My husband's Dr. suspects he has cystic fibrosis.....

United States
December 3, 2006 11:17am CST
and wants him to have a spinal tap done to determine diagnosis. My husband has already been through a lot. After almost two years of tests, lab work,specialists, surgeries and medications he was diagnosed with diabetes and Lupus. He also was told that he wasn't digesting food properly and may need stomache surgery if meds didn't work. He just recently went for his check up and he had been feeling ill because of his asthma and thought he might have bronchitus again. Instead Dr.'s found his heart was enlarged and sent him for more testing and the specialist thinks he may have cystic fibrosis. My husband has been through soo much and we have been through a few scares so he's not sure if he wants to go through with testing to see if he does have cystic fibrosis. He's tired of being in pain and not knowing whats wrong with him,at same time scared to find out. From what I've read it's genetic but he doesn't have a family history but then again so is Lupus and there is no family history there either. I just need some support from people who have been or are in similar situation. How did you deal with it? What do you think we should do? I know my husband has gotten to a point where he's just tired of it all. It's frustrating when you feel like things are getting better just to get slammed with something else. He also keeps telling me he thinks his body is too tired and thinks he's dying. What to do?
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1 response
@sabrinam (1203)
• United States
3 Dec 06
If you aren't religious I would suggest finding someone for your husband to speak to, because he's headed into depression fast and furious, ya'll need to head that off and see to his mental health as well. It's easy to get depressed when having health problems like this, but all of that is manageable as long as you know what you're dealing with. Find him a good internal medicine physician, I would recommend a second opinion before getting a spinal tap for sure. But you have to know what you're dealing with before you can begin to manage health problems. There is no reason he cannot be an energetic and fun man to be around, just get out of this rut, start thinking positively, remind yourselves of all the good things you have in life, all the people that care about you guys and all that you have to live for in the future. The key to managing illness is in the frame of mind you have about it.
• United States
3 Dec 06
Thanks for the advice. He has some of the best specialist in our area and his physician is internal medicine and highly recommended. We switched Dr.'s when his previous Dr. two years ago was making him worse. He even admits he gets depressed but he tries to talk about it. I think it is very hard to stay positive sometimes though when you are in soo much pain everyday and then dealing with lifes everyday stresses. He was fine before and happier. He thought he was doing better when he just got this news last week. What's scary to me is that I know my husband and he is being honest with me in how his body is feeling. His dad talked the same way a few years before he passed and he is just like his dad. Has been sick since he was a kid both him and his dad. When his dad started getting real sick he knew something wasn't right and he too knew when his body was too tired long before they discovered the cancer in his liver. My husband has even more health problems than I listed and has been sick since he was a child and through it all has lived a happy life and never spoke like this before. He does get depressed and angry sometimes which is expected but he has support from his family and doesn't hide it from us. He always talks to his Dr's when he's feeling depressed about the situation and even his Dr.'s have told him about support groups for him if he needs it. My husband is religious but no longer goes to his mom's church cuz he doesn't feel comfortable there but wants to find a church which is what we are trying to do now. I think it would be good for him to have a pastor that he can talk to as well from a religious point of view since we do not share the same spiritual beliefs. Lupus is bad enough and I don't want him to have cystic fibrosis too. I know his body can't handle that. He's too weak already. I hope he does get the test done though because it's worse not knowing I think. I just hate the though of not being able to grow old with him.