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Mystery disease. GI problems, heart rate/BP spike and drop, chronic eye infection, allergy development...

In late 2008 I was an extremely healthy 26yo guy.  I worked out several times a week, bike/run several km a day (bike 10-40, run 2-20), ate extremely healthy, had very little stress in my life, and had recently got together with a wonderful girl for whom I quit smoking after 15 years.  Two weeks after meeting her and quitting smoking, I woke up one morning for a trip to Vancouver and my eyes were *****, red and extremely itchy.  I've never been sick before so I assumed it would go away.  During the week long trip it got progressively worse.  I tried some non-prescription anti-biotic eye drops which didn't help at all.  Seven days later we were driving home to Edmonton and my abdomen started to hurt something fierce.  By the time we got home it was distended several inches (normally flat and toned) and I looked like I was 3mo pregnant.  Again, I figured it would go away on its own, but after a day with no bowel movement (I've always been regular) I started to worry.  After three days I decided to get to a doctor.  Doctor told me that between my eyes and GI pain/distension, there was nothing wrong and suggested I eat better and get more exercise.  I pointed out that I was in otherwise extremely good physical condition and that this was very abnormal, but he just sorta kicked me out.  That night I felt a sharp pain in my Ilium area followed by a loud pop.  It was loud enough to wake my girlfriend.  I nearly passed out from the pain.  Went to ER where I waited in triage for 16 hours before getting in to see a doctor, at which point I felt fine.  They poked around my abdomen and told me to go home and eat better.  I pointed out that I hadn't had a bowel movement in nearly a week and could no longer eat.  No response.
At this point I took matters into my own hands and started my several years of research.  My condition got much worse before I tricked a doctor into testing me for Celiac disease (which came back positive).  I stopped eating gluten and four days later finally had a bowel movement.  Immediately after however, I experienced massive heart palpitations, HR increased to over 120bpm and my blood pressure spiked and dropped over the next few hours.  Things got progressively worse, but I'll just sorta summarize my symptom cycles.

I normally go to bed around 2200-2300 and wake up at 0700.  I get to work by 0800.  The following cycles have increased and decreased in severity and time span.  When it first began, the cycles lasted around 2 weeks, with 1 day in-between relapses.  As it progressively got worse, the cycles took longer and had no time in-between.  Currently the cycles last around 3-4 days and I some times go a week or so between relapses.  My resting heart rate is 55bpm under normal conditions.  Normally:
-0700-0800 - Wake up and go to work.
-0800-1000 - Eat some fruit, drink lots of water, drink a coffee most days.
-1000 - Extremely urgent bowel movement.  Alternating between watery and painfully firm.  Also alternating constipation and diarrhea.
-1005 - Heart rate fluctuates between 35 and 120 bpm.  This coincides directly with drops and spikes in blood pressure.  Blood pressure gets low enough that I very often lose consciousness.  I also feel like I'm suffocating (feels like high altitude) and experience anxiety/panic attacks.  Upper GI tract feels absolutely raw, but no noticeable blood in stool.
-1100 - Heart rate/BP stabilize.  HR levels out at around 55 at rest and 65-70 while walking.
-1200 - Lunch time.  Usually go for 10-30 minute walk to pick up my lunch at a restaurant (always healthy) or I run/bike home if I have the energy (3km).
-Immediately after eating lunch - BP drops, HR fluctuates again, breathing is usually normal and anxiety/panic isn't as bad as after breakfast.  I go back to work.
-1300 - Feel like hell.  No energy, can't focus my vision nor my thought process.  I get easily aggravated and agitated.
- 1630 - Off work.  Go home. By this point I feel much better but still nowhere near normal.  My energy is extremely low.  I can no longer work out, run, bike.  I have very little interest in anything.

Now this lasts for a few days to a few weeks at a time and is ALWAYS preceded by itchy red eyes which ooze puss constantly, and always followed with extreme arthritis in most of my large joints as well as pain in most of the connective tissue.  Prescription anti-biotics cleared the eye (infection?) for a few weeks but eventually stopped working.  Tried alternating anti-biotic eye drops but they all eventually failed to clear symptoms.  Currently the only consistent relief I've found is with colloidal silver in my eyes (oh god it burns).  I have to use around 20 drops in each eye every day.  If I do not treat my eyes actively, they eventually get bad enough that I can not sleep, and I once left it alone for a week, and woke up temporarily blind one morning (could only see white).
After nearly three years of research and stealing diagnostic requisitions, I've confirmed that I have Celiac disease, Hashimoto's Auto-immune Hypothyroidism, high white blood cell count, high amounts of proteins in my blood, am allergic to everything I've eaten while experiencing GI problems (I do mean everything.  According to the tests, I should go go into anaphylaxis if any dairy, grains, legumes, most spices, beef, garlic, ginger... even look at me funny.  I tried an elimination diet and ate only things which came back negative (still doing so) and my cycles decreased in severity and frequency but still recur with regularity.  I have not eaten anything I am supposedly allergic to in nearly a year at this point.

One thing I hate pointing out is that this all started shortly after I quit smoking.  My dad apparently has some very similar symptoms (severe enough that he was in ICU for several weeks) immediately after he quit smoking.  He started again at the request of his girlfriend and doctors, and was out of ICU and back at home in a week.  I eventually broke down and decided to give it a try as well.  While I can not be sure of a causal link, I did immediately see a dramatic reduction in severity of all symptoms within 1 week of resuming smoking.  I am now able to work out once a week (though not a full work out) and have resumed running once a week when the joints and heart will deal with it.

At this point I am confident that smoking is not making me better, but I do believe it does play an active role in the partial symptom resolution as I did test by quitting again and landed in the ER several times.  I suspect nicotine is providing partial secondary symptom resolution to my GI tract as currently I will not have a bowel movement without two cigarettes in the morning.  This has been tested for months and is 100% consistent.

I'm mostly at a loss at this point.  I suspect a bacterial pathogen as this all begins with the eyes, and the only resolution I've seen in them has come through topical anti-biotics (gentamyicin and others, but now colloidal silver).  I suppose Colloidal silver is also anti viral/fungal/parasitic so I should not rule them out, but the eye symptoms are consistent with a bacterial infection.  I've considered Lyme disease at length.  Several LLMD's have suggested a high probability of Lyme but are unable to treat me legally in Canada, with intravenous anti-biotics without a confirmation by health Canada's completely unreliable western-blot test (something like 95% false negative according to health canada).  

Anyone else experience something similar or have any ideas?  I'm exasperated to the point that I'd almost try silly homeopathy or reiki :).  My life is generally ok aside from the health.  The health however is bad enough that I really hope I'll just die soon.

P.S. I've of course been tested for every STD known to man, as faking std symptoms has been the only way I can trick doctors into giving me diag. requisitions so I can add my own tests.
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Avatar universal
Hrm.. I also have to urinate every 30 minutes when the other symptoms are bad.  Will go >20 times a day, and I'll drink between 5 and 15L of water a day and can't stay hydrated.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I should also mention that I have a vertebral luxation between L4-5 I believe.  My lower back always hurts and my SI joints very often hurt bad enough that I have trouble bending far enough to put on my socks.  Conversely, I have excellent flexibility on good days (lots of yoga).  Some days I can run, others I take a wrong step and collapse as my leg gives out at the hip.
Helpful - 0
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