Are Night Sweats, Weight Loss And Lack Of Energy Symptoms Of Autoimmune Disorder?

Posted on Fri, 28 Aug 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 Answered on

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello Dr. Siqeca, Your advice worked well for me, and I am happy to say that all appears OK now with a 1/2 Losartan 50 in the morning only. My blood pressure "crashes" have ended, and although it fluctuates somewhat, I don't have those episodes of blinding light and wooziness that I had. The BP range is within good limits for a woman of my age. I am thinking about starting on an auto-immune diet (paleo) to see if I can minimize this oral lichen planus disorder. I have had other symptoms that would suggest that auto-immune issues are present. For example, I have scintillating scotoma episodes, and several years ago I had "fever of unknown origin" that nearly killed me. I had no energy, lost a great deal of weight, had night sweats, & my blood tests all showed a high level of inflammation but no disease. I was tested for TB, parasites, and in the end I had a complete CT scan that turned up nothing amiss. I believe that it was autoimmune. My eyebrows disappeared as well! Advice?

Answered by Dr. Suresh Heijebu (38 hours later)

Brief Answer:
High possibility of Systemic autoimmune disease.Need further work up.

Detailed Answer:
Hello, Madam.

I understand your concern.

I have gone through your query in detail.

Yes, by all means the possibility of autoimmune disease is very high in your case.

The association of Lichen planus is one such clue.

The disappearance of eyebrows is another clue.

Scintillating scotomas require an immediate evaluation.

Prompt search for Retinal disease has to be made.

For this, I advise you to have Direct ophthalmoscopy.

Also, a complete autoimmune screen is advised to decide further action.

Post your further queries if any.

Thank you.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Neel Kudchadkar