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Fatigue, Inability to focus, headaches, diarrhea, occasional loss of appetite

I've been feeling incredibly fatigued lately, so much so that I've missed three days of school (college), and previously when I was overwhelmed by fatigue I ended up missing work. This started in about January 2012. It was quickly followed by an inability to focus, concentrate, or remember things. The came the headaches maybe in March. On an off for a few weeks I've had strong loss of appetite, and it's odd because I'm a diagnosed compulsive eater. I'm not morbidly obese, but I am obese. Previously I was diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, but after taking meds for a few months and still feeling terrible all the time I stopped taking them, and never tried anything new.

The diarrhea started in late May of 2011 last year, so it might be completely unrelated. I know that dairy products rile it up, but not all dairy (cheese is okay for example, but never ice cream) so I'm not sure it's lactose intolerance. I went to a doctor who specializes in gastronomy, but before I could see her again my insurance got cut, so no tests were ever run.

Thank you!
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Avatar universal
Lactose intolerance can be very mild, I can eat certain dairy things, others I have to watch.. So maybe that's part of it. I had the other symptoms too, my doctors related it to stress\anxiety or fibromyalgia
Helpful - 0
2081753 tn?1334765685
Hey there, have you had a MRI? You have many similar symptoms to a pretty rare thing called Chiari Malformation type 0-2. Look it up, many doctors are unaware or outdated on it so its a tough journey. Symptoms can start at any point in life but usually in young adults (20's). I just recently found out about chiari and am on my way to hopefully finding out if it is what is causing me to lose my quality of life. I just got over a 9 day headache. I get them 5-10 times a month average but this last one was the longest lasting by far. Good luck to you, feel free to check out my MRI photos as well. I also have dilation in my thoracic spine of 3mm. this would be a possible syrinx which can be caused from CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) blockage. Good luck and I hope you can find out whats going on so you can hopefully start to feel better.
Helpful - 0
1415174 tn?1453243103
It may be a migraine variant. Obviously stress can trigger migraines and college is stressful. I got mine after midterm exams and only at night. The diarrhea could be related. But it could be a variety of things. But, did I read on your home page that you are also low in hemoglobin? If you have Iron deficiency anemia or anemia in general you would have all these symptoms except the diarrhea (which may be due to  the lactose intolerance). Try to avoid dairy, drink vanilla soy or something else. Let me know about the hemoglobin .
mkh9
Helpful - 0
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