Welcome to ThisIsMS, crystal.
YOU ARE NOT A HYPOCHONDRIAC! You have genuine symptoms; you need a "disease detective." Although your GP recommends a neurologist ASAP, I am not sure it is time for a neurologist yet.I tend to believe that if you see a surgeon about a problem, he will find a solution in surgery; if you see a neuro, he will only see the problem/solution in neurology. I just read an article that summed this up well: "doctors are experts in, and only test for, those parts of the body in which they specialize."
I suggest you ask your GP or endocrinologist to order a "fasting blood insulin test" (this is NOT the same as a glucose test, as you probably know) for several reasons: 1) Insulin is known as a "fat-storage hormone." – You mentioned that you had had weight loss surgery, specifically gastric bypass surgery. I do not think your current problems are related to the bypass surgery, except for the fact that you must have been overweight (were producing excess insulin?) and needed the surgery. 2) It is my opinion that excess insulin dumped into the intestine damages the villi and microvilli, which then interferes with nutrient absorption. – Your blood work seems to have shown deficiencies in vitamin D and vitamin B12. Please discuss with your doctors the possibility that you have insulin resistance.
http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/index2.html Factor #1: Your Insulin Level
Insulin and leptin are absolutely essential to staying alive, but the sad fact is that most of you reading this have too much, and it is pushing you towards chronic degenerative illness and increasing the rate at which you age.
Most adults have about one gallon of blood in their bodies and are quite surprised to learn that in that gallon, there is only one teaspoon of sugar! You only need one teaspoon of sugar at all times -- if that. If your blood sugar level were to rise to one tablespoon of sugar you would quickly go into a hyperglycemic coma and die.
Your body works very hard to prevent this by producing insulin to keep your blood sugar at the appropriate level. Any meal or snack high in grain and sugar carbohydrates typically generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To compensate for this your pancreas secretes insulin into your bloodstream, which lowers your blood sugar to keep you from dying.
However, if you consume a diet consistently high in sugar and grains, over time your body becomes "sensitized" to insulin and requires more and more of it to get the job done. Eventually, you become insulin and leptin resistant, and then diabetic.
If you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or are overweight, it is highly likely that you are eating too many grains -- yes, even unrefined whole grains -- as this is the most common culprit causing your insulin level to become abnormal.
Compounding the problem, when your insulin and leptin levels rise due to an excess of carbohydrates, they send your body a hormonal message telling it to store fat while holding on to the fat that is already there. So not only will excess carbohydrates make you overweight, they will effectively hamper your weight loss efforts too.
Your Fasting Blood Insulin Test
To find out your insulin and leptin levels, you need to get tested by your doctor. The test you need to ask for is a fasting blood insulin and leptin test, The tests are done by just about every commercial laboratory and the insulin test is relatively inexpensive.
Facts about Your Fasting Insulin Test:
o This test is profoundly useful. It's one of the least expensive tests in traditional medicine, yet it is one of the most powerful. A normal fasting blood insulin level is below 5, but
ideally you'll want to be below 3.
o You can safely ignore the reference ranges from the lab as they are based on "normals" of a population that has highly-disturbed insulin levels.
o This is a great test to do BEFORE you start your program as you can use it to assess how well you are progressing in the program.
o If your level is above 5 you will want to consider significantly reducing most sugars and grains, even whole wheat grains, until you lower your level. Once you've normalized your insulin level you can reintroduce grains into your diet at a lower level to optimize your health.
o Exercise is of enormous benefit in improving the sensitivity of your insulin and leptin receptors, and to help normalize your insulin level far more quickly.
By the way, 3 lesions on an MRI is not a lot. AND there are conditions, other than MS, which can have lesions.
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someone can be seronormal for zinc, yet still deficient!
