Exerrcise Intolerance, Fatigue, Dizziness, Blurred Vision in Endurance Athlete

[stephsxty9]

I am a swimmer/runner/triathlete who has been very active most of my life. I have done several endurance races including half-ironman triathlon and marathon.

After having my second daughter in 2006 I started having the following symptoms:

- extreme fatigue especially after exercise
- orthostatic hypotension (especially after exercise...get very light headed when standing)
- feeling of hypoglycemia after exercise.
- heart palpitations (started in 2008 and only happens the week before my period)
- motion sickness
- migraines w/aura (have had these for years, but they got worse after my second daughter was born)
- weight gain (over 25 lbs)

This was extremely frustrating because I am a runner and was feeling horrible every time I went for a run. In 2008 the symptoms started getting worse. I went to my GP who did blood tests for anemia and thyroid disease as well as an EKG to check heart issues. All tests came back normal so they sent me home and there was no follow up. I decided to see an alternative medicine doctor thinking this was being caused by a hormone imbalance. She diagnosed me with low adrenal function and put me on Withania Complex and Drenamine. After being on the supplements for about 9 months without much improvement I decided to go back to my GP. She sent me to a liver specialist for high liver enzymes and an endocrinologist for my other symptoms. The liver specialist did a liver biopsy, stomach biopsy, and upper intestine biopsy...all came back normal. My endocrinologist did a blood test that showed high dhea-s levels. She says she doesn't know what to do about that, but did order a CT scan of my adrenal glands to rule out a tumor on the adrenal gland. The CT scan was normal except that it did show I have kidney stones. My endocrinologist still doesn't know what else to do about the elevated dhea-s.

This summer I started having additional symptoms including dizziness all day/every day, chronic headaches for 3-4 weeks at a time. The headaches seem to go away during my period. I also seem to have blurred vision or some type of visual disturbance (hard to describe). Feels like my eyes have to strain to stay focused. I went for a vision test and I have an astigmatism, but that doesn't seem to be what is causing my vision problems.

I recently went to a neurologist who ordered an EEG, VEP, and MRI. I just went for the EEG and VEP today so don't have the results left. Unfortunately my insurance company denied the MRI because I had a CT Scan that came back normal. I now have to appeal that decision to see if I can get the MRI. Ugh!!!

I'm also seeing an ear specialist who will run a number of tests later this month because I have had vertigo, dizziness, and tinitus (ringing in my ears).

I'm getting more and more frustrated because it seems like exercise makes all my symptoms worse, but I don't want to stop running. I don't understand how I've gone from being able to exercise at what seems to be a relatively normal level to now hardly being able to do a three mile run without having major issues. I wish I could find a doctor that could help, but I don't even know where to look.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for any help.