brainfog,weakness,eye issues,shaky and more

[mikewaterfall]

hi

i can't believe you lot are having these problems too, i been suffering for nearly a year, whats even more worrying is,
its all under undiagnosed symptoms. I'm suffering from the following symptoms:

Brainfog, feeling as if im half asleep constantly
pressure in the sinus areas which disappeared after a few mnths
body lethargic and weakness, exhausted alot of the time
the tingling feelings on my eyebrows, face, arms lasted for 3 months but they slowly disappeaered, i believe it could have been anxiety not sure.
gas,bloated stomach, gastritis
my eyes are having a problem, had pains on my eyes, burning and very bloodshot, still under investigation

anyways all this started in june for 2 weeks i felt tired and sleepy then one night my right eye lid was drooping down,so i exercised thinking must be a circulation issue, i woke up the next morning with body tingling face arms, weakness, panic attacks, couldnt breath wel, went to drs that whole week and was told it was nothing, maybe a virus and panic attacks,

i had been suffering for a whiplash accident i had over a year ago, ongoing pains affected my lower and upper right . anyways a year later i began physio and the therapist who stretched and made cracking noises in my back.
2 weeks later i got all these symptoms.

i dont know if this could be the related but anyways, i have had a ct scan of the brain whci was normal

alot of people on here say its a ear issue or candida, could this be the case with me? could it be the neck or spinal discs? anyways would love some replies/advice on this

cheers

[LivingInHope]

An MRCP would tend to give a much clearer picture than an ultrasound. But I would ask a doctor about if it would be indicated for you, because you say your bilirubin was low, and my understanding is a blocked bile duct would cause a raised level of bilirubin.  Lab tests online says that low bilirubin levels are not typically a cause for concern & are not monitored.  But, according to an old book I have, A Manual of Laboratory Diagnostic Tests by Frances Fischbach, 2nd edition, mild elevations of ALT can be caused by, in addition to obstructive jaundice/biliary obstruction- mild to moderate in that case (which my guess -I'm not a doctor- is not the issue, since your bilirubin is low):
active cirrhosis, metastatic liver tumor and pancreatitis.  And the MRCP would take a look at your pancreas as well.  How did your appointment with the hepatologist go?

  I believe H. Pylori can be a cause of  ulcers.  When you go on the antibiotics, you'll want to be sure and try and counter it with some acidophilus capsules (or equivalent), because antibiotics very well could make your diarrhea problem even worse, since they kill the good bacteria with the bad.

If you are eating an unhealthy diet, that might be a cause of plaque build up, but you may want to look at your family tree and see if others tended toward high cholesterol, because heredity can also be a factor.   Our bodies all produce cholesterol, but some produce much more than others.

You mentioned they did a CT scan of the brain, which would check for stroke, but wouldn't necessarily pick up a TIA or trans-ischemic attack.  Another factor you should get looked at is your cervical spine besides getting those carotid arteries checked, because if the blood supply is being pinched off back there or that extremely vital top portion of your neck is somehow affected, they really should be looking at that as well, particularly because of your car accident with whiplash.  

Diarrhea can be caused by IBS, which can be aggravated by anxiety, which it sounds like you are describing you struggle with.  I don't see diarrhea listed on mayo clinic's website as a symptom of H. Pylori.  But have you ever been tested for malabsorption problems, like celiac disease- I see online it causes diarrhea?  I recently was told that anxiety can also increase acid levels (I have bad GERD but no H. pylori).

[mikewaterfall]

hi

thanks again for the reply

Have you tried hebal treatment for the GERD?


Before i was to visit the hepatologist, i had the blood tests and ultrasound done my Dr
blood test for U an E believe potassium level are checked in this too/kidney,neg fr all hep viruses, neg for autoimmune. the ultrasound checked the pancreas,liver and gallbladder, liver shows inflamed and fatty now,  where it wasnt fatty a year ago even though ALT was raised. The hepatologist phoned and blamed it on the fatty liver causing the raise in ALT, been told to lose weight, but my argument is, the ALT was raised for many years, only recently its become fatty. Will be seeing the hepatologist on  the 30th april.

The long standing Diarhea, i do recall having seen mucus in the stools when i was in school around 16 yrs old, i've had it for ever, even blood in stools again that could be due to the hemorroids, i do remember nervous times would make me go many times, only holidays at home i wouldnt get cramps/spasms as much and would go once a day, so you must be right. Stomach issues,diahhrea, colon cancer, highblood pressure, high chelestrol (more then 2 family members have died of stroke not long ago and at young ages) has been seen in my family,crohns dasease and ulcerative colitis almost seem perfect to fit my symptoms, they also can cause rashes and EYE inflamation on flareups, aint that interesting. so will be looking for a colon scopy to cross alot out soon after the carotid ultrasound.



The other thing i wanted to add is, its day 4 on vitamin B complex tablets, they are helpin me with brainfog, feeling some difference also the steroids have began to work too for my eyes they dont feel as inflamed. I stopped milk for 2 days and i believe my stools arent as soft as they were. I'm finding it hard to stop wheat as thats the main thing we eat at my house. but will try wheat free diet for a few days, need to look for alternative foods. Spicy foods, certain fruits like plums i know make my diarrhea worse.

So far its,  corotid artery test, colonscopy and MRI scan, i think malobsorption would be confirmed in a colonscopy?

will be asking the hepatologist to have a deeper look at my ALT result.

thank you for the help, i almost have a clear picture/direction of what to test for.

[LivingInHope]

Are there herbs that are good for GERD?  I have taken various herbs in the past and occasionally take valerian root capsules currently for helping me get to sleep (they also tend to loosen the bowels).  I take 300 mg ranitidine twice daily and have been told to take liquid antiacids for breakthrough acidity.

I once had a doctor on the radio tell me to take vitamin B 50 time release for hair loss I was having... at one point I though I noticed it helping with the IBS.  You probably know that B 12 is good for memory.  

You very well may have a lactose intolerance- I used to get diarrhea with milk in my cereal as a teen.  Lactose free milk doesn't give me the diarrhea, but I recently noticed it makes my GERD worse so I stopped having it, and I had to stop the soy milk due to interstitial cystitis, so now I use vanilla flavored rice dream milk with my cereal- had to get used to it.

I have a couple of hemangiomas on my own liver & did a lot of research, seeing that MRI with contrast was the most accurate way to diagnose that, much more than ultrasound or cat scan.  But they fouled up with the first MRI, using the wrong kind of dye... the radiologist was careful enough when I was asking a lot of questions and giving an old ultrasound report to re-scan using the right kind of dye & confirmed two hemangiomas & wants to do a follow up to make sure stable this summer.  Hope your hepatologist sees your concern & is willing to co-operate in your search for answers!  

There's this lady at church who said she had terrible numbers with her liver and it wound up that she had a wheat gluten intolerance, so it's interesting you should bring up wheat!  She says it's so bad she can't even use the same toaster as her husband because of the crumbs left in there!  I know diet can really be a challenge & I eat wrong things a lot.  It's difficult when you have GERD, migraine triggers, IC, IBS & soft diet due to TMJ arthritis & all telling you things not to eat.

I have a second cousin who died last year of a stroke that happened with a faulty heart valve & a tooth infection.  He had been going through a clinical trial at some point, taking niacin trying to reduce very high cholesterol.  (Not to encourage niacin usage for high cholesterol, as I think some doctor told me niacin is hard on the liver.)

Don't want to forget to get your own cholesterol checked.  And it might be of interest, with your inflammation of eyes and liver, etc., if you got cortisol (natural steroid your body produces) testing.


While blood you can see in the stools can be a sign of hemorrhoids or a fissure, it can also be a sign of a polyp, best cut out in the pre-cancerous stage, next best if cut out in early cancer stage, mostly deadly if discovered too late.  And with colon cancer in the family, even more reason to get that colonscopy done!

[LivingInHope]

Since I think you said private pay, if you want to be most specific in magnetic resonance imaging of your head looking for signs of blood vessel abnormalities that may have caused your stroke like symptoms, you might ask for an MRA/MRV, as if they saw anything on the MRI they wanted to further evaluate, they might go on to order that.
I don't know really if a doc w/colonoscopy would pick up on malabsorption like celiac sprue or what have you.  You'd have to check with a GI expert on that one.  You mentioned mucous in the stool- if I remember correctly from about 20 years ago in nursing school, that can signal fat in the stool and I believe that was called steatorrhea.

[ChickenBoo]

Get your thyroid checked PROPERLY - doctors in the UK are notorius for not checking it properly.

You need to have your Free T4 and Free T3 numbers looked at and not just the TSH reading. Don't accept readings that are within the 'normal' range because that leaves a huge margin for error. One person's 'normal' may not be the same as the next.

The accident may have damaged your pituitary gland, which controls the signal to the thyroid gland to release hormones (even having the blood supply temporarily cut to it and cause it to go wrong).

Good luck.

[CHRISTYDRAKE]

Please look into dysautonomia.  It is the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which runs everything that is involuntary in the body.  My son has it and it took us 3 years to get the right diagnosis.  He also has heat intolerance, since the autonomic nervous system regulates body temperature.

Go to www.dinet.org   It lists all the symptoms and information.  Sometimes people get this after trauma or sickness, or for no reason at all.  My sons was caused by a 7 inch growth spurt in 15 months, throwing his system out of whack.

Can't hurt to look into anyway.

Thanks,
Christy