Adreanal Fatigue-leaky gut-sleep deprived

[Guest Julia59]

Hello everyone,

My friend is diagnosed with (POTS-Fibromyalgia), and she had surgery for herniated disks in her neck---then a later surgery in her lumbar spine.

I think she still has some cervical spine stenosis.

She needs your help. She does not have a computer---and she's not going to buy one as she feels she could not use it due to her on going eye problems. So from time to time I post FOR her.

She has been diagnosed with adreanal fatique by her holistic doctor who is an MD as well.

Anyway, she is wondering if it would affect her eye's. She said she has trouble focusing all the time---to change in light or when she takes her glasses off----and her eye's feel very fatigued and she has non stop blurry vision. She also said her eye's hurt.

She also has been diagnosed with leaky gut and she wants to know the treatment, symptoms---and what tissues it affects in the body. She has been told by the same MD who diagnosed her andeanal dysfunction that toxins from the leaky gut will get into her body tissues. He gave her a mixture of different suppliments to remove these toxins.

Lastly, she has horrible sleep deprivation. She hasn't had a good nights sleep in two years. She does not know where to get help for this. It does not look like this holistic doc has helped her in that area. He has also diagnosed low estrogen levels along with thyroid dysfunction. She said she puts out another $300.00 bucks a month for meds for this----her insurance does not cover prescriptions.

Has anyone heard of anything that might help with some of these issues.

I'm kind of skeptical about this doctor. She is putting out $250.00 a visit which is not covered b insurance. Her insurance costs her 1200.00 bucks a month---and is an HMO! With her health issues she can not seem to find a better price.

Is there help out there to help her get botter health coverage that won't take her to the poor house?

I put in "leaky gut" in the search engine----but could not find the post that I read about this a while ago.

Thanks in advance for anyone's help on these issues.

Julie :0)

[ramakentesh]

difficulty focusing, dry eyes, sleep problems are all symptoms of POTS alone. So those could really be all down to POTS. I dont know about adrenal fatigue or leakygut syndrome - but i tried rememdies given to me for over nine months when no one knew what was wrong with me and they did very little. I liked valerian for sleep, but i felt tired the next day.

My advice and i am no doctor, would be for your friend to firstly try and see someone who knows about POTS - there are physician lists on this site that might help there - and then see if they can help her.

[Guest Julia59]

My friend has already seen Dr. Grubb. She was hoping this holistic Doc could help her out, but i'm skeptical. I'm thinking she should see a good endocrinologist.

I would definately get a second opinion on this diagnosis given by the holistic Doc.

Julie :0)

[DancingLight]

julia,

i think that you are right to be skeptical...follow your gut!

as for leaky gut and adrenal fatigue...well, these are two diagnoses that 'alternative health' practitioners diagnose all the time as the 'cause' of all sorts of things.

i went to someone who diagnosed me with the same thing.

she wanted to put me on a ton of supplements too. one of them was a bovine adrenal hormone. it was just recently listed in consumer reports as one of the ten most dangerous supplements!

i went with my gut, and didn't continue with her or take the supplements.

i am not saying that leaky gut or adrenal fatigue don't exist...but i think that they are over-used diagnoses in the alternative field. sort of waste basket diagnoses.

and, supplements, just b/c they are 'natural'...well don't get me started on how dangerous they can be if you're not super careful.

sorry to sound a bit strong-minded about this, but too many people get 'taken' by people making a lot of money off of these supplements and promising miracle cures those of us the traditional medical world hasn't helped yet.

i DO believe in some alternative medicine approaches. but just like the traditiona medical field, you have to watch who you see. there are good eggs and bad eggs! $250 sounds like A LOT of money for a session. that is pretty insane!

anyway, gotta watch the 'toxin'thing, as toxins are a problem if your gut isn't working or whatever. but that is also used so much as a reason to take a bunch of supplements.

okay, rambling. just don't want your friend to get 'taken.'

hope you're feeling a bit better yourself!

later alligator!

emily

[ramakentesh]

Endocrinologists in my opinion were quite hopeless. Noen of them even knew what POTS was, and one told me that CFS was just 'depression.'

If its not your thyroid or overt hypoglycemia they will try and put you on zoloft in five seconds in my experience.

Go with a proper physician or a naturopath that doesnt try and fit you into a diagnosis that no one can actually prove - if a naturopath says that they can help treat some of your symptoms, ive found these kinds of herbalists are much better than the others. Trust me - you will spend up and be no better off 99% of the time.

[briarrose]

I found these

http://www.wicfs-me.org/leakygut.htm

http://www.mdheal.org/leakygut.htm

and here is a web page for Amazon books that has this topic

http://www.mdheal.org/leakygut.htm

[Gena]

I used to be skeptical of leaky gut syndrome too. But I know now, it is a true condition caused by tiny tears in the intestine which allow larger molecules to escape into the bloodstream that should not. Toxins and food substances are able to travel around instead of staying contained in the intestinal tract. This increases the chances for inflammatory, automimmune and chronic disease process.....and greatly increases food allergies, chemical sensitivities, etc.

It is definitely a good idea to cleanse the body of toxins, however there are many products and methods to do this, some are good and others don't work. I'm not sure what the holistic doc is giving her. When I was first dx'd w/ celiac disease, I had a food allergy test (via blood) and discovered my body was allergic to about 42 different foods. I was appalled. I did a food allergy elimination diet in which I avoided these foods for three months. (it was next to impossible, but I did it). I also took IntestiNew (which has L-glutamine, n-acetyl-glucosomine and rice bran oil - all substances that help the gut repair itself) for a year. My swollen glands, digestive problems and achy joints eventually subsided. I recently retested for food allergies and was thankful to discover that my blood only reacted to a four or five foods, and the reactions were very mild. As far as adrenal insufficiency, she may want to get all of the proper tests done by a good endocrinologist to determine if this is true. I've read that AI is common among those with CFS and fibromyalgia and I've also read that licorice root extract is good for that....

Like the other posts said, there are good docs and bad ones. The best thing we can do is educate ourselves and do research...much like you're doing now. You're a good friend to her!

[opus88]

Gena,

Thanks for sharing that info. I do believe very much that leaky gut is not only real, but misdiagnosed and mistreated more often than not. My problem is not knowing which products are good and which aren't. Who makes the IntestiNew product? Is it a pill or liquid, and how much/how often do you take it?

Are you familiar with the NAET program? There is someone near me who does it and I recently heard some wonderful feedback from someone who had been to this person for help. I'm very interested in speaking with the practitioner, just haven't had the time to do so nor the money to pursue it if it does sound right for me.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I just want to add that there are some GOOD endocrinologists out there. I have an excellent one, who is knowledgeable about POTS (even tho I don't see him for that--I see him for thyroid) and he is open to alternative medicine to a point. He is a DO, and perhaps that makes a difference. Before him I saw an AWFUL endocrinologist who I have no doubt mis-diagnoses CFS as depression, etc. In general, in my experience, I prefer DOs to MDs. They basically get the same training, but it always seems that DOs tend to be more holistic in their approach to body systems than are MDs.

BTW, dancinglight, (and we discussed this before I think!) it was my current endocrinologist who told me absolutely no when I asked him his opinion about the bovine adrenal hormone. I had seen a homeopathic physician out of desperation during pregnancy and she had prescribed it. I was dubious about its efficacy and safety. (She also prescribed some tea and some other things that were quite expensive and probably benign, but did little good for me.)

Now I am digressing...!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Katherine