My fast heart rate wears me out and the meds to prevent it do too. My friend sees a nurse practitioner for her maintenance visits and is pleased. I guess it depends on the NP just like it depends on the MD. And it is possible to have normal labs and feel awful. But, the labs they did not do might not be normal. Fibro especially will have normal labs even when you are having bad pain.
Get those eyes checked. She is right, it is very important!
Mary Ann

Mary Ann--
Always appreciative of your wonderful insight. This makes sense, thank you! I will get in to see the eye doctor ASAP. Hope you are well.

My labs are practically normal except for an elevated CRP as of a few weeks ago, but I have a very lupus like history. At the moment my diagnosis is lupus like UCTD. This is after 30 plus years and going back and forth from lupus, MCTD, MS (very briefly) , fibro, somataform disorder, back to lupus. But at least the are treating me.

both fibro and MCTD cause fatigue. Do you get you thyroid tested. There is an autoimmune disease called hashimotos. It has its own antibodies. A lot of times NPs in a specialty are well informed and some times a bit less dogmatic.

Wow AnnNY, I had no idea our UCTD/MCTD diagnosis could change or be so many different illnesses that span over quite a bit of time. I guess I was hopeful to one day have a specific name for whatever is wrecking havoc on my immune system & my body once & for all. I feel like with the fibromyalgia & UCTD/MCTD (and the many other symptoms), I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought I'd eventually get to know the name of whatever disease is taunting me & say AHA! & get the right treatment to cope better. I guess I better take my head out of the clouds because it seems to be more of an uncertain roller coaster ride that dips or slows down or speeds upside down without warning huh?? Well, I'm thankful to know I'm not crazy because I feel there are multiple things going on with me but the doctors, my symptoms and my labs just can't all get together on the same page! Gee-Wiz! How do you function & maintain your sanity over 30+ years???

Well, I hope no one else has to go as long as I have to get a definitive diagnosis. I was sick on and off for 7 years before I was diagnosed with lupus, despite not much in my blood. But the rheumy gave me plaquinil which worked really well for me. After 7 years of taking plaquinil, I stopped taking it and the close-to-remission kept on going for 20 years. So I was actually very fortunate with that. At that point, I thought maybe the whole thing was over--I only had fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, my remission ended and then it was back to what's the diagnosis. Now they treat people more easily on history and your response to drugs. So I'm back on plaquinil, and at the moment on prednisone, too. So the flip side is that it has been hard to get a diagnosis that stuck with all and sundry, but whatever it is it's comparatively mild, except I think the neuro stuff--but my head scans still look OK.

I know this thread has wandered onto a tangent, but Ann, that was very interesting. My illness has followed a similar course, though substitute prednisone for plaquenil. It took about three years to get a diagnosis, which was made despite normal blood work, at about 18 years old. I was told I would be on prednisone for life, but I was able to go off it when I was about 20, though I went back on a few times when pericarditis flared up. Then, from about age 24 through 47, I had almost no symptoms-- a little brain fog and fatigue, which I figured (incorrectly) was due to smoking very small amounts of weed and drinking 4-5 drinks every night. Then, after my first blood clot at age 48, the anti-RNP antibody showed up in a very, very high titre. At age 56, my anticardiolipin antibodies were distinctly elevated, very near the criteria for antiphospholipid syndrome, but not quite (according to my HMO-- other facilities would have considered it a positive result) and anti-RNP is still elevated, of course. All other blood work is normal. And Ann, like you, my brain CT scan looked fine, though an MRI would show more detail.