Unknown cause of severe fatigue/muscle loss for the past 4 years. Symptoms started immediately after dramatic diet change, but have not gone away
This is a long post, but I want to give details so I can better describe what is happening with my health. For the past 4 years I have been dealing with some of the strangest symptoms/ medical condition that I and doctors have ever seen. I have no clue in the world what the heck is wrong with me, but all I know is that my body/mind do not function the same at all. Doctors have told me it is everything from depression, to adrenal problems, to thyroid, to stress, to autoimmune, to so many others. All of my symptoms started almost right after I switched to a raw vegan diet overnight. I am 23 as of right now and feel worse than an 80 year old.
All of my life I had been very athletic, had tons of energy, was happy, had great libido, etc, but it all started going downhill once I switched my diet to an all raw vegan/high fruit/greens diet. I basically went from eating an extremely low carb paleo style diet that I had been doing off and on for around 5 months before switching to an all raw fruitarian diet overnight. I did not have any type of transition to the fruitarian diet. I went from eating regular food to watermelon, bananas, salads, etc. Around day 3 is when I started experiencing a tremendous detox.
I developed some bad
Acne for about a month, I started experiencing some flank pain in the kidney region, I developed a coated tongue, less energy etc. I knew this would happen, so I didn't think much of it. Around the 5 day to 1 week mark I started to notice I was dropping weight extremely quickly. I knew I would drop some weight, but I was dropping like 7
pounds overnight some days, despite eating around 3000 calories of food. People started to say I was looking very thin at 6'2. My weight went from around 160(I'm thin framed) of muscle with very little fat to around 135lbs of skin and bone during the next month or so. I slowly started to notice fatigue setting in, libido fading, muscle loss, interest in activities decreasing, etc, but I stuck with it anyways. My diet consisted of a wide array of fruits/some fats from fruits and coconut meat/ and big salads. I would consistently eat around 2500-3000 calories everyday and felt in no way restricted by what I was eating and didn't have cravings for any other foods. I stayed with the raw diet for around 2 yrs but have been eating the type of diet I was raised on for the past 2 years (this includes animal products). I gained back the weight I lost and more since switching (180lbs now). However I am "skinny fat" and my muscles do not grow. I am still somewhat strong, but my muscles do not feel "full" like they used to, even if I work out. In fact I think my muscles shrink if I work out and my fatigue becomes much worse.
Around the 1 year mark I had become so bad that I could barely function. Around this time I knew something was seriously wrong and I started getting tests done. Ekg, thyroid panel, testosterone, adrenal saliva tests, dheas, blood profiles, b12 tests, vitamin d, other vitamins, e2, went to the ER one night bc I thought I was dying and they ran a whole bunch of urine and blood tests, everything checked out fine.
Something that is the most important to mention I feel is that I would have these episodes of feeling incredible after long bouts of stress. The first time it happened was around 3 1/2 years ago when I was still on the raw diet. I was battling severe fatigue and being underweight, but was still going to university. I decided to start riding my bike to and from school and would try to push myself sometimes in order to build endurance. I was pushing myself extremely hard for around 3 days in a row and then all of a sudden one day it was like a light switch turned on in my body. I began to have clarity of mind again, energy, my libido came back full force, even my muscles began to feel fuller and look bigger in a very short amount of time. I remember sitting on the porch one day and being able to smell the rain outside. It was freaky because I realized my sense of smell had decreased overtime and now I could smell again. This lasted around a week and then it was like the high just ran out. I began having heart palps, my muscles atrophied again, energy tanked, and I returned to my previous fatigue. Around 3 months later it happened again. This time when I was experimenting with sundried shiitake mushrooms because I thought I had a vit d deficiency and was against pills. I ate about a handful of them for a few days in a row and then all of a sudden it happened again. My energy came back, libido returned, muscle fullness came back, mood was happy again, etc. Got heart palps 4 days later and back to square one. Next time it happened was when I was trying to eat 5000 calories a day to gain weight and basically stuffing myself until it hurt. I began getting the same "high", but this time it only happened at night. I would turn the lights off and get ready to fall asleep and then would get a heightened libido, happy thoughts, vivid images past memories, muscle fullness. It was so strange. I had sex the next night and then started getting heart palps right after and the "high" ended. The next time it happened was when I was working in the garden with my dad and got super stressed from overly exerting myself multiple days in a row.
The final time it happened was when I started to include some "normal foods" like potatoes, beans, oatmeal, into my diet when I was transitioning back to a normal diet around 2 yrs ago. This time however I began getting darkness under my eyes and began sharp pains in my joints along with a rapid erosion of my teeth along with all of the "high" effects. All of this only lasted around 2-3 days. On every single one of these episodes I had like a dull flank pain on my left side and sometimes my right. This is what caused me to believe its adrenal related, but my saliva cortisol tests all show normal results along with dheas. I am not stressed or depressed and I have followed adrenal fatigue protocols to a T and it doesnt change. I am constantly exhausted physically and mentally, have low libido, dry eyes, and cannot overly exert myself without feeling horrible and getting heart palps. I feel like my body doesnt use food correctly and it just passes through me. My muscles look "flat" and not veiny and full like they used to. I cannot put on muscle either. My blood pressure and glucose are normal. Please help!
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