Follow-Up Appointment

I realized I promised updates on my follow-up doctor appointment, so here it is. I went in last week to a slightly baffled doctor. He expected my “conditions” to yield a myriad of fun and exciting results from the lab. There wasn’t that much.

I thought it was good that I reacted to nothing on the skin allergy test, but apparently everyone who is healthy should react to Candida, a type of yeast. I however did not, so he believes that this, coupled with the results from a couple other tests, shows that I have a low immune function. This might explain the constant congestion, but I am a little baffled as I am almost never seriously ill. Just little annoying things all the time. He didn’t give me any prognosis or treatment for this, but they did take some more blood and order an adrenal stress test. I have another appointment in three weeks or so to learn those results.

His guessing at the first appointment that I might be low in magnesium was a good call. The tests results reinforced this theory so I’m going to keep taking the magnesium citrate. I am definitely noticing a difference in my muscle pain and tightness and also having a bit more energy. I’m not feeling pressure points in my shoulders hardly at all. I am recovering faster from workouts and even pulled out a three mile run yesterday. I’m not sure if it can be completely attributed to the magnesium, but I haven’t been regularly running for over two years and it’s been over one year since I’ve been on a run at all. The fact that I ran straight through three miles is a miracle in itself (I texted Andy before I left and told him where he could find my body).

The American diet is quite low in magnesium and deficiency is very common, even among people who eat a healthy, balanced diet. Magnesium citrate, taken at appropriate levels in capsule form, acts as a natural muscle relaxer. Here is a little more information about magnesium if you want to read more: http://www.mbschachter.com/importance_of_magnesium_to_human.htm

http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html

The doctor also found I was low in B12 and suggested I take vitamin D3. My daily pill popping now consists of the following:

4 Magnesium Citrate

1 B12-5000

1 D3-5000

As far as food sensitivities, we ruled out parasites. On my IgG panel, he expected many foods to be flagged. Instead, there were only three that were even remotely close to an immune sensitivity response: brewer’s yeast, baker’s yeast, and soy. They were only a “level 1” and usually problem foods are a 2-3. I have currently been loading on these three foods for four days by eating some of each every day. Tomorrow I will begin a four day pea and rice protein powder fast to cleanse myself from these foods. After that, I will reintroduce one of these foods each day and see if I have any kind of reaction. This is a common “investigative” approach to food sensitivities as removing the foods and cleansing is supposed to lead to a more noticeable reaction upon reintroduction if they are a problem. I am glad that there weren’t 10-15 foods on the list, as it makes my job easier! I am also glad I have no signs of gluten sensitivity, which was a major suspect! An additional point he gave me was to stay away from artificial sweeteners, other than stevia and far, FAR away from MSG in any form (it goes by over 40 names and is in almost every, non-organic preprocessed food!). They are just no bueno.

Yesterday I got a call from the nurse as they had gotten the results back from my blood work from the first follow-up appointment. I am very low in certain hormones, which is likely the major culprit in my tiredness issues. They are having a compounding laboratory create a prescription for me that should correct that. I was very happy that they found something and I’m not just crazy and lazy! There’s a biological explanation. Reading through information online about the deficiency, the symptoms are right on for much of what I’ve been dealing with. Should be an easy fix.

In summary, the good new is most of my symptoms seem to be accounted for, except the jury is still out on congestion and digestive issues. Those two may or may not be related. I am happy to finally be getting some answers. If you’re dealing with any issues and live locally, I can refer you to a good doctor.