Newbie Saying Hello

[Foolish-Michie]

After daily lurking, I've finally decided that being lonely with my AI issues is silly. So this marks my official move from 'Guest' to actual entity with a profile pic and everything. Before I introduce myself, I want to say thank you for being such a great resource over the last several months! My adjustment would have been far more difficult if I hadn't been able to call on the experience of the many who are active here.

 

My story is, I suspect, fairly typical.

 

About three and a half years ago, my health started to deteriorate but I didn't see it for what it was because there was no obvious connection between the varying problems. One month my ankles would swell alarmingly and pain in my foot joints would make walking excruciating. The next month, I would get heart palpitations and shortness of breath. Then, a sharp pain around my right kidney/adrenal area came along and I suddenly needed to pee 60 times a day for weeks on end. Ultrasounds showed that my kidneys were fine and a bladder biopsy showed the same. Malaise, brain fog spells and difficulty concentrating followed and menstrual periods became so infrequent that I wrote everything off to early menopause.

 

Within a year, de-pigmented patches of skin started appearing on my torso and coping with the extreme stress on my plate became more and more difficult. I got every cold and flu going around and recovery times were abnormally long. Food travelling through my intestines began to turn to mush and headaches became regular visitors. Then came the fatigue.

 

Builders working at my house would laugh at me because I was always asleep. In January (after the builders and their constant dust had finally gone), the horrendous vertigo and dizziness set in. My brain fog and troubling sense of detachment become so constant that I wondered if I was dealing with brain damage. The vitiligo spread to my face and my hands. Heat (I was in the southern hemisphere where January means summer) became unbearable. My stomach always felt off. Flatulence became my shameful secret. Occasionally, I would get little water blisters on the inside of my forearms when I ate wheat. But they went away within an hour or two so I wrote them off as just another oddity.

 

Then, thank God, I got a stomach bug that seemed to go on forever. My need for sleep went up to 18 hours a day. I had a bone deep sense that death was looking over my shoulder yet felt strangely apathetic about it. I mentally started making plans for who would take care of my youngest child once I was gone.

 

Finally, I went to see an endocrinologist - who proceeded to ignore 75% of the symptoms I related. He diagnosed a vitamin D deficiency (14.9) but ignored an albumin level that was at literally the cutoff of ‘normal’. I fired him and went to a doctor who practiced functional medicine instead. Best decision I’ve made in a long, long time.

 

So, here I am. Obsessed with every morsel of food that goes in my mouth. Terrified of accidental gluten exposure. Wondering just how much more the vitiligo will spread. And anxious to start feeling something other than tired. Many of my symptoms have already disappeared, however, and when I start feeling dejected, I come to this community to read about how so many have made it through to the other side to lead happy and vibrant lives again. Such an AWESOME motivator!

[GottaSki]

Welcome Michie!

 

No need to ever feel foolish here....you are not alone.

 

If you have not yet...make sure you check out the Newbie 101 thread.

 

We understand the frustration that comes with analyzing each morsel of food...it does get better...I promise.

 

Hang in there

[GFinDC]

Welcome to the forum Michie!

 

Congrats on going gluten-free.  Hopefully your symptoms will improve over the coming months.