Why am I feeling so crappy? Part III

In case you missed Part I:

http://www.wellness.com/blog.asp?blogid=136




And here's Part II:

http://www.wellness.com/blog.asp?blogid=147




Here's part III




One of my friends recommended that I see a nurse practitioner she knew of. She told me the woman was a little out there, but specialized in dealing with hormonal problems. I chuckled, "I'm a little out there myself" I told her. She told me the nurse eats a raw diet, including raw meat. Yeah, I'm not that out there... :)

I made an appointment and went in. She asked me what my goal was for our appointment as she scanned down my previous test results. I explained my symptoms and told her the doctor who ran them said I was fine and recommended that I go on anti-depressants. I told her I really felt like there was something wrong with me and that I had all the symptoms of thyroid and adrenal gland problems. If it turned out physically I was Ok after all I might be willing to choke down some Paxil or something, but I wanted to do everything I could to rule out those things first.

She impressed me immediately by asking if I disliked having my blood taken. I didn't understand how she could know that. I told her I do prefer to avoid needles if possible, but I can suck it up when it's necessary. She said my Carbon Dioxide was low on my blood test and that usually means the person is not breathing normally, which is typically an indication of a dislike of needles. Cool huh? :)

She went on to tell me that Adrenal Gland problems and Thyroid Gland problems often occur together. She agreed I definitely had all the symptoms of a Thyroid problem. She explained that the other Dr did a TSH test only, and that the result was normal. She said the test is useful to see if a person has thyroid disease, but is not useful in determining if person is experiencing thyroid dysfunction.

I told her about my fire and she said that it is common for high stress situations to bring on problems of this nature. While in her office she checked my temperature and found it to be almost a degree below normal, 97.8. She checked my blood pressure sitting and standing, my pupil dilation, and my reflexes. She said I failed all the tests. I don't remember what my blood pressure read, but she said my pupils were not dilating properly and my reflexes were poor. She said all of these things are symptoms of possible thyroid dysfunction. She said low temperature would definitely be causing other problems as well. She said I should take my temperature every morning for a week. She explained the best time is first thing in the morning and to keep a thermometer next to the bed so I could take my temperature before doing anything else. She said if my temperature first thing in the morning was consistently about 97.8 it would mean the thyroid problem wasn't too terribly bad and we should be able to fix it pretty quickly.

She told me that my tongue was swollen. She said that when your tongue does not fit comfortably in your mouth you have an inflammation going on, which could be an indication of a food allergy. She said if that was the case, it could be triggering all the other problems. (your tongue is swollen if, when you stick it out, there are indentations all around it from your teeth)

She also suggested I start taking an alternative to normal B6 because, she said, my second toe being longer than my big toe is an indication of a genetic inability to process normal B6 that typically is included in multi-vitamins. And, she told me not to exercise for the time being because it would just make me feel worse. I never thought I'd hear a Dr say that. I didn't argue :)

She gave me a saliva test to do. It was interesting. You stick a piece of foam under your tongue