Hello,

I've joined this forum at about almost 7 in the morning, I haven't been able to sleep because I've been in such discomfort and now I am starting to worry. To preface this, I'm a 20 year old female. I'm also sorry in advance if this is a long post, I have a lot to say.

This is a bit of background. I've been having on-and-off fevers for a couple of months now. They can reach up to 38.8c but I seem to get lower grade ones every night. Other worrying symptoms have started to occur in the past 3-4 weeks. I sweat loads and get really hot when I'm bed, regardless of what duvet or blanket or pyjamas I have on, and I wake up damp with sweat, my neck especially. And I've been so, so, incredibly tired. I can't do my coursework or revise for my UCAT because I feel so fatigued. I tried going to the shop which is about a 2-3 minutes walk away and actually gave up at the end of my street and walked home because I was so exhausted and weak. I've also gone incredibly pale, paler than usual (my dad keeps comparing me to a new potato which is kind of funny :) ) and I have really dark red circles under my eyes. I am usually pale, but for the past week there has been genuinely no colour in my face at all.

With all this being considered, I rang my GP and told him what was up. He was obviously quite concerned and asked me to come in straight away. There was some questions whether or not my in-ear thermometer was actually accurate, because it's unusual to have fevers for that long and not have any infections, but it turned out to unfortunately be accurate, so after checking me for visible lumps, of which I have none, he sent me for some blood tests and referred me to an infectious disease clinic for the fevers.

He gave me strict instructions to call the practice straight away if I have any new symptoms. Which of course I did. I started having pain in the bones of my legs on Friday, which had continued to today, so I called up and spoke to a different doctor because he wasn't working. The doctor ordered me a couple more blood tests including a blood film to be done as soon as possible because of the bone pain in combination of these symptoms.

I had my bloods taken on Saturday. I am really grateful that I am lucky enough to get bloods done at this time because I know that there's a shortage of blood tubes right now so tests have to he rationed.

As I said, I am studying for the UCAT as I hope to apply to medical school in October to attend next year. I am autistic and medicine is my special interest and I know a lot about different medical conditions, so I unfortunately know what a blood film tests for and what my combination of symptoms could be. I'm not diagnosing myself here, or looking for a diagnosis, I am just scared. I'm scared that if there was to be something seriously wrong, something like blood cancer, the results won't come as promptly as they should because of the bank holiday weekend, and because they're coming through the GP. Is there any way to make this crushing anxiety a little bit easier? I can't really talk to anyone in my family about it because they'll write me off as a hypochondriac as I already have diagnosed anxiety conditions. And I can't speak to my partner about it either because I already did and it scared him because of his own anxiety issues surrounding illness. Maybe I am crazy, maybe this is just a vitamin deficiency or something benign, but I think for once that there is a very real chance that it isn't.

Again, apologies for the gargantuan post, I just had to get this all off my chest. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading and I hope you're having a good day wherever you are :)