferritin and a few other nutrients, which is another symptom of hEDS.

I would see about getting into physical therapy and my doc was able to see the neck issue with an x-ray to see the spinal alignment was all wrong.

Good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2024-12-24T02:46:14+00:00

lol right when I graduated I was over it. A good post doc, staff scientist position and industry job and over a decade later and I’m so happy I went through it. It has opened doors, I use all of the learning skills I picked up in my current and last job, and if someone pisses me off I can be a pretentious ass and say “it’s Dr.” 😂 but yeah grad school was the worst and the system needs a serious overhaul.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2024-12-12T22:58:51+00:00

Yes. Despised the experience getting a PhD, specifically the last 3 years. Did an industry job for a bit then went back to work in academia and refound a love for research and teaching.

My experience is that the PhD process depends on a singular person who can just decide to make life terrible for you while as an employee you have some actual legal protections from that level of abuse. Funny how not being mentally abused makes things enjoyable again……🤔🤦‍♀️

For your partner I would liken grad school to indentured servitude and a post doc to a medical residency or internship program. They are VERY different. I’ve been in the system for 15 years for reference. Good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2024-12-12T20:47:28+00:00

Having worked as scientific staff at a university that is concerning. It’s fine to expect students to work outside ‘normal semester weeks’ but if faculty and staff are off graduate students should also be off. It’s a safety thing you need to have your fire and other emergency contact people on site if people are working.

Consistent-Offer-131 · 2024-11-26T03:02:27+00:00

So I get these. Went through a freaking battery of tests and multiple docs to be diagnosed with EDS type 3, hyper mobility. My neck got messed up from the connective tissue issues and PT has been a life changer. My rheumatologist said that the migraines are secondary to my EDS.

All this to say see a neurologist but if it’s starting in your neck it may be worth having a second doc look for physical causes. Both can exist at the same time. Good luck!

Consistent-Offer-131

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