Aa
19 with unexplained symptoms
It started when I was about 17. The first symptom was major fatigue. I would come home from school and sleep the whole day away. Everything left me exhausted. My hair started falling out like crazy, it became drier, thinner, and straw like. My hair was naturally curly but my hair became so bad that it couldnt hold any curl at all anymore. I developed oily skin and really bad acne at that point too. At the same time, I developed digestive problems. Mainly constipation. It sounds vain but I was going into my senior year and I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore. The first endocrinologist I went to said that all he found was that my vitamin d level was at 12. I started taking supplements and not much changed.
Since that diagnoses, I’ve developed extreme anxiety, tremors, and in cold places, I would start to sweat. My nails are flimsy and peel easily. My hair still shed like crazy.
I visited an endocrinologist last month and had her do a full work up. My tsh and free t4 were perfectly normal. She didn’t check for free t3 but my total t3 was perfect as well. The only thing that stood out to me was that my ferritin was 36, my rdw was high, my mchc was low, and I had a low alkaline phosphatase (33). I’ve been supplementing with iron and at first I felt an immediate difference. But now I don’t seem to be absorbing the iron anymore and I don’t know why
I also got tested for celiac and diabetes and both tests came back negative. My parents think it’s all in my head but all I want to do is be normal and live my life. I don’t know what to do anymore
Since that diagnoses, I’ve developed extreme anxiety, tremors, and in cold places, I would start to sweat. My nails are flimsy and peel easily. My hair still shed like crazy.
I visited an endocrinologist last month and had her do a full work up. My tsh and free t4 were perfectly normal. She didn’t check for free t3 but my total t3 was perfect as well. The only thing that stood out to me was that my ferritin was 36, my rdw was high, my mchc was low, and I had a low alkaline phosphatase (33). I’ve been supplementing with iron and at first I felt an immediate difference. But now I don’t seem to be absorbing the iron anymore and I don’t know why
I also got tested for celiac and diabetes and both tests came back negative. My parents think it’s all in my head but all I want to do is be normal and live my life. I don’t know what to do anymore
I have iron deficiency anaemia due to chronic stress lowering my stomach acid. I have plenty of symptoms but there are two symptoms in particular that tell me I need iron stat...easy bruising and petrol smells good (some weird variant of pica lol). Many of your symptoms are listed under iron deficiency.
I would suggest you take chelated iron with non-acidic vitamin C.
Reduce your intake of calcium, foods high in phytic acid
oxalates and polyphenols which may lower iron absorption.
Increase consumption of iron-rich foods.
Do an elimination diet starting with wheat/gluten which is probably the primary offensive food group, but continue it for a couple months, since gluten effects can linger for weeks after its elimination from your diet.
The second group to eliminate is dairy (50% of gluten sensitive people are also sensitive to dairy).
Alternatively you can do Dr Coca's Pulse Test (free download) which takes a full week to do on your own.
There's a short version, but in your situation, no short cuts!
Celiac's testing does not rule out gluten sensitivities!!!
These sensitivities could be interfering with absorption of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. You must be thorough...because your doctors are not.
Your thyroid function would be likely affected due to the low ferritin, but it would not show in the tests you had.
You need to get all three of the following tests:
Free T3, Free T4 and Reverse T3.(RT3)
One of the best makers to use for hypothyroidism is
the FT3/RT3 ratio.
Alternatively (or as a screening test) you can do on own
Dr Barnes Basal Temperature Test, which is simple, but you must follow the online instructions, precisely.
Stress is a huge and usually neglected factor.
Yoga, meditation ( do daily- checkYouTube), nature walks, avoid stressful environments, hang out with calm people, listen to soothing music etc.
Your cortisol could be high or low and I would suggest
a 4x cortisol saliva test and DHEA.
Look into BioHealth Labs Stress Profile Testing -for your reference only, not necessarily an endorsement)
Stress hormones constrict blood supply to the scalp and hair follicles, reducing their supply of nutrients.
Your B12 Methylocobalamin would also be low when you don;t have enough stomach acid, despite normal or high levels of B12 Cobalamin.
You need an MMA test, preferably repeated after a few weeks.
Magnesium is a very important mineral in numerous functions in the body and it could get easily depleted
when one is stressed.
Ask and insist for a RBC magnesium test, which is an improved test to measure magnesium.
I believe you can also order it directly in the U.S
(direct to consumer labs)
Finally, you should do the baking soda test, for low stomach acid. Just look it up.
You have many symptoms, consistent with that, which would easily explain everything else, which could be
consequences and complications of low stomach acid.
I gave you enough material to go through and I hope some
of it helps. Most of it consists of unexplored but invaluable diagnostic investigation suggestions which covers some of the fundamentals.
When these are missed by conventional doctors and specialists, patients like yourself may suffer unnecessarily .. and could remain in limbo, sometimes for life :(
Sorry for the grave outlook, but it happens.
If you need any further details let me know.
My comments here are for information purposes only and not intended to replace Medical advice.
Best wishes,
Niko
Reduce your intake of calcium, foods high in phytic acid
oxalates and polyphenols which may lower iron absorption.
Increase consumption of iron-rich foods.
Do an elimination diet starting with wheat/gluten which is probably the primary offensive food group, but continue it for a couple months, since gluten effects can linger for weeks after its elimination from your diet.
The second group to eliminate is dairy (50% of gluten sensitive people are also sensitive to dairy).
Alternatively you can do Dr Coca's Pulse Test (free download) which takes a full week to do on your own.
There's a short version, but in your situation, no short cuts!
Celiac's testing does not rule out gluten sensitivities!!!
These sensitivities could be interfering with absorption of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. You must be thorough...because your doctors are not.
Your thyroid function would be likely affected due to the low ferritin, but it would not show in the tests you had.
You need to get all three of the following tests:
Free T3, Free T4 and Reverse T3.(RT3)
One of the best makers to use for hypothyroidism is
the FT3/RT3 ratio.
Alternatively (or as a screening test) you can do on own
Dr Barnes Basal Temperature Test, which is simple, but you must follow the online instructions, precisely.
Stress is a huge and usually neglected factor.
Yoga, meditation ( do daily- checkYouTube), nature walks, avoid stressful environments, hang out with calm people, listen to soothing music etc.
Your cortisol could be high or low and I would suggest
a 4x cortisol saliva test and DHEA.
Look into BioHealth Labs Stress Profile Testing -for your reference only, not necessarily an endorsement)
Stress hormones constrict blood supply to the scalp and hair follicles, reducing their supply of nutrients.
Your B12 Methylocobalamin would also be low when you don;t have enough stomach acid, despite normal or high levels of B12 Cobalamin.
You need an MMA test, preferably repeated after a few weeks.
Magnesium is a very important mineral in numerous functions in the body and it could get easily depleted
when one is stressed.
Ask and insist for a RBC magnesium test, which is an improved test to measure magnesium.
I believe you can also order it directly in the U.S
(direct to consumer labs)
Finally, you should do the baking soda test, for low stomach acid. Just look it up.
You have many symptoms, consistent with that, which would easily explain everything else, which could be
consequences and complications of low stomach acid.
I gave you enough material to go through and I hope some
of it helps. Most of it consists of unexplored but invaluable diagnostic investigation suggestions which covers some of the fundamentals.
When these are missed by conventional doctors and specialists, patients like yourself may suffer unnecessarily .. and could remain in limbo, sometimes for life :(
Sorry for the grave outlook, but it happens.
If you need any further details let me know.
My comments here are for information purposes only and not intended to replace Medical advice.
Best wishes,
Niko
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