Confusing And Varying Symptoms

[T1973]

Hi... I am new here and am looking for some advice on my health problems. I am a 35 year old female that has always been healthy, energetic and the correct weight. I have 2 children ...girl and boy (the boy was born 10 months ago). About 6 months ago, I started getting periods of fatigue, night sweats, stomach upper intestinal bloating and loose stools, huge appetite and weight gain. I also had a feeling of fogginess in my head most days. I had just returned from Cuba, so was tested for related illinesses. My symptoms shifted to joint pain, and muscle weakness / heaviness in arms and legs, muscle pain, trouble swallowing, low grade fevers and flushing over my body. Lately I have been getting some tingling and numbness - minor. I still have periods and dizziness and loose stools. I now have no appetite and have lost 12 pounds. All of these symtoms seem to come and go... I have good days and bad days ... but mostly bad. It almost seems something is triggering them.

I have had numerous blood tests and my B12 was low. This has been corrected. Everything else was fine... including Thyroid.

I also was found to have pre-diabetites, however the doctor said it wasn't causing all of these problems it is just a warning for me. I have been to 2 neuroligists and have had 2 very thorough exams and and EMG. I have no clinical neuro issues and am very strong ... although I feel week. I have been cleared of anything neurological ... ie MS. THe doctor said that something is bothering my nervous system, but it is not starting there. I am going to a rheumoligist tomorrow and if that does not determine anything, they want me to see a Infectious Disease Specialist because of Cuba. I was tested for parasites and lyme twice and both came back negative. My mom mentioned Celiacs disease as her friend thought she had MS (similar symptoms as mine), but instead was diagnosed with Celiacs.

My confusion is that my gasto symptoms are fairly minor now, and the muscle symtoms/ nervous symptoms are worst. Does this make sense for celiacs? I have not been tested yet. My primary doctor has not enough mentioned Celiacs. Interesting enough, I went on a low carb (no carb for 2 weeks - South Beach) to try to lose some weight and I felt better.

I would appreciate any opinions and help.

Thank you

[Mother of Jibril]

Pregnancy is a common trigger for autoimmune disorders. I'm slightly younger, but my kids are the same age as yours... I had a big flare up after my last pregnancy. Abdominal pain, gas, bloating, joint pain, excessive hair loss, terribly dry skin, rapid weight loss, headaches, fatigue, postpartum OCD... it was horrible! I was diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroidism and figured out that I'm intolerant to gluten and corn.

I think it's a great idea to get the blood tests for celiac (EMA, tTG, anti-gliaden, total IgA), but even if nothing turns up you might want to give the gluten-free diet a try. I feel SO much better. My weight has stabilized, my skin looks great, and I don't feel emotionally unstable anymore Gluten can cause all kinds of problems... not just celiac disease.

Welcome to the group!

[ang1e0251]

A lot of your symptoms sound like me. I'm so glad you are putting it together now. My baby was 20 before I figured it out. Notice that my dr. didn't, I had to. Don't think because you now have joint pain and tingling it rules out celiac. On the gluten-free diet, my joint pain completely went away. The tingling and numbness took longer but I only have it now when I react to gluten.

It's a perfect time for you to be tested. Do not go off gluten if you want the tests, it will mess with the results. If you don't care about an official diagnosis, just go on the gluten-free diet and see how you feel.

Either way I wish you luck and hope you are feeling great soon! Let us know!

[mftnchn]

It is possible to be celiac. I think you should for sure rule out tropical sprue.

Please post your lyme test information. What test was done? Which lab? If it was a western blot, then post all the band numbers and the results. Might be better to post under the lyme disease thread or put that in your post title, so the "lymies" on the forum will spot it and can respond.

This is because unfortunately many many doctors do not know how to interpret the labs. The labs are notoriously false negative. Igenex is the best lab, and it still misses 25-30% of lyme. Therefore lyme is a clinical diagnosis, and cannot rely only on testing. Sometimes the lab tests will be negative until after starting some antibiotic treatment, then the test will change to positive. The best doctor is what is known as an LLMD (lyme literate MD) and your infectious disease person may not be that. Your symptoms sound very much like lyme. There is a dedicated lyme thread on this forum you might choose to take a look at. The medical community is split in two extremes on the lyme disease issue, but the ones who are accepting this and treating it are helping people immensely. There is a doc with a blog that is quite fascinating and posts a lot of patient cases and responses. If you read those you might get a sense why I am really encouraging you to look at this. Open Original Shared Link

Parasites are also very hard to pick up and lab tests are quite poor for this overall.

Sometimes there a number of causes of the problem and you got something that became the last straw is all.