posted
Hi Everyone- I was hoping I could get some information here about my biggest problem:
My worst symptom is that the right half of my tounge goes numb and a right sided headache with a sharp pain in my temple. Sometimes it goes away when I haven't eaten in a few hours, but returns 30 minutes after eating, NO MATTER what I eat. I really pay attention to what I eat to see if it bothers me, but all food does. I've been tested for food allergies and only came up with a cow's milk allergy.
I really think this problem has to do with my blood. I have low blood pressure and have to take fludrocortisone for hypotension.
Today I took a systemic enzyme formula for the first time, that contains: Pancreatin Papain Bromelain Trypsin Chymotrypsin Rutisoid
I had a SCARY reaction after eating 6 hours later, but not just after taking it. My symptoms flared, Aura on everything, I swear I was having a migrane or stroke, it was almost unbareble. I'm ok now 6 hours later, but still have head pain.
I had this same reaction when I took Cymbalta a few months ago, which I have recently read thins your blood. My neurologist and I had no idea what was going on, but looks like that was it.
I was under the impression that nattokinnese was the big blood thinner, or can the above do that also? The directions say to take 6 daily at meals, and I only took one!
Can anyone tell me what the link to food is here and why it make my neuro symptoms worse? Is my blood rushing to my stomach to digest? What can I do?
Thanks in advance, the docs are all sick of my questions.
Posts: 33 | From Chicago | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
bettyg
Unregistered
posted
can anyone help her? at bottom of page 2...thanks!
IP: Logged |
posted
hi holly, i have never taken cymbalta or blood
thinner, but i have a huge huge problem with
eating too, get terrible crushing headaches,
adrenaline rushes that make me shake and get so
hyper and heart races, sometimes bad stomach
cramps, no food allergies, doesnt matter what i
eat either, so i can only eat very very little,
and i take beta blockers to help my heart, i also
have low blood pressure, and POTS and low blood
volume and blood sugar drops too, the doctors
dont have any help or answers for me either, its
a nightmare really not being able to eat! i use
oxygen which helps some of my symptoms alittle
after i eat. the whole episode leaves me so so
exhausted and rundown, and in so much pain, just
wanted you to know i understand and know what you
are going thru, i also have lyme and babesia,
Radha
Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
Shosty
Unregistered
posted
Have either of you done a full elimination diet? It sure sounds like food allergies to me, but not the kind that is recognized and tested for by mainstream allergists and GI docs.
Either on your own, or with a nutritionist (alternative) try elminating all potential allergens. Just eat rice, apples, poultry, fish or meat, most veggies, for a couple of weeks, then try to reintroduce single foods, one at a time, waiting 3 days between each food challenge.
If you do have this type of allergy, you might also have GI yeast and leaky gut (see other post on leaky gut thread).
Our family has seen miracles happen once this problem was really investigated, w/the diet and challenges.
If that is your problem, in fact, one note of caution: when you first go on the diet, you may get much worse for 1-3 days, then suddenly much better, for good.
IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for the support Radha and info Shosty, I have done the food elimination diet, follow it to the t, I am taking nystatin tablets and goldenseal for yeast. I did herx when I started these. I'm not saying this isn't part of it, I just don't know!
One funny thing is that baked potatoes with the skin make me feel better and lessens my symptoms after eating. I think I need the potassium and iron? I know potatoes are a big food allergen, but they sit ok with me. I am starting to go anemic too.
Does anyone else herx from blood thinners?
Do you think I have babesia because of these symptoms?
Posts: 33 | From Chicago | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
His two main symptoms since he first got sick over 7 years ago are nausea/vomiting/dry heaves and parkinsonian tremors/myoclonus/seizure-like episodes.
Often eating triggers a shaking spell or sometimes it actually makes him feel better. Hubby's herbalist finally decided that it was probably not a stomach inflammation issue, but more a nervous system reflex type response.
He has seen many gastroenterologists and many neurologists.
I think there are 2 or 3 causes for these reactions.
1st it is a known fact that digestion does divert blood to the stomach
2nd peristalsis -- the movement of food through the digestive tract requires acetylcholine -- this is the neurotransmitter that makes your muscles move -- dopamine is the brakes which stop movement. The 2 need to be in balance for muscles to work correctly.
The vagus nerve goes from the stomach to the heart and then to the brain. Vagal nerve stimulators are sometimes implanted to prevent seizures -- I think they help about 50 % of the time and make the seizures worse about 50 % of the time.
Do you also have sweating during these shaking spells? That could either be a histamine response or more likely due to acetylcholine.
Anticholinergic meds such as Phenergan (for nausea) will slow down digestion even further and can make this problem even worse if taken too close to eating. They might stop hubby's shaking, but he might actually throw up instead of just being nauseated.
If you take enzymes with food they mainly help with digestion and do very little to thin the blood. If you take them in between meals they work differently.
Technically enzymes are not blood thinners. What they do is digest any fibrin (very small particles in the blood) which would allow the blood to flow better. But if you have viruses or bacteria hiding in the fibrin those would be released into your bloodstream and could cause you to feel sicker.
Hubby just got back from an LLMD appointment. He actually saw the 2nd LLMD in the practice who had never seen him before. So far the doc seems to have been right. He agreed with hubby and I that he is not getting enough oxygen to his brain. A SPECT scan last year showed global hypoperfusion.
Anyway the doc said that he thought the tremors and stiffening up were caused because the bloodflow was restricted to the substantia nigra in the brain. His suggestion was to add Benicar. This is a blood pressure med which is also a vasodilator.
Hubby has normal or even low blood pressure. So far this med is helping greatly. Less dizzyness and almost no tremors. Hubby says his heart palpitations were better and he had less nausea. It has only been one day, but so far this is like a miracle drug.
IV Heparin helped some with dizzyness, but did not stop the tremors. Hubby had increased his enzymes (Vitalzyme) to 4 in between meals -- also helped him some. He also takes prickly ash extract and hawthorne. But nothing worked the way the Benicar has so far.
I just hope his blood pressure doesn't get too low.
Hubby does have Lyme, Babesia and bartonella. For him it is either the Baba or the Bart/BLO/mycoplasma that seems to affect both his nervous system and G.I.
Hubby's herbalist has him on the herb Dan Shen which is supposed to help improve bloodflow to the liver. Hubby did think it helped some with G.I. symptoms, but not neuro symptoms.
Hubby recently had a positive test for cold agglutins. This is when his tremors became active again. Had almost gone away for last 8 months. Cold agglutins are usually caused by mycoplasma. They make your red blood cells clump together.
Holly,
Interesting comment about the potatoes and potassium. One of the 4 or 5 things I had been trying when hubby had a shaking spell was oral salt substitute which is basically potassium chloride. A couple of times this did actually stop hubby's tremors.
If you take Florinef you may actually need to take supplemental potassium to keep your sodium and potassium in balance.
You could try taking a bath and adding a couple of cups of baking soda (for the salt) plus 2 or 3 teaspoons of potassium salt substitute. You will only absorb the minerals you need from the water. Might want to add 2 or 3 tablespoons of dry powdered mustard as well to improve blood circulation. And if you want to detox as well add 2 or 3 cups of epsom salts.
I would just start with a smaller asmount of one bath ingredient and add things one at a time to make sure you don't have any weird reactions.
If you are becoming anemic then there is a pretty good chance that you do have Babesia in my opinion.
I hope you and Radha can figure this out. I haven't had a chance to research yet to see if there are any herbal vasodilators -- not sure if that is the way Gingko works or not.
This is not medical advice, just my opinion based on hubby's experiences.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic