Non Gi Symptoms

[Squrl14]

Hello!

I am hoping that somebody can shed some insight into my health conditions. For YEAR I was have constant diarrhea, sometimes up to 10 times/day. About a year ago, my doctor did a celiac blood panel and everything came back between weak - high positive. She sent me to a GI doctor and he did and endoscopy, which was negative. Oddly, the diarrhea went away - after years of it. Now I feel like a walking medical mystery as I feel like everything else is "wrong." My skin is dry, I am always short of breath and "air hungry", my hair is shedding like crazy, I am tired all of the time, my nails have ridges on them and break easily (they NEVER have before), I have turned an odd yellow color on my palms and soles of my feet, and I have trouble sleeping. I still have a lot of embarrassing gas and an occasional stomach ache - but nothing like before. I am very irritable and cannot concentrate at all. I am an educator and it is very hard to get through my day. Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[Nyxie63]

Sounds like there could be a couple of things going on. To be on the safe side, I'd suggest getting your ferritin, B vits, and thyroid levels checked (TSH, FreeT3, FreeT4, TPOAb, and TgAb - insist on these tests. Most docs will just run TSH and total T4, which doesn't really tell us anything). Both low iron and hypothyroidism can cause the hair loss, brittle nails, nail ridges, air hunger, etc. Make sure they test ferritin, not just serum iron.

Yellow palms and soles can be indicative of a whole lot of things - some minor, others that definitely need medical treatment. It can be as simple as eating too many carrots or yellow veggies. It could also be indicative of diabetes mellitus, pernicious anemia, adrenal problems, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, and that's only the start of the list. Best to see the doc and get this checked out.

I'd be most interested in seeing your thyroid and nutritional panels once they come back. Good luck and please keep us posted.