Hey Docs,

I'm a 27 year old Aboriginal/Australian female.

I have had PTSD since 19 years of age. I gained 35kg during the lockdown periods, since being sick I have lost 17kgs without much effort. My current weight is 78kgs, and my weight before all of this was 65kg and height is 158cm. I smoke 10-15 cigarettes a day.

I've been unwell since around December. First I had a mild respiratory illness with a negative covid pcr, then started to recover after 2 weeks to then start having gastro like symptoms which lasted months. I was taking medication for mental health at the time- Valdoxan 50mg and Minipress before bed, minipress was prescribed off label to treat ptsd nightmares and it worked wonders. I was experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pains in top middle abdomen, rapid weight loss and sweaty, poor circulation, shortness of breath.

I then eventually collapsed to the ground and experienced a weird episode that is being investigated by a neurologist.

I am off the minipress after my neurologist asked me to, which made my nightmares come back 10 fold. The valdoxan has always been the best medication I've tried after many failed ssri attempts, but it never felt like it eased all the symptoms. So I decided to try Seroquel instead and am currently taking 50mg a day, 25 in AM and 25 in PM, having a good result so far.

My blood work is consistently showing high neutrophils and high platelets. I'm seeing a haematologist. She is currently just seeing me every couple of months and monitoring my bloods. My bloods have not gotten worse or better since December. I've had lots of things checked out through the gastro specialist, blood tests, poop tests, scans, colonoscopy, endoscopy and was cleared off by them. I have also done halter monitor I had a couple incidents but was still in normal range. Cardiologist said he feels it has nothing to do with the heart, but we will follow up with an echo just in case.

My haematologist said I may have a myeloproliferative disorder.

I have had PTSD since I was 19, my psychologist told me that having the parasympathetic nervous system activated for long periods of time can cause genetic changes in blood cells causing you to have higher inflammatory markers. I also saw a video on ABC discussing this in regards to covid lockdows activating the parasympathetic nervous system and then causing changes to the blood.

I mentioned it to my haematologist and she thinks I'm nuts and asked me how much I'm paying my psychologist..

Does anyone know anything about this subject at all?

Could long term PTSD cause changes in the blood?

Also these disorders are so hard to understand online, some call it cancer others call it a blood disorder. What is it?

Is waiting three months in between appointments too long if I might have cancer?

Sorry for all of the questions, this is all really amping up my anxiety.

Also I'd just like to comment that this has been the weirdest experience I've ever had, usually when I complain of being ill I am told it is most likely due to my PTSD. Now any time I ask if this is stress and ptsd I am almost being laughed at. I am very grateful that my care team are not leaving any stone unturned but also scared as hell cause I'm so used to being told everythings fine just focus on managing stress.