The Editor - please read here!

HI Brenden,
As I said, I copied and pasted your last post below.

"Greetings,

Thanks for the reply. No, I have not been diagnosed with anything. My first symtoms began about 7 years ago.

In January 2005, I went through a period of daily nausea. The nausea would come and go, and did not seem to be affected by eating or not eating. As I was due to turn 40 that year, I decided to go for a physical and to ask my doctor about the nausea. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and my doctor thought that possibly the nausea was a symptom of an ulcer. Ultimately the ulcer diagnosis was discounted. The nausea stopped after a month.

Approximately one or two months into my hypertension treatment (via Lisinopril) I noticed a light-headed, spacey, dizzy feeling that I had had years earlier for a period of time. After numerous visits to my doctor, it was decided to discontinue the Lisinopril. The “dizzy” feeling continued, and remains to this day.

In late 2005 I went to an ENT. My hearing was tested and I was told that I had the hearing of a 21 year old. The ENT didn’t think I had anything wrong with my ears, ordered a sinus scan, and said one of my sinuses was a little plugged, but not serious enough to cause problems. He referred me to a Neurologist.

I then had an appointment with the Neurologist. She ordered an MRI to check for MS. The MRI was clear.

I am without diagnosis. This condition has dogged me for years. I take no joy in what I used to; reading; learning; creativity. I have been robbed of these pleasures. I feel as though I am not here; disconnected. At best I feel “okay” first thing in the morning. This soon ends after a half hour. My feelings of spaceyness are 24/7. At its worst, I feel light-headed and dizzy as if I am going to pass out. At its best, I feel as though I am not present, as though I am viewing life through someone else’s eyes.

Other symptoms I have that may or may not be related to this condition are as follows:

Fatigue, feeling as though I am not refreshed after a night’s sleep;

Frequent PVC’s or other heart palpitations. These come on regardless of the circumstances. I may be at rest, or I may be at work. There doesn’t seem to be anything that is consistent, although I do sometimes notice them more intensely after I eat.

Feeling as though my mental acuity is lessened, ie. I am unable to focus or concentrate, as though my ability to “multi-task” is no longer there; my memory is nowhere as it used to be. Though I am fairly sharp, I feel as though my IQ has had about 50 points knocked off of it.

Last year, I also developed the aforementioned pain afer drinking alcohol. We're talking within 10 minutes of consumption. One of the few true pleasures in life that I had, I can no longer enjoy (I love microbrews )

I have also had a few hypertensive spikes that landed me in the hospital. Was tested for a pheo, and it wasn't there. Had a CT scan of my torso. Clear. Kinda don't know what to do anymore.

Regards, Brenden.

Hi Brenden, I started out with vertigo, hearing loss, and a bunch of extreme neurological and cognitive difficulties. I've been able to stop the vertigo, restore most of the hearing loss and lessen the other symptoms. I was able to do a lot with diet and lifestyle changes, though the curing "whole disease" is more challenging.

Do you mind telling us about your regular diet?

SM

Hi Brenden, are you willing to go on a restricted diet for 30 days? If you can, that may shed more light on where you need to focus next.

It's certainly possible you have Lyme or another similar systemic infection, bacterial and/or fungal. I have been dealing with a systemic fungal infection plus an as-yet-diagnosed systemic bacterial infection and some of your symptoms sound very familiar. (I'm 56)

Unfortunately, if you do have such a disease, it will change the way your body deals with foods and the foods can cause problems all of their own, especially wheat and fermented things (such as beer, bread, soy sauce). My first "Eureka!" moment came on a Meniere's Syndrome website (my first diagnosis) when someone suggested I cut wheat out of my diet. It was the dumbest thing I had ever heard, but I was desperate enough to try it. It helped ease my symptoms quite a bit and led me on the path to a cure which I'm still following.

If you do go on a wheat free diet and you feel better, you will not be cured, but you'll have some relief from your symptoms, and an idea of what to investigate next.

Please google candida diet and elimination and challenge diet. Cut out most carbs, eat veggies & meat. Limited fruit is OK, but no fruit juice. You'll want to eliminate wheat, which means not eating prepared foods without reading the labels. They hide wheat and wheat-derived ingredients in many prepared foods these days. Also be aware that if you eliminate wheat and do feel some better, it does NOT mean that you are gluten intolerant or that you have Celiac. Wheat can cause problems even if you don't.

And, after 30 days, if you don't feel any better, you can go back to your old diet. Despite being called a Candida diet, this can help with other systemic infections.

HTH,
SM