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Blood test results not sure if its all connected

I am a 53 year old woman who has not felt well in a long time. I am completely exhausted all the time, arthritis, I never feel well, I am always thirsty and have to be drinking something all the time, constantly have cold sores and have had a chronic cough for 3+ years. I am a nonsmoker. I am hypothyroid was diagnosed when i got a goiter thyroid levels have never been abnormal I take levothyroxine. I have had my gall bladder removed and a complete hysterectomy years ago. I had a lemon sized meninigioma 15 years ago and have had memory issues since. Recent MRI shows I have encephalomalacia and gliosis but it is stable. Recent EEG was abnormal but stable. I also had GERD for 15+ years and now have Barretts esophagus --I had GERD surgery in February(nissen plication) and no longer take PPIs and no longer have acid reflux. BUT my cough has not gone away(dry cough). Dr that did the surgery said the cough is not from the GERD and didnt  believe it ever was. Had an xray on lungs they looked fine. Had a very basic pulmonary test expiratory limb was good inspiratory limb was not adequately performed with a note stating I coughed throughout testing(anytime i take a deep breath I cough) but I also cough on and off all day without known triggers. Exercise I cough for sure. I have bouts of lightheadedness and dizziness and shortness of breath. I had a bunch of blood and urine tests done. First my WBC count has been low for years.. my platelets are usually low but were not this time. So WBC low(not extreme), Lymphocytes low, Reticulocyte hemoglobin high, Gliadin IgA is Equivocal, Gamma Globulin is low, B1 is low (and I very very rarely even have one alcoholic drink and am slightly overweight (5'6" and 155 pounds) and eat a very well balanced diet. Blood Urea Nitrogen is low, Urine Specific gravity is low, Ketones high. I was tested for some basic autoimmunes dr said they came back negative. Negative for Lyme, Syphillis and Hepatitis --was tested years ago for HIV and have been in a monogamous relationship for almost 30 years(married 27) Unfortunately my Dr doesnt help if I dont suggest a test or ask for a referral I get nothing. Only suggested was I take a supplement for B1(she kinda insinuated that I must be a big drinker) I told her I am not and she said must be an absorbtion issue. I take levothyroxin, estra test, modafinal(to stay awake during the day) wellbutrin and a multivitamin. Also sometimes a muscle relaxer before bed(for the back arthritis) I would LOVE ideas on where to go from here. I am frustrated and just want to feel better..
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Avatar universal
Hi! Sad to hear of so many problems you have. It s also quite hard to categorize all your symptoms and laboratory findings. Pictures could be more helpful. some of my thoughts:
1) A lot of drinking in combination with low specific weight of urine, overweight despite weight watching, thyroid dysfunction: let them check your cortisol. It could be some light form of diabetes insipidus. It could even explain your blood test results.
2) Cough: the causes of cough not always originate from lungs or GERD. It can also have causes in upper airways (like dripping of your nasopharynx). A referral to ENT could be helpful.
3) Did I understand you correctly? You dont take any medication for your rheumatic arthritis because of adverse effects in your stomach? And what do you take for your pain? Since you dont have any GER anymore, maybe you could try to take the medication again. But dont forget to take the stomach protection with it (like omeprasole, pantoprasole etc.).
4) wellbutrin can cause cough and problems with sleep. Maybe your psychiatrist could try  out some other medication and see if the symptoms get better?
5) since you have had nissens fundoplication, malabsorbtion could be a problem, which means you should substitute the whole B vitamin group (B12, B6, folic acid, B1), eventually proteins too. Paxiled could probably give you better suggestions about this.
6) about your blood results, really not enough info to say anything... a pic of the sheet would be helpful... please edit your name and name of the lab out.
Good luck!
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
Being the Community Leader of the Thyroid Disorders forum, having hypothyroidism/Hashimoto’s and tons of  thyroid symptoms myself, I can’t help asking what your current thyroid hormone levels are.   Not TSH, but the actual thyroid hormones, Free T4 and Free T3.  

Even if your levels are in the so-called “normal” ranges, that doesn’t mean they’re normal for you or that you can’t have thyroid related symptoms.  Hypothyroidism is a major cause of GERD, muscle/bone aches/pain and some of your other symptoms, including weight issues, sleep apnea, etc.   I have a nodule on my thyroid that tends to make me clear my throat a lot, especially after I eat.  Nodules (or swollen/inflamed thyroid) can also cause constant coughing.   If you’ve never had a thyroid ultrasound, I’d suggest you do so.

GERD can also cause chronic coughing (or throat clearing).   I know you don’t think your cough is psychosomatic, but it’s possible that it was originally caused by the GERD and you got used to that feeling in your throat, so you’re still coughing.   I’ve just started a new GERD medication that’s doing really well, but I still find myself clearing my throat once in a while.   I’m trying to make a conscious effort to make sure I “need” to clear my throat before doing it, because sometimes, it actually gives me a sore throat.

All of that said, if you’ve been diagnosed with Barrett’s esophagus, you could still have the coughing.  To my knowledge, once diagnosed, Barrett’s doesn’t go away (I could be wrong about that).   BTW - I have a brother who had esophageal cancer, as well.  He had surgery to remove his esophagus, then they pulled his stomach up to make a a new one.  That was 15 (or more) years ago and he does well, but still has to take a PPI and be careful about his diet.
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Thank you for your response. I have decided to find a new primary care Dr and will discuss this with them. I don't think I have ever had Anythinng with my thyroid done. I had the goiter and it was here take levothyroxin and let's see if thr goiter goes away...
I would just add, a primary care doc isn't going to do you much good most likely.  What you need are specialists who are better than the ones you have seen if they haven't found the source of the problem, assuming anyone can find it.  And I'm not going to go too far with this, but Weight Watchers isn't a healthy diet.  It can help one lose weight but the focus isn't on eating healthfully.  It's much more about portion control, but a lesser portion of foods that aren't that great for you is still a problem if you're ill and trying to fix it.  Just for example, on no diet are potatoes healthful.  Yeah, we all love them, but they are way up there on the sugar metabolism list and are also associated with inflammation as they are nightshades.  And if you are going to eat them, definitely don't put butter on them.  If you buy organically grown potatoes they taste great and you don't need that.  Weight Watchers doesn't know anything about that.  Or care.  So while it can help you lose weight, which is a good thing, it is not a healing diet, which is something that helps some when nothing else did.  But it's complicated and opinions on that do differ so you have to try different things.  But you get to decide, I was just offering a suggestion.  Whatever you do, I sure hope you overcome this, it doesn't sound like any fun at all.  Peace.  
I agree that you might need specialists, but many specialists (at least here) won’t take new patients without a referral (even when insurance doesn’t require it), so you’ll have to have a pcp that will be willing to do those referrals.  

That said, my pcp does a much better job managing some of my conditions than the specialists I’ve had - especially, thyroid.  
Avatar universal
You've had so many tests that it's hard to suggest anything in a conventional medical way.  The thirst with your other symptoms sounds like blood sugar problems,. but I'm guessing you've been tested for that over and over given how many tests you've had.  Did you ever have a full-on glucose tolerance test?  It takes several hours to do.  The cough could be allergies, and allergies are very hard to deal with.  It could also be psychosomatic.  I had a throat clearing thing for a while but it went away when I learned it was really just me.  Reflux if unchecked can cause problems swallowing so that can also cause a cough.  But again, you've had so many tests, you're on a lot of medication all of which has some kind of side effect, you've got arthritis although for most people that doesn't cause a lot of pain, their pain is often muscular even though arthritis is present but again, you've had much more testing than most people.  There are two things one can do when you've seen a lot of docs and haven't fixed your basic problem, and that's one, find better docs such as going to a place like the Mayo Clinic or other such facility or 2, give up on allopathic medicine and try fixing things through natural medicine.  GERD, for example, is usually a disease of eating.  Dietary changes, which can mean although you say you eat well you might actually not be eating well -- you are overweight and while that can be caused by a lot of things eating is one thing that can do it.  GERD is really just a complex way of saying your stomach is producing too much acid, and then the docs prescribe you meds to decrease the acid which forces the stomach to go on and produce even more because it has to have an acidic environment whenever you eat protein or certain minerals.  It's called rebound acidity and is much like rebound insomnia, caused by relying on sleeping pills to sleep.  Natural medicine might assume you've got things you may not actually have but the diet recommended might work anyway by forcing you to eat a lot better.  I used to manage health food stores, and the practitioners who used those stores often found things wrong that again might not have actually been wrong but the treatment was usually cutting out dairy and wheat and sugar and red meat and people often found themselves getting better slowly anyway.  So it's a thought if everything else has failed you.  Peace.
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The GERD has been taken care by having the surgery.. I was on PPIs for years and they just kept upping the meds and they got to where they didnt help anymore so I had surgery. I tried all the other things prior to surgery... diet, raising the foot of the bed etc. Since surgery I dont have any acid reflux. They have tested with an esophageal PH test
I have a lot of pain in my hands and wrists and back and hip BUT I get radiofrequency ablation in my back--they burn the nerve endings so the pain signal doesnt go to the brain unfortunately the nerves grow back and it has to be repeated only lasts 6 months on average. I have very little cartalige between some of my vertabrae as well as joints in my hands and right shoulder. I cant take anti inflammatories--I did for years and it helped mess up my stomach.
I am a few pounds away from being in my age height "average weight" I have actually been doing weight watchers and have lost 18 pounds so I track EVERYTHING i eat. I dont eat fast food or anything fried.  I very seldom eat any dairy never have as a child it would make me throw up now I just dont care for the taste of most dairy. I do eat eggs and mostly chicken not fried or breaded ,vegatables and plain potatoes -- with spray butter. I eat a lot of fruit.
I have had just the basic sugar level test and its always normal. Blood pressure is low to normal, Normal cholesterol.
My father died at 50 of esophogeal cancer my paternal grandmother died at 50 of esophogeal cancer--both were smokers and drinkers---I do neither. Mother died of a massive stroke at 77 sister died of melanoma skin cancer at 33. Brother who is 54 was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer last January(currently in remission yay)
I have had sleep studies with very very mild apnea-- they didnt think it would help because the apnea is so mild but I  tried a cpap but I am a mouth breather so couldnt use just the nose mask and cant use the full mask because of the constant cough(I just kept ripping it off). I definatley dont feel its Psychosomatic... and if its allergies you would think it would go away sometimes but it doesnt and has not for 3+ years. The more i speak the worse it is or the more I exercise --
I appreciate the response and advice-- kinda why I joined weight watchers and started trying to eat better but so far has not helped :-(
I just want to feel better
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