Digestion and Balance??

[BeyondDisbelief]

I live in a very small county. Doctors here are a bit behind the times to say the least. One day, I bent over to pull a weed out of my flower bed. I lost my balance, foam floated up into my mouth, my vision was blurred, it was horrible. Someone asked me if I had almost passed out, I have no idea, I call it losing my balance, and I have never passed out so I don't know how that feels. I was 39 at the time. For months, I was told it was the flu. I could not digest anything. It just floated back up into my mouth. I would go the the ER and get rehydrated, and sent home. I started living on gatorade, my stool was green, I assume because the gatorade was bluegreen. After 3 months of gatorade, (rehydrated often and given potassium), a doctor put me in the hospital. He gave me an IV, 3 kinds of antibiotics, and said he thought it was camphylbactor (spelling). Tests were negative. They found nothing else, and sent me home.

EIGHT years later, I am laying in a chair. My body is functioning so slow! Yet I have diahrrea when I eat. Often my stool has undigested food. I often start shaking after I eat, I lose my balance so bad I panic. I wait, because I know what will help SOMEWHAT. When the foam starts floating into my mouth from my stomach, sometimes with food in it, sometimes not, I think I am going to die. Then my balance slowly gets better, NEVER GOOD, the shaking subsides. I am now 47. I can no longer walk because I feel I am on waves ( I live and sleep in a rocking chair if that matters). I have hypothyroidism and Hashimotos. An increase of synthroid helped, but the doctor lowered it. BP 100/60 at best. No thyroid function at all. I am always nauseated, I can't hardly sleep because of it. The less sleep I get, the less my body functions, the worse my balance, digestion and diarrhea are. They took my galbladder out! Then I found out it was just 'sludgy.' That was about 5 years ago. I am exhausted, almost too tired to breathe. I feel like I am dying slowly, and the suffering is killing me. Before the foam comes into my mouth, even my vision is blurred. I always feel somewhat better afterwards.

I want to at least know what is happening to me, so I can face it and fight it! My doctor says balance problems and digestion do NOT go together. So am I in a bad dream imagining this?

Before I got sick, I was very active, loved to be outdoors, (still wish I could be), lifted weights, hiked, worked in the garden, had a job, life was so good. Now, the acid has eaten the enamel off of my teeth, they snap off. Can't handle anesthesia now. No doctor here cares! I made them do an endoscopy and colonoscopy 5 years ago. All they found were colon polyps. My stool is anything from regular, watery, looks like coffee grounds, or almost all mucous. I have to have diarrhea as soon as I eat usually. I hardly eat, yet am gaining weight. And I mean I have one meal a day, and maybe a small snack. Again, sorry for writing a book, I am desperate. Thank you for your site!

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Hello - thanks for asking your question.

The first thing that comes to mind is celiac sprue.  This is a malabsorption disease that is associated with neurological symptoms such as ataxia (loss of balance), depression, anxiety, or epilepsy.  There is an association with autoimmune disease such as Hasimoto's thyroiditis.  The diarrhea you describe after you eat may again be suggestive of a malabsorption syndrome.  

Treatment for this disease would involve a gluten-free diet.  

To diagnose this, I would ask for an IgA endomysial antibody (IgA EMA) and IgA tissue transglutaminase.  

If those tests are negative, I would obtain repeat endoscopies to evaluate for any inflammatory bowel disease or cancer, and further tests for malabsorption (i.e. fecal fat test).  To evaluate your loss of balance, I would obtain a neurology referral, and possible MRI to evaluate for an neurological etiology.

Again, before all that, I would obtain the IgA endomysial antibody and IgA tissue transglutaminase, which are both simple blood tests.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Thanks,
Kevin, M.D.

[PAJ]

I always take notice when I learn that tests show nothing for what obviously is a serious digestive condition.
See if you relate to this. & Look at my post on the 15 March .
Get back to us if you wouldn’t mind.



http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/march/dysbiosis.htm

[BeyondDisbelief]

Thank you both for your replies. IF it should ever stop snowing in California, (geez) I will be getting somewhere to get blood tests.
I will also be going to a thyroid doctor who works closely with a compounding pharmacist in Oregon. I would have thought one meal per day and a weight gain of 40 pounds now would show ANY doctor with a brain that the synthroid just isn't cutting it. But, where I live, the only thyroid 'specialist' (what we haltingly call those who can't cut it anywhere but here), says he thinks I am getting too much synthroid. He also says my weakness, alligator dry skin, loss of balance, low blood pressure, digestive problems, and general extreme slowing of all systems isn't indicative of my Hashimoto's/hypothyroidism. If this has been my problem for 8 years, I will be having a chat with him. (Use your imagination).
I am so angry, I would think that would raise my blood pressure. I have asked local doctors many times about yeast problems. Nope, we don't deal with those.
If this is my imagination, why can't I imagine myself into being 40 pounds lighter, working in my garden, fishing, sitting by a stream, spending time with family and friends, generally just getting up out of this stupid recliner and WALKING with no fear of falling?
I guess it is my anger and bad attitude they accuse me of because I don't treat them like Gods. But, when you are told you are not ECONOMICAL, and you are left to die, you tend to lose respect to say the least. After all, who is paying who?

Thanks again, I got much more here than the total sum of 8 years of idiots. Linda