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Avatar universal

My blood tests are fine, but I still feel awful. Am I being dramatic?

So here’s the short of it:

I previously have been diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder and have had these diagnoses for about 10 years now. I’m also lactose intolerant if that’s relevant.

Lately I’ve been having headaches and can’t seem to keep myself awake if I sit down at all (I’ve actually fallen asleep in work!) despite sleeping 8hrs+ a night.

I keep stumbling over my words and my boss has even expressed concern for my well being as I’m “all over the place” lately.

I went to my optician for an eye exam and they were very thorough (since I told them I’d been having headaches) but they said my eye health is absolutely perfect.

I went to the doctor and had blood work done which all came back totally fine. The doctor said it was probably just a side effect of my ongoing depression.

Would my (10+ year ongoing remember) depression really be causing this all of a sudden? (all of a sudden being about 6 weeks ago)

I would consider myself moderately active (physical job, dog walking and run twice a week) and don’t think I’m terribly unhealthy in the choices I make.

I don’t drink or smoke.

Is it probably just my depression or should I be pressing the doctor for more testing?


3 Responses
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Avatar universal
For now, drink more liquids, and run or fast-walk four or five times a week.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Dairy and other food sensitivities can cause brain inflammation. I recommend having a very strict no dairy diet for 3 weeks and see if you feel better. Your headaches AND depression may vanish!

Allergies can change very suddenly. The important thing to remember is there is NO test doctors can do for these types of “non-Ige” allergies. The only way to find out is if you feel better after a couple weeks. It DOES take a couple weeks for it to get out of your system. Stick with it!
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
While most people don't tolerate dairy -- adult mammals were never built to digest it -- I don't think it causes brain inflammation.  That's a bit extreme.  The poster also states they suffer from bipolar, and cutting out dairy is highly unlikely to affect psychotic illnesses.  I guess anything is possible, but highly unlikely.  I'm also not sure there is no test for the common food allergens such as dairy and modern wheat and soy.  As you say, if you do an elimination diet that is a way of testing for it.  But you really don't have to test for dairy, we all have a problem with it, I think there are two ethnic groups in the world who do have the enzymes as adults to properly digest it.  But for most, the symptoms will be digestive and joint inflammation, but again, very unlikely to be bipolar.
649848 tn?1534633700
Hi there...  Can you tell us exactly what blood tests were done?  Do you know if they happened to include thyroid testing?  Tests for thyroid disorders should include TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 at the very least and ideally, would include tests for antibodies to determine if you might have an autoimmune condition.

Do you have any other symptoms besides the depression, fatigue (unable to stay awake) and being "all over the place" - I'll call that brain fog -  :-) and the headache?  

Those are some classic symptoms of thyroid conditions.  Other conditions can include sudden weight changes, changes in digestion (constipation/diarrhea), changes in heart rate, hair loss,  changes in skin - dry, scaly, itchy skin; dry, cracked nails, etc.  There are a lot of other symptoms but we can start with those.  

The symptoms you might have would depend on whether your thyroid is over producing (hyperthyroidism) or under producing (hypothyroidism).  

Also, Vitamin B-12 deficiency can cause those symptoms, as well.  Do you know if that was one of the tests that was done?  It's not usually one of the standard tests as it's not included in any of the panels that are, typically, ordered.

Anyway, if you can tell me what blood tests you had done, we can go from there.  
Helpful - 0
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