New Diagnosis and Worried

[DanTheNTP]

You might find this article interesting, although the company behind the article only works directly with doctors, though in most states consumers can order these directly through third party sites like walkinlabs - The 5 Most Commonly Ordered Functional Medicine Lab Tests (rupahealth.com).

This is a great list. I actually run four of the five of these in my practice . Even if someone is able to get access to these tests directly, interpretation is often non-trivial. And, deciding how to deal with what is found requires an experienced practitioner. This is why it's important to get these through a practitioner. Taking the wrong action could make things worse.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

This is a great list. I actually run four of the five of these in my practice . Even if someone is able to get access to these tests directly, interpretation is often non-trivial. And, deciding how to deal with what is found requires an experienced practitioner. This is why it's important to get these through a practitioner. Taking the wrong action could make things worse.

Not sure what you mean by "even if". There's tons walkinlabs type places and many tests aimed at the end consumer market these days, and many online services to help with test interpretations as needed. Quite a few of these direct to consumer microbiome and medical tests are even on Amazon.

 

[DanTheNTP]

Not sure what you mean by "even if". There's tons walkinlabs type places and many tests aimed at the end consumer market these days, and many online services to help with test interpretations as needed. Quite a few of these direct to consumer microbiome and medical tests are even on Amazon.

Oh I didn't mean to imply that it wouldn't be possible to get access to the tests. My main point was that interpreting the results and choosing an effective course of action requires training and experience, IMHO.

 

[Aerides]

Where do I get such a test?

Not sure what you mean by "even if". There's tons walkinlabs type places and many tests aimed at the end consumer market these days, and many online services to help with test interpretations as needed. Quite a few of these direct to consumer microbiome and medical tests are even on Amazon.

I wouldn't be running around trying to self-diagnose, nor taking any treatment recommendations until you've seen someone more specialized. But any tests are going to be prescribed by your Doc - many places have their own onsite labs these days, or you'll go to Quest labs, or another chain - they are all over. Of course, the prescribed tests will be covered by your insurance, but if you browse say on Quest, you'll find you can get a lot of the same/extra tests done for not-terrible prices.

Plenty of chronic things (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc.,) can be diagnosed via blood tests. More importantly, many things can be ruled out this way. Often there's some specialized test that you'd never think of yourself, but your doctor will ask for it.

I'm a big fan of improving one's health with diet, exercise, etc., but also a bigger fan of getting a solid diagnosis before determining treatment.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I wouldn't be running around trying to self-diagnose, nor taking any treatment recommendations until you've seen someone more specialized. But any tests are going to be prescribed by your Doc - many places have their own onsite labs these days, or you'll go to Quest labs, or another chain - they are all over. Of course, the prescribed tests will be covered by your insurance, but if you browse say on Quest, you'll find you can get a lot of the same/extra tests done for not-terrible prices.

Plenty of chronic things (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc.,) can be diagnosed via blood tests. More importantly, many things can be ruled out this way. Often there's some specialized test that you'd never think of yourself, but your doctor will ask for it.

I'm a big fan of improving one's health with diet, exercise, etc., but also a bigger fan of getting a solid diagnosis before determining treatment.

We have regular doctors and DH has a couple of specialists, but 100% of his recovery so far from an "incurable" disorder has come from the results of tests we had to pay for on our own and the diet changes, supplements, exercise and acupressure therapy that has come from those tests and Pubmed research. YMMV. Even the specialist wasn't familiar with basic research on Pubmed from 20 years ago. I hope your experience with regular doctors has been better, but that has not been our experience. Microbiome research is really new and most disorders are now believed to start in the gut. Good luck finding any doctor who really knows a lot about microbiome testing, even the ones who order those kinds of tests.

 

[DanTheNTP]

I hope your experience with regular doctors has been better, but that has not been our experience. Microbiome research is really new and most disorders are now believed to start in the gut. Good luck finding any doctor who really knows a lot about microbiome testing, even the ones who order those kinds of tests.

100% agree with you on this point. Doctors receive no training in nutrition, gut microbiome, leaky guy, food sensitivities, proper hormone evaluation and balancing...just to name a few of the big hitters . Dealing with issues resulting from these things is simply out of their scope. And yes, many many issues result from a messed up gut microbiome and a leaky gut. Kudos to you for taking control of your health and educating yourself. That's awesome .

 

[Letj]

I thought you have an appointment scheduled with a functional medicine specialist.

I do. I am seeing her next week. No clue on what she will be doing. I am trying one for the first time and chose her just because she is a neurologist as well.

 

[Jerry1]

I do. I am seeing her next week. No clue on what she will be doing. I am trying one for the first time and chose her just because she is a neurologist as well.

So, I would relax until you see her. That may not be easy to do, but just take this one step at a time. Also, you don’t really want to make a bunch of changes that will mess with your blood work results.

For example, let’s say you are vitamin Z deficient. And, you start taking vitamin Z now. The new dr could be thrown off by the results. Just go about you normal routine until you get results and direction from the new dr. Wishing you the best.

 

[bmcgonig]

The Nutritionfacts sites has some articles against taking multivitamins at all -

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/multivitamins/

Interesting article. But this just left me wondering:

“A minimum of nine servings per day of fruits and vegetables is recommended over taking multivitamin supplements.”

Who gets nine servings of anything a day?

 

[Jerry1]

Interesting article. But this just left me wondering:

“A minimum of nine servings per day of fruits and vegetables is recommended over taking multivitamin supplements.”

Who gets nine servings of anything a day?

Probably not many, but you probably get more than you think. A “serving” is actually not that much food. I nice dinner salad probably gets you 3 or 4 servings of vegetables. Then I have a smoothie every day and that’s probably 3 servings or so of fruit. So if I get some veggies for lunch I might get to 9 servings that day.

Below is a graphic showing serving sizes.

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/add-color/fruits-and-vegetables-serving-sizes

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Interesting article. But this just left me wondering:

“A minimum of nine servings per day of fruits and vegetables is recommended over taking multivitamin supplements.”

Who gets nine servings of anything a day?

I don't count the servings each day but we try eat a lot of plants so we probably do get nine servings of produce a day. Tonight's dinner was turkey wraps that had spinach in the wrap and veggies inside, vegetable soup, a green salad and fruit, so that would be several servings in one meal.

 

[GLM]

I went gluten free 8 years ago with DH. His "arthritis" is gone as long as he does not accidentally eat gluten. I talked Sis into giving it a try about 4 1/2 years ago when she was scarred and desperate.

My younger sister ( now age57) slowly improved and has basically resolved her neuropathy buy going TOTALLY gluten free . It took about 4 years to totally heal. She also takes fish oil and a few other supplements. She is thrilled. First her hands got better after less than a year.( after about 15 years getting progressively worse)She was so thrilled to sew and craft and bowl again she said the changes were worth it alone. Her feet got better much slower but she was happy just staying the same for a while. She had been thinking she would have to quit driving and walking was a literal pain.

Neuropathy runs in our family. I have a touch as well. Going gluten free has helped me in other ways but my feet are still cold and numb most of the time. Perhaps they would be worse on gluten.I have been fasting to improve my insulin sensitivity (and lower blood sugar ,although my sugars are only a bit high with an A1c of 5.6) My research tells me I need to do better there.

Also bought a red light therapy device last year, hoping to see results. Also working on my gut microbiome to quell general inflammation that can downstream result in nerve damage.

Mainly, don't give up. Look for your root cause. Sis was told to come back when she could not handle the pain . The plan was steroids, then pain pills for the rest of her life. Remember doctors don't have all the answers and new information is out there every day.

 

[Letj]

I believe I have some good news to report. I was so bummed about my diagnosis that I pulled out all the stops (thanks to a lot of suggestions I got on here). It’s still a work in process but I am feeling much better. I saw the neurologist turned alternative doctor. It turns out she is more of a homeopathic practitioner- huge on diet and nutrition and herbs. She’s given me several herbs and vitamins which I’ve researched and have started using. She recommends a gluten free and vegan. I am not yet sold on the vegan bit because it seems like an awful lot of work for me. I’ve never been one to eat much sugar, processed food or much meats. I was mainly eating fish until I developed an allergy (have had crustacean allergy all my life but this is a new one). I am fish lover so that was just a bummer. I also saw an Acupuncturist and got relief while still on the table. My tingling is almost gone and numbness reduced about 50%. I believe I got the most benefit from acupuncture. I will continue on the Accupuncture, vitamin, herbal, gluten free and dairy free path for now. Thanks again for your kindness.

 

[Jerry1]

Thanks for the update. Happy for you.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I believe I have some good news to report. I was so bummed about my diagnosis that I pulled out all the stops (thanks to a lot of suggestions I got on here). It’s still a work in process but I am feeling much better. I saw the neurologist turned alternative doctor. It turns out she is more of a homeopathic practitioner- huge on diet and nutrition and herbs. She’s given me several herbs and vitamins which I’ve researched and have started using. She recommends a gluten free and vegan. I am not yet sold on the vegan bit because it seems like an awful lot of work for me. I’ve never been one to eat much sugar, processed food or much meats. I was mainly eating fish until I developed an allergy (have had crustacean allergy all my life but this is a new one). I am fish lover so that was just a bummer. I also saw an Acupuncturist and got relief while still on the table. My tingling is almost gone and numbness reduced about 50%. I believe I got the most benefit from acupuncture. I will continue on the Accupuncture, vitamin, herbal, gluten free and dairy free path for now. Thanks again for your kindness.

That is great news! Thank you for the update.

I'm not sure a 100% vegan diet is best for everyone either, though DH and I do try to eat a lot of plants. In the Blue Zones where people live the longest, all the areas are plant based but most are not vegan. We tested our biomarkers like IGF-1, and have good scores even with eating some animal protein and fish. If we went much lower on the IGF-1 scores, we would be out of the optimal ranges for our ages on the low side.

 

[Letj]

I agree. I tried Vegan once and I was too hungry [emoji3]and was afraid I would lose weight on an already thin frame. I am not sure I understand your comment about the blue zones. I assumed plant base is Vegan no? Do you mean they also eat fish, dairy and meat but in small quantities?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I agree. I tried Vegan once and I was too hungry [emoji3]and was afraid I would lose weight on an already thin frame. I am not sure I understand your comment about the blue zones. I assumed plant base is Vegan no? Do you mean they also eat fish, dairy and meat but in small quantities?

They eat a diet based on plants but not exclusively plants. Like in the Loma Linda zone in the U.S., 17% of the calories of the centenarians come from dairy, eggs, meat and poultry and fish - https://www.bluezones.com/exploration/loma-linda-california/.

 

[retire to nature]

I believe I have some good news to report. I was so bummed about my diagnosis that I pulled out all the stops (thanks to a lot of suggestions I got on here). It’s still a work in process but I am feeling much better. I saw the neurologist turned alternative doctor. It turns out she is more of a homeopathic practitioner- huge on diet and nutrition and herbs. She’s given me several herbs and vitamins which I’ve researched and have started using. She recommends a gluten free and vegan. I am not yet sold on the vegan bit because it seems like an awful lot of work for me. I’ve never been one to eat much sugar, processed food or much meats. I was mainly eating fish until I developed an allergy (have had crustacean allergy all my life but this is a new one). I am fish lover so that was just a bummer. I also saw an Acupuncturist and got relief while still on the table. My tingling is almost gone and numbness reduced about 50%. I believe I got the most benefit from acupuncture. I will continue on the Accupuncture, vitamin, herbal, gluten free and dairy free path for now. Thanks again for your kindness.

Good to hear that. I waited for your visit. Glad you did accupuncture because I kinda wanted to recommend since it could be blocking of circulation of Gi. Also, I wanted to mention it could be environmental toxic since peripheral issue plus you mentioned allergy issue. I have seem some patient put them on perfume or oil, laundry soap etc too much. It was killing my nose but they think that would help them, they were totally denying how strong the smell were. they were very young patients too. they may think it would help, but it could be root of cause too. I even heard some perfumes were recalled for safety. One of my aunt enjoyed making soap at home and even sold alot. I think the ingredient at home could cause her sick all the time too since she had so large amount at home. In my opinion, your allergy showes you are in stress mode. Stress means not just mental way, it can be environmental too. Also, to me, being a landlord was stressful always based stress worrying things.

 

[Letj]

I have a lot of sensitivities to strong scents and can use only selected perfumes. I switched quite a while ago to doing laundry only with baking soda and I try to be careful. I think my lifestyle has a lot to do with the fact that I haven’t developed some big autoimmune condition since it appears to run in my family. And yes, stress can be a big factor. Thanks for your suggestions.