Mystery Ailment - adrenals, thyroid, who knows?

Lyme Disease - if the first test is negative, have them check it again, and again.

What I was thinking, or maybe some other tick-borne disease.

I'm surprised your RBC are so high, when your ferritin is so low. I'd see a specialist and take more of a look at your blood. I'd ditch the chiropractor because he is treating to treat/diagnose something way outside of his realm.

Looked at lyme disease and tick borne diseases, but I've never had anything remotely like the type of rash that is the main symptom. Or does that not necessarily happen? Also, how could I find out for sure/who to go see about it? A regular family doctor?

To be fair, the chiropractor is a nutritional specialist, and a very close family friend whom I trust very much, and has a past of helping people in similar situations. However, what types of specialists would you recommend?

Could it all be caused by low ferritin? I mean, it is low, but not below the average suggested range (doesn't take into account a runner's needs).

We're looking at doing a more complete thyroid panel as well.

Thanks, folks.

Rash or bulls-eye are not always present with a tick bite. I know 2 people who had no idea they had been bitten yet contracted Lyme disease - one had progressed to unbelieveable symptoms that effected him emotionally and physically - ended up losing his hearing in one ear due to the damage because it had gone untreated for so long. The other person pulled a tick out of her scalp one day and decided to get tested - came back positive, probably not from that particular tick...but the past 2 years have been very bad for the disease, especially in Pennsylvania and the Northeastern U.S.

One more thing - I agree with the poster who told you to ditch the chiro - if he hadn't at least suggested a tick-born illness by now (especially with the amount of time you probably spend outdoors), then he can't be very thorough and is out of his league anyway.

You are describing classic Hashimoto's symptoms where the thyroid is compromised by an autoimmune attack. A "normal" TSH reading can be a diagnostic red herring. You need to have the anti-thyroid antibodies tested. If they are elevated - then you will have your answer. A compromised thyroid will put tremendous strain on the adrenals - so you might be looking at two issues with the thyroid being the primary concern.

get a full barrage of labs redone. cbc, complete metabolic profile, calcium, magnesium, thyroid, ana, and ditch the chiropractor. get yourself a good internist. shin splints, edema, etc can be associated with hashimotos (a main cause of hypothyroidism). i'd really look at your calcium/phos ratio as well. HYPERparathyroid glands can really destroy your energy levels, and ultimately your volition. as long as you're doing a million dollar workup, i'd consider doing an ekg (to rule out heart block, though this wouldn't explain your shin splints). i know if i went from 14.25 to 16's, i'd be pissed, and willing to do anything i could to get back. really wish you the best of luck.

Thank you.

I live in Ohio, so it is a possibility. Looking at symptoms that I have/had:

-lack of energy

-chills

-headaches/stiff neck

-muscle and joint pain

-pain, numbness in the legs

-was getting headaches for a while, not really anymore

-reduced ability to concentrate

-arms falling asleep more often than usual, also feel like feet/legs are numb or lack of circulation

-Severe fatigue

-Mood swings

However, I don't remember being anywhere around ticks or seeing a tick, or a rash. Not that I'd have had to.

So I take it I go to my doctor and say, "hey, I think I may have lyme or some other tick borne disease because of these symptoms". I understand the symptoms can be mistaken for other things, aka chronic fatigue, flu, etc.

How were you ultimately diagnosed/cured/treated?

Yeah I am pretty pissed. Especially since that 14:25 was in a championship race and I know I had more in me, plus my training partner ran 14:13 outdoors while I had to sit and watch. And the 10k is my event, which I obviously didn't even get a chance to run. Now I'm back to square one. Not even, yet, actually.

But thanks, I will look into hashimoto's as well. It seems like it could be a possibility as well.

Same deal with you. I dont really know what I did to heal it because I hit it full spectrum. I take whey protein after runs. Take good vit and mineral supplements, not the cheap crud. ZMA. Then I go to a oriental doc. Almost like a witch doctor medicine man herbal guy. Takes my pluse. Looks at my tounge. Writes me a herbal script. I am a min slower. I tell you I am fixed. I can run, and do stuff like a twenty year old. Drink like a fish, run like a kid. I just know how to fix it.

Do not ignore the advice to check for Lyme Disease. I was as a good a runner as you are until I came down with the same exact symptoms. Mine were all caused by Lyme and co-infections. If you have Lyme, the treatment will ruin your running for a while but the longer you wait the worse it will get. Stop browsing the internet for possible answers and get a full western blot blood test.

Dude, absolutely STOP running or exercising until you figure this out. I did not heed this same advice and I paid a heavy price. Read this:

http://www.fatigueanswers.com/myalgic-encephalomyelitis-symptoms.html

The ANA test suggested above will probably prove unfruitful. Mine came back positive and they initially diagnosed me w/Lupus. It is positive most of the time in M.E. I would suggest you start with a sed rate (ESR), which runs universally low in this illness, and get early and late titers for EBV, CMG, and HHV6a. You might also get a tilt table test done. Check your blood volume too. Go from there.

The good news is you are young. Don't let them put you on thyroid (or adrenal) medication without an absolute diagnosis of thyroiditis. M.E. is a compensatory illness. As such, many of your organs might be functioning below baseline for a reason. If you have M.E., google Martha Kilcoyne and Terry Wahls.

By the way, lyme and M.E. are similar, but lyme is overdiagnosed. Spirochetes can cross react on Western Blot and other assays. You see a ton of them with dark field microscopy in M.E. Even H. Pylori, which causes ulcers, can be mistaken for a spirochete.

He doesn't have Lyme disease. He likely has parasympathetic overtraining/ adrenal insufficiency from training at too high a level with inadequate recovery. It can really wreak havoc on your endocrine and nervous systems (adrenal, pituitary, hypothalamus, testosterone, etc) and take months or years to recover.

What the heck is "adrenal meds"? Corticosteroids?

Not ignoring the Lyme disease stuff, don't worry. This is the first ive heard of this being a possibility. I'll try to get in ASAP to get tested for it, to at the very least cross it off the list.

I tend to lean more toward the previous poster who talked about hard training and not recovering. Looking back, I was training hard but nothing out of control, recovery might have been lacking. The bad sleep started before any of this, which could have helped cause it. Should I talk to an endocrinologist? I fear that since I ran through it all spring, albeit I wasn't really training (no workouts, just whatever kind of easy mileage I could do), it may have just put me in a huge hole that is just going to take forever to come out of. Although seeing no difference really in 7 months is quite disturbing. Eventually the body should try to regulate itself, right?

And for the guy asking about adrenal meds, the stuff I was on included:

Drenamin

Cataplex AC

Cataplex g

Min tran

Calcium lactate

Organically bound minerals

Adrenal complex

Thanks for posting people, let's keep it up and hopefully figure this thing out.

Save Me LetsRun wrote:

I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue.

Oh jesus. This should've been your very first clue that you were dealing with a quack.

Save Me LetsRun wrote:

And for the guy asking about adrenal meds, the stuff I was on included:

Drenamin

Cataplex AC

Cataplex g

Min tran

Calcium lactate

Organically bound minerals

Adrenal complex

Those are not "adrenal meds." Those are hocus pocus supplements with no evidence to suggest they actually do anything beneficial.

Get your phosphorous checked. No one checks for that anymore. Google hypophosphatemia