Thought I was haveing GI problems, but now I'm not so sure. Addisons?

[GoldFishy222]

Hello, I'm 27 female, 140lbs non-smoker or drug abuser, barely drink alcahol.  Sorry for having such a long post, just trying to cover everything.  Two years ago I got really, really stomach sick after a round of Keflex to treat a skin infection.  I first became sick directly after finishing my round of antibiotics (I have tried porbiotics) and had most of the symptoms listed below for about a year and a half and then I had a few months over the spring and summer were I almost felt normal again.  But my symptoms have recently come back in almost full force.  My current symptoms have lasted about 3 months maybe a little less now and are;

*Extreme nausea pretty much the whole time I'm awake, Its not effected by foods I eat. (if I can eat) and it dose not cause me to vomit.
*Diarrhea at the most a few times a week, again not effected by what I eat.
*Some discomfort/sick feeling in my intestinal area, that's not related to when I have diarrhea.
*A dull pain in my tail bone area, but not all the time.
*Sometimes before I begin to feel like I'm actually going to vomit, my arms will get numb and tingel and I have really bad diarhea, this has happind to me maybe five times over the past two years. Once or twice I passed out after.  really weird and scarry.
*Dizzy/light headed on some days
*Hair falls out alot
* Very tired, even if I get a ton of sleep
*Bad breath, and I brush my teeth regulary, also very bad taste.
* All over dull body ache that will come one every few months, doesn't seem related but worth mentioning.

So far all the testing I've had done has been through a GI, But I'm wondering if i should try seeing and endocrinologist.  So far I've had a ultra sound of my gallbladder (liver, spleen and kidneys), 3 endoscopies, a colonoscopy, a sigmoidoscopy, all of which were normal.  Regular blood panel, Tested for bacterial over growth, not lactose intolerant, checked for celiac a few times. negative for H. Pilori, negative for C.diff. Um, Ive been tested for all types of hepatitis. I don't have Lyme, no campylobacter, Salmonella, or Shigella.  HCG,QUAL (i don't know what that is) is negative.  I'm almost positive I've had my thyroid checked but I don't have the records for it.  I think that it.  Next Monday I will be getting a small bowl x-ray, I have a feeling nothing is going to turn up.

The medications (including otc) I've tried are Prilosec, Promethazine, Gas-X, citrucel, probiotics, beano, digestive enzyms, asefex (sp?), Omeprazole, Reglan, Donparidone, A few anti-spazmotics but I don't remember the names, Kapidex, Librax,... i think thats all.

I'm currently on Benzol for about 3 weeks now, not noticing much of a difference.  I also take Prozac and klonapin, I started them about a month or two after I first got sick..

Please let me know if you think there are any other areas I should be pursuing, like endocrnolgy?  Or if you guys can think of any help I would be so grateful.  I've been to a few PCP's and a few GI's and so far nothing has come up as to why I am feeling so bad all the time.  I'm getting to my wits end with this Please let me know any other info you might need.  Thanks so much in advance guys, I could really use any help.  

[waytoohandsome]

Goldfishy,

Good advice above.
Once you step outside the 'common cold' frequency of diseases, you automatically leave some doctors behind.

What we found enormously useful was to get printouts of all lab reports,  not just a quick verbal summary from doc. That's why you'll notice knowledgeable people on this forum asking for exact numbers - many times the actual numbers suggest a different picture than the doctor says. A bit of polite skepticism can save your life when it comes to adrenal insufficiency. Its one way of taking control of your health care - becoming more of an expert on it than most doctors. Call it medical jail house lawyer syndrome....  :)

[GoldFishy222]

Thanks so much for your help.  I'm going to see if I can get into my new PCP this week.  I'm hoping she'll at least know something.  My last few pcp's didn't seem to have a clue unless you went in with a common cold or something else common.  Its very frustrating.

[rumpled]

Yup. few endos know the adrenals. Most do diabetes. They try to do thyroid and do a lousy job at that so it pays to read up, get copies of everything, and know what is going on so you know if the doc is ok or you know to move on.

I have no adrenals (but I love coffee!).

[LowCortisol]

Suffering from adrenal insufficiency (virtually Addison's Disease) myself I agree with rumpled. Go to your PCP and order a few edocrinological tests and take the results to the endocrinologist you are referred to. Ideally your PCP can order these tests and that you need not wait to see the endocrinologist to perform the tests.

MAKE SURE that your PCP sends you to someone knowledgeable in the adrenal glands. Most endocrinologists I met in Australia, where I live and in the US, where I traveled to for treatment, are big on diabetes but not adrenals. If you go to the endocrinologist with your blood tests then even the first visit will be worthwhile.

I would recommend testing the following (especially if they have not been checked in a long time): Calcium; Magnesium, 25 hydroxy Vitamin D, Prolactin, ACTH, Cortisol (especially if you're tired when you wake up AND/OR in the afternoon), testosterone, sex hormone binding glob; free Androgen Index and growth hormone.

Many of these may prove 'normal' but an expert can diagnose if a low but 'normal' reading is worthy of investigation.

One more thing: CUT DOWN the amount of coffee you drink. Too much caffeine is bad news for the adrenals.

[GoldFishy222]

My skin is pretty pale, and I assume my blood pressure is fine.  They always tell me what it is when I go into my doc (which lately has almost been once a week) , and the numbers are almost always different, but I don't know what any of it means.... I'm assuming if it was high that would tell me.  Thanks so much for your response.  Are the two test you mentioned fairly easy ones to do?

[rumpled]

I would think that testing the adrenals would not be out of the question given the nausea and since all the GI causes have been ruled out.

You are dizzy - but how is your blood pressure? Is your skin tan or darker than usual?

You can even get your GP to run an 8am cortisol and ACTH.