new but not diagnosed..

KristinNicole · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject: new but not diagnosed..

Hello all... just wanted to stop by I have been reading these posts and feel like.. wow this all sounds so firmiliar. I live in WA which for some reason has the highest MS rates in the nation. *shrugs* I have been to doctor after doctor for years and everything always gets blamed on stress and or anxiety disorder and according to doctors "nothing is ever wrong" however i have pretty much all of the top symptoms and then some. One time i went to the ER because I thought I was having a stroke but because of my history of anxiety that is automatically what it is in their mind. No one is listening to me and its horrible to live like this. I am missing sooo much work I most likely will be fired eventually but what can i do. I am so fatigued sometimes even when i have slept 8 hrs. I am lathargic and confused. I get vertigo spells.. and these strange episodes I like to call them. I have had bladder problems forever as well as "IBS" i have difficulty with all my muscles, weakness, twitching. Muscle on my face even twitch and its embarassing. I have GERD also and motility problems with swallowing yet when the upper GI was performed nothing was found. My immune system also SUCKS! i pretty much get anything and everything anyone has and i get it 10 x worse just lately my vision blurs and i went to a optometrist and he noticed my pupils are dialated larger than normal and take longer than normal to get back to normal..but.. oh everything is normal.

I feel crazy. My doctors make me feel crazy like i am making this all up! i just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

thanks for letting me vent. I have a follow up appt with my family doctor this week. I was referred to a neurologist that specializes in auto immune diseases so i am going to see if my family doc will write me a referral. Keeping my fingers crossed!
thanks for listening !

jimmylegs · Family Elder Joined: Mar 12, 2006 Posts: 1999

heya k, welcome to the forums. sounds like you're having a pretty nasty time! if you've read anything of mine posted here, you'll likely know i'm the supplement fanatic. i see several things in your symptom list that should drastically benefit from magnesium supplementation. the twitching, fatigue, confusion, anxiety, and swallowing difficulties. possibly the vertigo too. you can boost your intake of nuts and seeds, and dark leafy green veg such as kale, spinach, etc to get more mag also. the more mag you can cram into your diet the better. the supplements are hard to absorb. get the most soluble form you can if you're going to try magnesium pills or powders. mag citrate is a good one. take 250-500mg per day to start. if you just take a 250, do it at bedtime. if you take 500, take one in the morning and one at night.
vitamin b6 and potassium are two things that help magnesium do the best.
also, look into vitamin d3 for the ibs and any autoimmune/inflammatory condition. eat more fish like mackerel and salmon. that'll help with the omega 3 status too.
for bloodwork, if you decide to look into these ideas, i've heard a few things about magnesium, but it's not conclusive yet. i've read in a few places that people should test the rbc (red blood cell) magnesium (not the serum magnesium). elsewhere i've read that 'Intravenous magnesium challenge' is better than testing rbc. here's an article that points up some of the difficulties with magnesium bloodwork - http://www.mgwater.com/Seelig/Magnesium-Deficiency-in-the-Pathogenesis-of-Disease/appendix.shtml
my magnesium test was probably the wrong one. i didn't know about the testing controversy when i ordered my magnesium check, and the level i got back seemed to be inside my lab's normal range. but when i took magnesium pills it was like night and day. especially for the swallowing and muscle issues. it was possibly also partly or totally responsible for clearing up some serious confusion issues that had my neuro on the brink of pulling my license to drive. yikes!
moving on from mag, it's much easier to effectively test your 25hydroxyvitamind3. (don't bother testing 1,25dihydroxyvitamind3). make sure your level is over 100 nmol/L, and you can go as high as about 200-250nmol/L safely. you have to be sure you're getting enough calcium, magnesium and zinc when you high dose d3. (meaning if you get into d3 4000IU plus per day over a long time period). hmm if you're in washington, probably your lab will not be using nmol/L so you'd want to be looking at getting yourself up to around 50 ng/mL minimum for serum 25hydroxyvitamind3 levels. that's about 125 nmol/L.
you can take action on this stuff even without bloodwork, you don't have to wait around for the doctors. so frustrating to have all this going on and they are just shrugging. but if you can get someone to order just one test, make it your d3. you can just whip out to the pharmacy tomorrow and start working on all these issues. oh yea and for your eyes, consider a supplement with lutein. and talk to a pharmacist. i've run into one very helpful fella in particular, with whom i've chatted about symptoms and nutrition and he helped change my life.
good luck!