Rapid weight loss, feeling cranked up all the time. Plus many other symtoms please help.

[flemingetq]

Hello.
I am a 33 yr male, I am active and eat well. In year 2000 I had acute renal failure in which I was in a coma for three months. After waking up (if thats what it is called) I was on diyalisis for 7 months. My kidney function now is about 60%. Creatine level is about 190 right now. This past July 2010 I came down with a case of the shingles, which lasted about 2 months. I stiil have pain where the rash was, but I can deal with that. August 1 2010 my weight was 303 lbs. I was at the dotors on Friday Oct 15 and I weigh 238lbs.  I have not done anything to try to loose this weight.  Blood work was done and it showed that my cortisol was very high and my ferritin was either very high or low I can't remember.  But my iron levels were normal.  The CBC showed that my red blood cells were small and missshaped along with  very few new cells. T4 levels were normal and my thyroid is not painful or inlarged. Plus my blood pressure used to be really high and I was on 3 different blood pressures pills to control it. Now I am only on one blood pressure pill (            ) and my pressure is really low. Last pressure check was 106/80 which is good but it has been down to 88/72 in which case I was taken to hospital, treated for a few days the recovered. But at that time I had not lost all this weight and all my blood work was normal ecept my creatin level was at 303.
How I fell. I would have to say that most of the time I feel great, almost to good. I have lots of energy but feel cranked up all the time. My focus is good and I do not do anything impolsive or crazy (bi-polar is out). I do feel hot all the time and swet when I should not be. When I say hot all the time I mean all the time, but I do not have a fever. Oh I forgot to mention that I have chrones's but it is under control no flare up's for the past 4 years, plus I have a check up evrey year for it, and it fine, but for the past few months stool has been very loose. Another thing that I have noticed and my wife too is that mt skin has turned really really soft and smooth (just like a babies skin) so she like it, but it's strange.  Most times when I wake up in the mornings I will feel numb in the face or other body part and last last a few hours. Also some times and it happens at any time of the day my right hand and fingers will start to get really shakey and I can not stop it. It last any were from a few min to half an hour.  I have had many CT's and MRI's over the years and their are no growths or anything like that in my head.
Medication that I am on right now are as followed: PMS-VENLAFAXINE XR 150MG PLUS SAME BUT AT 37.5MG/ APO-RAMIPRIL 1.25MG/ NOVO-PRANOL 80MG/ DIVALPROEX 500MG TID/ PENTASA 1000MG BID/ HYDROCHLOROTHIAZ 25MG/ LIPIDIL EZ 145MG/ NOVO-SERTRALINE 100MG/ PMS-CLONAZEPAM-R 0.5MG.
    The next batch of blood work is going to be done next week and the test are:
GLUCOSE RANDOM/ TSH/ CREATINE (eGFR)/ SODIUM/ POTASSIUM/ ALT/ ALK, PHOSPHATASE/ ALBUMIN/ FERRITIN/ CBC/ CALCIUM/ URINE VMA (RO pheo)/ 24 HOUR URINE FREE CORTISOL/ FASTING CORTISOL/T3/ FT4/ AND HEMOCHROMATOSIS GENE TESTING(I have no idea what this is).
One more thing to add sice all this started I have found that I do not need as much sleep as I used to get.  I can only have 2hr sleep each day for a week or more and I feel fine not tired in the least.  But I gather this is probly do to the fact that my cortisal levels are high and acting like a stimulent.  Anyway I know this is long and confusing but it would be great to get some answers. Or if anyone has had these same symptoms please write. Thank you for your time.

John

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
What you have is probably adrenal insufficiency or Addison’s disease which causes weight loss, low blood pressure, nausea and dizziness. Other endocrine gland disorders may also be there. The blood work which is scheduled is a step in the right direction and likely to find the cause. Take care!

[isis006]

sounds like it could be a problem with your adrenal gland, and probably something else, dont know what though. get it checked out. i do know that adrenal problems and crohns can be linked, they can be resulting symptons of other diseases. at the same time, crohns can cause other problems, so it might be time to get thoroughly checked out, as crohns may not have been your only problem, or it may have caused new problems to develop.