Resolved symptoms, what worked for me

Please forgive the long post. I would like to post this in hopes of possibly helping anyone performing searches on the internet for an answer to constant fatigue, drowsiness, joint pain, dizziness, low blood pressure, indigestion, headaches and lower back pain (the area around the kidneys - one pain on each side). I had these symptoms (I will provide an entire list at the end of the post), and a solution has been found for my case. While I strongly suspect this post will only help a subset of people experiencing these symptoms, I am posting it in hopes of helping even one person out there. As a disclaimer, I am not a doctor. Take my advice with a grain of salt.

A few months ago I had a period of extreme stress. I became bed-ridden and terribly sick. I had symptoms that I had already gone to doctors for over the past few years (fatigue, joint pain), but they were much worse and joined with new symptoms. They also wouldn't go away. I apparently developed an enlarged liver and a heart murmur I never had before. I fit all but a couple of the symptoms I read elsewhere for Addison's disease. One of those I didn't fit was unbalanced electrolytes. Because my electrolytes were normal, my doctor was condescending towards questions about checking my adrenal glands. I took a saliva test on my own through ZRT, and it clearly showed below normal cortisol levels. I figured I was in the early stages of developing Addison's or had adrenal fatigue (I've actually been lurking here for a bit after reading Dr. Lam's site), as the only thing the doctor could offer was finding I had a vitamin D deficiency. Even though I was tested for Depression on my first visit and any Depression I had was so mild the doctor "wasn't comfortable" prescribing medication, he was quite suddenly ready to consider an anti-depressant trial if vitamin D supplementation didn't work. That makes him the third doctor that couldn't find any other abnormal tests that are commonly administered (thyroid, anemia, etc.) and decided on anti-depressants instead of further testing. I was unhappy with this and went my way. A week or so later I started experimenting with my diet, and I found the culprit to be GLUTEN. I'll explain how I decided to consider gluten in the first place:

One piece of information that kept eating at me was a blog by someone diagnosed with a symptomless Hashimoto's. They warned other thyroid patients to stay away from gluten like the plague, as there is research linking the antibodies attacking the thyroid with celiac disease. You may read about this sort of research here (note that researchers found the thyroid antibodies disappearing after 3 to 6 months on a gluten-free diet):
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/latestresearch/a/celiac.htm


I came across similar information, both anecdotal and scientifically researched. I read references to infertile couples going gluten-free and conceiving. People with urinary difficulties that were solved by going gluten-free. Thyroid patients that improved going off gluten. Experiences of those diagnosed with celiac disease stated that several had developed diabetes and a damaged pancreas. Liver and gall-bladder damage were mentioned. There are several studies correlating celiac disease with other autoimmune disorders - type 1 diabetes, Addison's, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, autoimmune hepatitis. I began to wonder if the consumption of gluten could trigger antibodies against organs other than the intestines. While correlation doesn't mean causation, it still made me wonder. Was gluten causing me to develop antibodies against my adrenals? Or was I unknowingly dealing with celiac disease and putting too much stress on my glands? What if an intestinal inflammation was spreading to my adrenals, kidneys, and bladder since they are so close to each other (I did figure out a year or so ago that my "chronic UTI's" were not bladder infections but most likely interstitial cystitis, as I finally linked it to me eating chocolate).

My main response to the possibility of having celiac disease was always, "But I don't have chronic diarrhea." I eventually read that you do not need to have diarrhea or constipation to have CD. You can even be symptomless. You do not need to be suffering from drastic weight loss. You can even be obese. You do not need to have dermatitis herpetiformis. Celiac disease is one of the most under-diagnosed illnesses despite research suggesting it affects millions of people in the United States alone.

After reading all of that I went off gluten containing foods for a week and a half. After perhaps four or five days my symptoms were mostly gone. My energy lasted all day. It's difficult to describe correctly, but something about the way my brain and senses started working reminded me of when I was 13 (I'm 27). After the week and a half I tried adding the foods back. I was flat in bed again. I desperately tried adding gluten back after feeling better a few times. Every time I ate gluten I developed a horrible brain fog, fatigue, pains in my knees, pains in my lower back near my kidneys, dizziness when I stood up or got out of bed, nausea, and headaches. I was shocked. I never suspected it was my diet, probably because I have been eating wheat every day for almost my entire life. I was poisoning myself first thing every morning with a good dose of "healthy" whole-grain breakfast cereal.

The suggestions I've read for a gluten elimination trial is to try it for a couple of weeks, then add the gluten back to see how you feel. It's possible for those reacting to gluten to have a dairy intolerance. You need to also be aware of possible hidden gluten sources, such as modified food starch or gluten found in medications. If you find that you respond well to eliminating gluten and want to be tested for celiac disease, you MUST go back to eating gluten every day and schedule a visit with your doctor. Unfortunately, you must remain sick in order for the celiac testing to work.

Anyhow, as long as I am strictly off any gluten (you can get "cross-contamination" when eating out at restaurants and such), I basically feel cured. My hyperpigmentation is breaking up and fading. The only exception has been feeling the lower back pain and slight nausea when I am VERY stressed.

You can find more information at:

http://www.celiac.com


List of symptoms:

-Profound fatigue, even with 10 hours of sleep
-Drowsiness, difficulty staying awake
-Joint pains
-Poor digestion, painful gas and bloating that would wake me during the night - over the past few years it was usually when I ate pasta at restaurants, but it gradually increased in frequency until I had it all the time and with a very wide variety of foods
-low blood pressure and chest pain that would disappear after lying down - systolic would dip down to the low 80's, yet would bizarrely jump up to 110/120 the night before a doctor's appointment and would stay there all throughout the visit. Doctor confirmed that you cannot mentally force your pressure to dip down like that through Depression or boredom. I think they labeled me a hypochondriac regardless since they never saw the low blood pressure themselves...
-feeling shaky and faint, lightheadedness and dizziness, seeing stars and staggering after standing (orthostatic hypotension)
-brain fog, inability to concentrate, feeling "spacey" or apathetic
-lower back pain in the kidney region
-frontal pelvic pain, I wondered why I was getting "menstrual cramps" several weeks before I was supposed to
-a deep, focused, spasming pain that would shoot down the inside of my legs, but did not feel like a muscle spasm
-painful headaches, and I started developing headaches on the back of my head instead the front, which I've never experienced before
-lack of appetite, stomach soreness and nausea, was on the verge of vomiting a couple of times
-sudden unexplained night wakings coupled with anxiety and insomnia - very strange as I am well known for being someone that sleeps like a rock
-worsening PMS
-hyperpigmentation - developing brownish-yellow splotches on my skin (mostly knees and elbows), while my pelvic area and the skin between my legs (which has not been exposed to sunlight) looks tanned
-doctor noticed an enlarged liver
-somehow developed small heart murmur
-vitamin D deficiency - I've noticed doctors like to blame vitamin and mineral deficiencies as causes, but they can very much be symptoms!!
-The dark circles I have around my eyes really worsened - my spouse teasingly coined them my "raccoon eyes"