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Post-Partum Difficulties

My wife is having terrible difficulties following our second child. She has been in and out of the hospital for hyper and hypo tension. During these hospital visits they discovered she has MTHFR on two genes. Her blood pressure is now stable but she is not. She suffers from constant headaches, vision problems, fatigue, “hot and cold” sensations in her head (right side almost always). MRA and MRI were negative, no signs of stroke or heart attack. The neurologist reviewed her and stated that there is nothing wrong although living with her I can tell you there is The only abnormal tests at all were her Mono% (CBC) and the MTHFR. We are following up at George Town but have gotten nowhere as of yet. We have all hospital records and lab results and will share them upon request. Her symptomology and back story are too long to fit in the 200 character limit…!
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Hi, I can tell you right now it's not psychological. I'm 36, have two children 9 and 7, and was positive for MTHFR. Funny you use the word episodes to describe what is going on with her. For years I suffered from fatigue at certain points of the month then on August 8th 2011 I ended up in the ER with fatigue, no muscle capabilities, a weird numbness in the base of my skull, blurry vision, foggy mind, high blood pressure… I couldn’t even write my name. I had so many unusual symptoms that the ER doctor thought I was having an allergic reaction. They tested me for everything and it all came back normal. They sent me home the next day and it took at least two weeks to recover from what happened to my body. I couldn’t eat certain food, the cognitive part of my brain was not working and the migraines were daily. The only way to describe it was as if I was recovering from a stroke… nothing worked. Since then they have done MRI”s and MRA’s to the brain, heart, thyroid, kidney’s and bladder, uterus and every organ in between. A lot of money spent and absolutely no answers except that I have healthy organs.  Very frustrating. They gave me pills for anxiety (which I had an opposite reaction to and they found that I do not have) and preventative headache pills which did not help the migraines. They did a biopsy of the thyroid and it was fine however I am still having “episodes” each month. There are days that I am fine and other days that the fatigue is so bad I crawl up the steps. My mind can see what I want to say but have trouble finding the words, no creative ability, hard to multitask, cold water sensation up and down my legs, loss of hair, graying hair, hot and cold flashes, feelings of having a fever yet temp reads low, sore throat, and swollen glands a week or two before my cycle every month. I do believe it is all hormonal yet those levels read fine. My immune system almost shuts down once a month attacking whatever is wrong with the body and it’s like I have a flu. It has to be a link to the MTHFR in some form and we are just missing the right balance. Unfortunately I haven’t found an answer yet but I’m still looking… living this way and losing two weeks a month is awful.  As I research on my own now trying to find the answer without the doctors I’m finding more and more people with similar stories. There has to be something that can help! If you have any insight along the way please let me know, I’m desperate to just function at my old pace. If I figure something out I will pass it along!! Hang in there and keep supporting her, it‘s an awful thing to deal with and not many people understand!
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Avatar universal
Dr. Kumar,

Thank you for the response. This however is not much different than what the hopitalist and tending physicians thought during her admission to the hospital. She has and is seeing a clinical psychologist who has ruled out psychological issues as the root cause as the episodes have not improved with psychological medications. Additionally her symptoms have progressively gotten worse even after several weeks of therapy and medicine.
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1760990 tn?1313538198
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear concernedhubby191,

Thanks for posting your query.

From the information that you have submitted, it looks to me more like a psychological problem rather than true neurological illness in her. The presence of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) mutations on two genes does not bother me unless her homocysteine levels are elevated, which can be easily treated with medications.

So I personally feel she is suffering from psychogenic headache. She also has features of fibromyalgia and post-partum depression. She requires good evaluation from the clinical psychologist as well as a psychiatrist. I am sorry you are dealing with this frustrating concern and I hope you can find yourself in better health soon with the help of your specialist.

Hope that this information helps and hope that you will get better soon.

Thank you for using MedHelp's "Ask an Expert" Service, where we feature some of world's renowned medical experts in their fields. Millions have benefitted from our service to get personalized advice for them and for their loved ones.

Best Regards,
Dr Shiva Kumar R.
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