jeff@heurikon.UUCP (Jeffrey Mattox) (05/15/85)
A few weeks ago I posted this message from my wife asking for help or ideas concerning these symptoms: - - - - - - - - - - - - > I am a 41 year old female. I have been dizzy every day since > mid February. The dizziness is mild on waking, and becomes > progressively worse during the day. The dizziness is of the type > where I feel as if I'm going to fall over; the room does not spin. > I even feel as if I'm going to fall over while I'm sitting. > > Four weeks ago, my head and heart began pounding; sometimes > hours at a time. My pulse goes to 92. My head feels as if it > is going to explode, but I do not have a headache. This is not > as frequent as the dizziness. My left ear always feels blocked > but it checks out okay. > > A half day in the hospital emergency room gave no answers. I've > seen a neurologist, have had an EEG, EKG, and have worn a heart > monitor for 24 hours -- everything normal. My doctor has done > all the routine blood tests for liver, kidney, diabetes, mono, > thyroid, sisuses, and checked my ears -- all show no problems. > I do not have a fever. > > I'm taking multi-vitamins (including B1), calcium, and clonopin > (to control twitching due to MD). I will have my eyes tested > tomorrow, and will see a food allergist next week because the > head and heart pounding sometimes seem to start after eating. > I am allergic to many foods such as wheat, rice and potatoes, > and am on special diets. I also have lactose intolerance. - - - - - - - - - - - - Thank you all who responded to the net and privately. We got a few notes in the mail from people offering advice; those are summarized below. As of this time, there has been no real progress. One person suggested hypoglycemia (see below). That seems like the best diagnosis so far, but there are still some inconsistancies as to what the diet cure ought to be. Next, we're going to do a CAT scan and see an endocrinologist, just in case. Anyway, what follows are the response summaries. They all had the normal disclaimer: not coming from a doctor, just private advice. Except for one which was in between; an "almost a doctor". ---------------------------- ... is the blood pressure too low? If this is so, eating more salt (yech!!) or taking LTyrosine (sp?) may help. L-Tyrosine (sp?) if taking on an empty stomach (1hour before and after) regulates the brains blood pressure control center, raising or lowering the blood pressure as nessesary (to a normal level). A relevant refference to this wuld be in Scientific American "Neurotransmitters as drugs" or something simillar from about 2 years ago. ---------------------------- I am not a medical doctor so I am not giving you medical advice, however a friend of mine at the Kresge Hearing Institute at the University of Michigan, T. Dean Clack, is working on vestibular function disorders. ---------------------------- A handful of my friends have been help through changing their diets. Their symptoms have varied from congestion, to lower back pain, to asthma, to general low resistance, to fatigue. My resisitance has been low lately, so I just had the tests done. The test is called something like the Cytotoxic food test. They take some blood from you. They put the blood with different foods and see how it reacts with the food (I think they see if teh food destroys some of your white blood cells.) They rate each of the 100 or so foods on a scale of 0 (no negative effect to you) to 4 (worst effect on you). Then you're supposed to cut out all the 2, 3, 4 foods, and only eat the 0s and 1s for a while, and gradually start introducing the other foods into your diet. There seems to be two schools of thought on this. One school thinks if you're allergic to some foods, that's that, and you can't change it. The other school of thought thinks you can, and has proven it. The trick is to introduce the 2s, 3s, and 4s gradually, like only once a week. When I was in my teens, I had headaches, not dizziness as you describe, but just bad headaches. I also was getting heart palpitations or flutters. They finally diagnosed me as hyperthyroid, which means my thyroid gland was producing way too much thyroid hormone, and it was enlarged. I had part of it surgically removed, and am fine now. Another approach to health is through the less traditional medicines, such as acupuncture, which I've seen help a lot of people. Just make sure you go to somebody that's been doing it for a long time, not some "whiz" who went to China for a month and thinks he's a pro! Mom used to be a receptionist for an accupuncturist (good one), and many of the patients that came in where there because they had been screwed up by other accupuncturists who didn't know what they where doing! Another approach is sort of like how that cancer center has people use visualization to get rid of their cancer. Some people are open to these sorts of things, and other people think it's totally stupid. Anyways, there is a school of thought that thinks your body gets sick because your unconscious makes your body sick, but your unconscious can also figure out how to make your body well again. A doctor in town has treated herpes, successfully, in this way, when the regular doctors had failed. This type of medicine is kind of strange, it's like if you believe in it it'll probably work for you, but if you don't, it's less likely to work. I guess you could describe it as the power of the mind. ---------------------------- One thing that comes to mind is that your main arteries feeding your brain may be somewhat "plugged". I don't know how the doctors check such a thing, but this happened to my Grandfather after he took the doctors advise to stop eating butter and eat margerine, etc. He always made his own butter, etc. You see, such a thing has nothing to do with the heart beat, except to make the heart's work HARDER. So nothing would show up with the EEG---so give this a try. My grandfather went to a doctor in Portland who is an expert at reaming out veins and has been fine ever since---he also eats butter now and doesn't have such problems anymore. He is nearly 90. I am not big on doctors. They may be fine at telling you what is wrong with you (but not always), but I prefer natural methods in becoming well. My advise to you is to gradually (one meal at a time, starting with the breakfast meal) go on a RAW food diet. It will provide you with the CORRECT forms of vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. It will also reverse chronic conditions. DON'T think this is a CRACKPOT idea. It WORKS. You have already admitted you have problems with foods such as wheat, rice and potatoes. These foods would be eliminated in a raw food diet since one doesn't normally eat such foods raw. Any books by Herbert M. Shelton would be useful to you. Especially his book on "Food Combining Made Easy". But, like I said, make a gradual transition. Moderation is important in all things. Make your breakfast raw and keep your other meals pretty much the same as the past. Do this for 2 or more weeks (or until you feel comfortable with your raw breakfast). Then make your lunch meal ALSO raw. Do this for 2 or more weeks, etc. Until your can finally make ALL 3 meals raw. Don't expect miracles in only a few weeks. You took 41 YEARS to work up to your present condition. That is a rather LONG time. But I would expect you to see definite improvements within 2 months myself. Many times, when one first goes on a raw food diet (100%), one actually feels WORSE. This is because your body is starting to purge many toxins from various storage areas (FAT being a primary one). These toxins effect you as they are expelled. But, when you are finally rid of them, that is when rapid gain is made. That's why I suggested a gradual sensible change in diet---so you wouldn't feel the effects of too much toxins being eliminated, they will be eliminated at a slower rate, so you don't feel their effects so dramatically. ---------------------------- I can't tell you much about what causes your wife's dizziness, but I can tell you what's NOT causing it: her lactose intolerance. If there's one thing that can be said for LI, it's that its symptoms are consistent. I too have this fun little ailment, which both my doctor and my small intestine term "severe". The only thing I ever get from it other than the obvious is some fatigue after a particularly nasty reaction. Certainly never any long-term anything. BTW, have you ever heard of Lactrase? If you haven't, it's basically lactase enzyme in capsules. I don't know any other person who is lactose intolerant that has hear of this stuff but me (I found it in PDR) and those I've told. You take one or two of these capsules with your meal and you can eat *any* kind of dairy product. Before this stuff came on the market, I experienced sometimes 10 reactions a week, because of accidental lactose intake. Now, eating normally, I only experience maybe one reaction in six weeks. Now the bad news: it's expensive. $25-$35 for a bottle of 100. And, since it's not a controlled substance, have fun getting your insurance to pay for it. Most pharmacies don't stock it, but can get it in a day or so. Once they have it, you can get it wothout a prescription. It's by Kremers-Urban. ---------------------------- About a year or so ago, I got tired of putting up with my symptoms: extreme dizziness, weakness, tiredness, rapid heartbeat (sometimes weak, sometimes pounding)... I went through a couple of months of tests: EKG, heart monitor, blood tests, thyroid... It turned out to be hypoglycemia - low blood sugar. Now I have to watch my intake of sugar carefully, but the symptoms have almost completely disappeared. Occaisionally, I go on a sugar binge, and all the symptoms return. I'm active in karate and softball with few problems. You said you've had tests for diabetes. This often uncovers a low sugar level. Check the results again. As I understand it, a "normal" sugar level is somewhere between 90 and 120 (units?). Diabetics have a much higher level. My readings during the glucose tolerance test averaged in the 70s, with one reading in the low 50s. Many MDs refuse to believe that hypoglycemia really exists, and many don't know how to treat it. The sudden (?) onset of your head and heart pounding doesn't quite fit the usual hypoglycemic symptoms, though. It can't hurt to try a hypoglycemic diet. Cut out all refined sugars, limit honey and molasses, eat lots of fruit, nuts, and high-protien foods. Of course, don't forget the vegetables. And eat small, frequent meals. I don't know how well you can tailor this diet to your allergies, but it may be worth a try. I noticed a drastic change within two weeks of starting this diet. And I notice a drastic change when I cheat and have just a couple of cookies. ---------------------------- I would look into the possibility that your wife is suffering from panic attacks. The pounding heart may be from excess adrenalin triggered by a panic attack. ---------------------------- Well, the tachycardia could be unrelated to the dizziness, or a result of stress caused by being dizzy for so long. There might not be a food allergy, most people's pulse tends to rise after meals due to increased Blood needs of the gut. I wouldn't rule it out, but don't worry if nothing is found. The dizziness sounds like the vestibular system. But you said you had the ears checked, so I can't add anything. However have you wife try this. Stand up, tilt head forward about thirty degrees. Then 1. Turn head due right/ Turn head due left 2. From that position, throw head towards right shoulder, then exactly opposite, 3. Same thing, only left shoulder. Each of these six movements isolates one semicircular canal. If one feels any worse than any of the others, have her ears checked again. I'm not a Neurologist. Just a Medical Student. However, trust me, I'm almost a Doctor ---------------------------- Thanks, everyone! ---- /"""\ Jeffrey Mattox, Heurikon Corp, Madison, WI |O.O| {harpo, hao, philabs}!seismo!uwvax!heurikon!jeff (news & mail) \_=_/ ihnp4!heurikon!jeff (mail - best)