23 replies to this topic

[Golden Girl]

I am very disgusted with Dr.s I need help I am on a Medical leave from work due to depression/bloating/brain fog/irritability/no concentration/drained with fatigue. I could sleep all day don't want to get out of bed. I tried to get my Dr. to diagnose Candida but he said my blood work would show this my iron level was 47 under range 59 - 158 - B12 1263 range 211 - 946. I try to avoid sugar. Can't eat fruit/dairy/soy I have had a couple of accidents with cross contamination of gluten. I have been gluten free since June 2009. I use coconut oil, I have quit taking Prilosec and started using Betaine Hydrochloric Acid with Pepsin for low stomach acid to see if this helps it has only been a week though.

Karla

[Skylark]

Hmmm.... Some ideas.

High B12 can make you feel ill and yours is VERY high. I assume you have stopped supplementing?

What is your Dr. doing to address the low iron? It can be given IV.

Usually with sytemic candida you'll have thrush or recurring vaginal yeast. Coconut oil is great, but for me it takes a probiotic as well to get candida under control. I also like Zand Candida Quick Cleanse. Threelac is controversial but I find it helpful, as long as you can tolerate the trace casein in it. You'll also want a basic acidophilus probiotic if you can find one without gluten/dairy/soy.

Have you had a thyroid workup and was your TSH below 3.0?

Acupuncture helped me a lot with depression this winter. I'm also taking ginseng which has helped me have a little more energy in the mornings.

[dilettantesteph]

Is it possible that you have gotten sensitive to lower levels of gluten? Maybe your gluten free diet is no longer gluten free enough. I don't know what you eat. It would be a simple thing to try a diet of produce and meat for a few days to a week to see if you notice any change.

That is, of course, only one possibility, but it is the one that worked for me.

[Golden Girl]

Thank you for all your replies. My TSHR was 0.27 the range listed is 0.50 - 6.00 they stated it was low but not concerned told me get an iron supplement and will recheck in 4 months. I stopped taking B12 since that was high. Where can you buy the candida cleanse? Thanks again for all your help!

[Skylark]

I found the Zand stuff at a local Vitamin Shoppe. I'm sure you can find it online as well. http://www.vitacost....Support-Formula It does contain a little oat seed fiber, which may have trace gluten so pay attention to how you feel if you take it. I tolerate it fine but it might not be OK for someone who is super-sensitive.

Looks like your thyroid is OK, as long as you don't have symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Your heart doesn't race when you first wake up, does it?

I'm having brain fog myself and exploring additional food sensitivities. Dairy makes me tired and I'm on a food chemical elimination diet at the moment that knocks out amines and salicylates. Don't know if it's going to help.

I also forgot to mention I'm finding red Korean ginseng mildly helpful. You only want to take it in the morning. I got that at Vitamin Shoppe too.

[GottaSki]

Good Morning-

You sound very, very similar to me. All the items you mentioned along with pain in joints/muscles was me until I did a very strict elimination diet last August. I removed all grains, legumes, nightshades, dairy and citrus. Started with three days of green (vegie/fruit) smoothies and was out of bed by the third day and have improved since. I still have some rotten days while trialing foods or when I ingest one of my food intolerances.

In July of last year every one of my vitamin and mineral blood tests were extremely low normal or below normal. In October my blood tests were high normal. I had never had a B12 above 200 in my life and it is now 796! Same deal for iron, D, etc.

Have your docs run B6, B12, D, K, iron, copper, ferritin and zinc? I would guess they are all low indicating you are not absorbing enough nutrients due to leaky gut caused by gluten damage.

Good Luck...I know first hand how bad you feel and I wish you much improved days

[Golden Girl]

I found the Zand stuff at a local Vitamin Shoppe. I'm sure you can find it online as well. http://www.vitacost....Support-Formula It does contain a little oat seed fiber, which may have trace gluten so pay attention to how you feel if you take it. I tolerate it fine but it might not be OK for someone who is super-sensitive.

Looks like your thyroid is OK, as long as you don't have symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Your heart doesn't race when you first wake up, does it?

I'm having brain fog myself and exploring additional food sensitivities. Dairy makes me tired and I'm on a food chemical elimination diet at the moment that knocks out amines and salicylates. Don't know if it's going to help.

I also forgot to mention I'm finding red Korean ginseng mildly helpful. You only want to take it in the morning. I got that at Vitamin Shoppe too.

What do you eat for a food chemical elimination diet? My heart doesn't race when I wake up. I will pick up the cleanse and the ginseng asap , I am very anxious to try them. I have been using unsweetened coconut milk and coconut spread, dairy bothers me.

[Skylark]

Lisa, how did you choose your foods? How did you tell what you're intolerant to? I'd do anything to be rid of this fog and mental trouble. GAPS was giving me migraines so I'm doing RPAH Failsafe at the moment. Fruit and veggies you would put in smoothies are totally off the list. (I doubt you made green bean, pear, and cabbage smoothies!) Failsafe relies heavily on grains and legumes, fresh meat, and has a very restricted list of vegetables.

I don't want to hijack Golden Girl's thread but it sounds like we're coping with a lot of the same issues. I don't have the bloating or GI issues but I'm dizzy and tired all the time and I can't concentrate or remember things.

[Golden Girl]

Lisa, how did you choose your foods? How did you tell what you're intolerant to? I'd do anything to be rid of this fog and mental trouble. GAPS was giving me migraines so I'm doing RPAH Failsafe at the moment. Fruit and veggies you would put in smoothies are totally off the list. (I doubt you made green bean, pear, and cabbage smoothies!) Failsafe relies heavily on grains and legumes, fresh meat, and has a very restricted list of vegetables.

I don't want to hijack Golden Girl's thread but it sounds like we're coping with a lot of the same issues. I don't have the bloating or GI issues but I'm dizzy and tired all the time and I can't concentrate or remember things.

Hey it is OK to hijack my thread hopefully we can get this under control together.

[GottaSki]

Hey it is OK to hijack my thread hopefully we can get this under control together.

I can send you my food log that I started on August 10...it has a bunch of info about what I did and where to find more helpful info.

PM me your email if you'd like me to email the file to you.

PS>>>some of my smoothies were indeed very close to green bean, pear and cabbage...but I removed green beans too so more like spinach, pear, blueberry and kale

PSS>>>>I have not eliminated chemicals and hormones in food yet...except where costs are low...feeding a family with teenaged boys is just not possible for us until I am back to work full time. Good news is I know my health improved while buying the cheapest possible fresh meat in bulk -- so when we can afford better meat we will be buying it, but seems the hormones and chemicals were not as big of an issue as I once thought they might be as part of my health puzzle.

-Lisa

[Skylark]

PM sent. I'm really curious to see what you did. On the bright side, I only feel 50% crummy today and I'm 5 days into Failsafe. I did figure out my celiac with elimination but then I had clear GI problems to guide me. Problem foods gave me a stomachache within hours. Now that my stomach is happy off gluten and the only signals are delayed fog and fatigue it's horribly difficult to tell what's going on.

[GottaSki]

After three days of green smothies I continued to detox on meat, vegies and fruit for a couple weeks then trialed each of the remmoved foods individually without adding any back during challenges.

I was amazed with all the crazy and diverse reactions to the different foods - it is not easy - but the gains outweigh the hardships - except when I have a fit because I need a salty crunchy snack

[cavernio]

Thank you for all your replies. My TSHR was 0.27 the range listed is 0.50 - 6.00 they stated it was low but not concerned told me get an iron supplement and will recheck in 4 months.

...
The doctor's mad to NOT be concerned about your thyroid being outside the range. Like seriously...why do they have a range if they don't even pay attention to it? It's not even borderline, it's definitely low. Thyroid problems and celiac disease go hand in hand. I wouldn't be clamouring for all these detox things just yet, not until you get your iron up and your thyroid looked after. These are 2 very accepted, good, 'makes sense' reasons why you feel the way you do, both iron and thyroid problems explain it.

However, yes, even just low iron can explain ALL the symptoms you've listed. Still no excuse to ignore your thyroid, but I at least see where they're coming from...especially since treatment for thyroid problems isn't simple...it's possible your thyroid will be better if you get more iron. Just because most people with low iron don't seem debilitated, it doesn't mean that you must have something else wrong with you. (well, you do, your thyroid's out of whack, but that's besides the point)Iron's as necessary for your survival as water, it just doesn't have to get replenished nearly as often.

http://chriskresser.com/thyroid has a lot of info about thyroid disorders that doctors don't care to share/didn't bother to learn. There's a list of articles at the bottom all pertaining to the topic, some will be more pertinent to you than others.

As for your iron, make sure you supplement with enough. Most iron that I see on store shelves is hopelessly low for what's actually a therapeutic dose. Doctors, when they prescribe iron, tell you to be taking 300mg (or is it ug? Whichever one makes sense) minimum of ferrous sulfate/day, often twice or three times a day. (My friend the doctor tells me) Only a portion of each pill is actually digested.
Personally, I can't even find ferrous sulfate on drugstore shelves though. I take iron chelate, which, as far as I can tell, seems to be absorbed more readily than ferrous sulfate, so I take much less of it. (Also I'm only borderline low iron, and at least these days, I feel much better than you currently do.)


Actually, I'm a little confused about the tshr...how do they measure the receptors? did you get a biopsy or something? did you mean to put tsh? or maybe TRAb's?

[Skylark]

Actually, I'm a little confused about the tshr...how do they measure the receptors? did you get a biopsy or something? did you mean to put tsh? or maybe TRAb's?

It's gotta be TSH. 0.5-6.0 is the standard old reference range. Slightly low TSH may or may not be a problem. Usually Graves' will suppress it to more like 0.1 but Golden Girl does need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism and probably does need TSHR. Early AM pulse is a decent indicator.

[Sara S.]

Skylark and Golden Girl, have either of you figured out what was causing the brain fog, lack of concentration, fatigue, and mood disturbances?

I've been gluten free for 10 months, since my diagnosis, and while my IBS-style symptoms have improved dramatically, I am still suffering from brain fog, difficulty concentrating, general fatigue, and irritability. My inability to concentrate is interfering with my ability to do my job at work. I just met with my gastroenterologist who wants to do a colonoscopy to check for lymphocytic colitis, and I'm going to meet with an allergist next week to see if there are any other food intolerances I'm missing. I did an elimination diet for a few months, but didn't notice any non-gluten food intolerances when I added foods back in one at a time, but I was pretty focused on the glutening symptoms, so maybe I just missed it.

I'd love to hear if anyone with these issues has figured it out.