The waiting game

[stmgirl]

I'm sure everyone has went thru it. My anxiety has been ridiculous this week, and I feel like I need to vent to people who understand. My husband has been on vacation all week, and sadly he hasn't had a great vacation. I've just felt terrible with all these symptoms, and then the worry makes it worse. I keep having these little spasms in random places all over my body, along with the other symptoms described in my other post. I've never had these before this latest episode so I decided to look up my blood work online. I pray this Dr from Johns Hopkins calls back and agrees to see me. The town I am in is known for it's not so great healthcare. But anyway, the last time I had my B12 ran it was 340ml which from what I have read on here is the lower side of normal? The last B12 that was ran was back in June.

Reading thru other posts it's sad how Dr's have given the same excuses to people because they don't know the answers either. Like the bright flashes of light I see in my eyes, they blamed it on silent migraines. I do get migraines so I just took there assumptions even though I knew it couldn't be right. The blood work I had done in January my WBC, and Lymphocytes were both on the higher side of normal. Everything else seemed to be in mid range. I have all those results if anyone is curious. I've had so many other health problems the last 3 years I just keep asking, why another? Can't I just have some rest. Sorry to be so down, I hope you all understand. I'm praying for answers.

[jimmylegs]

hi assuming that's 340 pg/ml for b12, yes better to be higher. are any of your other blood tests *nutrient* results by any chance? normal doesn't rule out sick unfortunately, as counterintuitive as that sounds. if no serum nutrient levels are available other than b12, can you tell me what your daily diet contributes to your daily recommended amounts for essential vitamins and minerals? are you on any long term over the counter or prescription meds? what kind of fluids do you drink most often? what are your activity levels like? all these things can help flesh out the picture. might help figure out a couple things

[stmgirl]

Hi Jimmy, thanks for responding. I haven't been eating well the last couple of weeks due to the episode, as well as lack of exercise too. Usually I run/walk on the treadmill for 2 miles as well as other workouts to get all my muscle groups a good work out. I take a daily multi-vit for women, I take probiotics daily to help restore my gut flora, and I take Tapazole daily for hyperthyroid disease. I was recently diagnosed with PCOS but don't take anything for it due to migraines (increases risk of stroke)

Here is my list of blood work, I don't know if any of this helps, I don't think I've had any nutrient tests done. At least not in a long time. If there is something else I should have done I will gladly run it by my doctors if I cannot get in to see someone at Hopkins. Any ideas? This whole thing is new to me.
When I see other specialists they think it's neurological, when I go to my neurologist they've told me maybe its thyroid, maybe its your migraines, maybe its your poly cystic ovarian syndrome. All I know is its been over a year and I want answers.

LYTES
NA 140 136-144 mmol/L
K 3.6 3.5-5.1 mmol/L
CL 106 101-111 mmol/L
CO2 25 22-32 mmol/L
FASTING GLUC 82 70-110 mg/dL
01/29/15-0843
BUN 14 6-20 mg/dL 01/29/15-0843
CREATININE 0.9 0.5-1.1 mg/dL

LIPID PANEL
CHOL 130 120-200 mg/dL
TRIG 48 0-150 mg/dL 01/29/15-0843
HDL 39 40-75 mg/dL 01/29/15-0843
CALCULATED LDL 81 LT 130 mg/dL

C-PEPTIDE 2.52 0.80-3.10 ng/mL

CBC
HEMOGRAM
WBC 9.3 4.0-10.8 X10E9/L
RBC 4.72 3.69-5.09 X10E12/

HGB & HCT
HGB 14.0 11.5-15.5 g/dl
HCT 42.9 34.8-45.6 %
MCV 91.0 81.0-99.0 fl
MCH 29.6 27.5-34.1 pg
MCHC 32.6 32.6-35.2 g/dl
RDW 14.8 12.1-16.0 %
PLAT 282 150.-450. X10E9/L
MPV 10.0 7.2-10.7 fl
PERCENT LYMPHS 33.4 11.7-43.7 %
PERCENT MONOS 7.9 3.0-13.0 %
PERCENT NEUT 57.4 40.0-78.0 %
PERCENT EOS 0.9 0-7 %
PERCENT BASO 0.4 0-2 %

Junes blood work
B12 340 180-914 pg/mL
AST 16 15-41 U/L
ALT 16 10-54 U/L

[jimmylegs]

ok interesting.. sounds like a lot of no fun overall! so hyperthyroidism, migraine, pcos, spasms, visual disturbances. physically active. can you tell me any more detail about your multi?

[stmgirl]

I have a lot of other symptoms as well, the one that started it all was pain. Which is why I chopped it up to fibro. I have IBS due to a terrible gut infection (c.diff) that I get from antibiotics, Dr's have thought it was Crohn's. My gut flora is so disrupted from the whole thing. My multi-vit is gummies so it absorbs into the GI tract easier, just a precaution due to all the gut problems.
Ok my multi-vits are as follows:

VIT A: 2,500IU
VIT C: 30MG
VIT D3:800IU
VIT E:30IU
THIAMIN B1: 375MG
RIBOFLAVIN B2: 425MG
NIACIN B3: 5MG
VIT B6: 3MG
FOLIC ACID: 400MG
VIT B12: 9 MCG
BIOTIN: 375MCG
PANTOTHENIC ACID: 2.5MG
CALCIUM: 100MG
PHOSPHORUS: 45MG
IODINE: 150MCG
ZINC: 2.5MG
CHROMIUM: 60MCG
SODIUM: 10MG

[jimmylegs]

ugh sry to hear about the symptoms.
good info on the multivit. is that amount per gummy? or per serving? is it a one a day type? or does it say you need to take more than one gummy to achieve the listed amounts?

[stmgirl]

That is per 2 gummies which you take them both at the same time, once a day.

[jimmylegs]

ok does it specifically say to take them at the same time? to my mind it would make more sense to split them up. better absorption.

i noticed the low zinc amount in the multi. you need 3-4 times that much per day to maintain health. more if you consume foods/fluids that deplete zinc. and definitely more if you are feeling under the weather. do you ever eat oysters by chance? if so, how often? weekly? monthly? if not, consider these gummies as an alternative to your current ones - you take 4 per day and they deliver 8mg zinc:
http://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/Produc ... rodID=1411
notice that you can order free samples!

another thing i notice, is that the gummie supplement contains d3 and calcium, but is not balanced with magnesium. you need at least 300mg of magnesium per day, as much as poss from food. ideally organic food. conventional produce can be overloaded with phosphorus, at magnesium's expense. you need more than 300mg whenever you are active, stressed, and/or consume food/fluids (eg coffee, alcohol etc) or meds (like PPIs) that are known to deplete magnesium. and you need even more when taking supplemental d3.

most people don't get enough mag and deficit can manifest in all kinds of extremely common and widespread symptoms, such as menstrual cramping.

would be good to aim for about 600mg per day for a trial period. if i were you i would track magnesium intake over a few days, and see how far off 600mg you are at present. then see what you can reliably increase in the healthy organic food dept, then top up with a high quality organic soluble magnesium supplement. magnesium glycinate is my fave if you were getting 400mg from diet and could add 100mg with your multi (ie at the same time as the d3) and 100mg more at a completely different time of day, that could help. do you think a beverage form could work? this powder option is mag glycinate:
http://kirkmanlabs.com/ProductKirkman/3 ... edFormula/
"Each 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 grams) supplies 997 mg. of magnesium glycinate, which is equivalent to 182 mg. of elemental magnesium."
a quarter tsp twice a day would probably be all you would need.
this other powdered option is the mag citrate form, which is a little less easy to absorb, but it's a really great product which comes in quite a few different flavours (raspberry-lemon is reportedly the best i've only ever had plain myself tho):
http://naturalvitality.com/natural-calm/

when i had my most terrifying symptoms a pharmacist told me 1. take more mag 2. fix the timing in relation to d3. i felt the difference in a day or two. then i thought 'it's a coincidence' so i stopped doing what he had said and everything came back. so then i went back to taking mag and never looked back. i was taking a terrible form at first and didn't get enough from diet so hopefully you won't have to repeat my early learning curve

here's a good healthy mag food list including mgs per serving: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart