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Hi Dr. Stoll, can dysautonomia be caused or worsened by a vegan diet? I'm 25 this month, F. I have been a vegan for four years and started experiencing symptoms about a year ago. I've also been in a very stressful job for three years - providing care for people with disabilities in a very busy community - we all live together - and I've been a house manager (very stressful!) since September (started training for it in May or June '07).
Medications aren't helping (Florinef) or make it worse (midodrine), and yes I have just read the archives on dysautonomia and the 3LS and plan on giving some things a try.
Tilt table test about two months ago with positive results after being administered nitroglyceride.
Holter monitor last week with negative results.
Also acid reflux diagnosed for a few years - I'm going to try the ginger juice starting tomorrow - possible IBS but I am starting to think from some reading I've done that both of these things are from the dysautonomia. I had been taking nexium or other PPI for years and in March I started taking Carafate 4x/day as well (symptoms - some heartburn, mostly BAD stomachaches upon waking and after I ate) - none of these medicines were effective. Endoscopy maybe in February - no damage to esophogus and a slight hiatal hernia. Meds either seemed to treat stomachaches or heartburn and finally weren't really seeming to help either. I read an article about alternative treatments maybe in May and stopped taking my mdeicine and started taking apple cider vinegar with meals, slippery elm bark tea 1ce or 2ce a day, carbo vegetalis every few hours (which I think has been helpful), and coriander tea before bed - all of this has mixed results. Still have heartburn for sure.
Thanks to my disorders, I no longer drink alcohol, coffee, caffeinated or carbonated beverages or straight-up water (my doc told me lots of fluids- half gatorade/half water). I salt all my food, even breakfast cereal. I'm drinking fluids all day long with seemingly no effect.
My regular symptoms are a little light-headedness and this strange mealy feeling that feels kind of like nausea but more tingly I guess? I always have a hard time explaining it. It seems to happen quite often after I eat, but also other times. Sometimes I'll feel sick for the whole day.
When I was diagnosed, I started Florinef, stayed on that for 6 weeks. Saw my doctor, told him I didn't feel any better and that my feet were aching from the medicine. Discontinued F and started
Midodrine 5mg 3x/day - after one week, symptoms had not improved.
Then, midodrine 10mg 3x/day - after one week, no real improvement day to day, but had a weekend of swing dancing pretty much every second of being awake and only felt pretty sick 2ce, which was an improvement from the weekend before on the 5mg.
One week after that - started to feel crazy jittery one day after my third dose. Like I'd had 8 cups of coffee - felt totally spacey.
I should mention something else - that day I was at a conference out of state at a college that has really fast elevators. Two years before I'd been at this conference, and even though I wasn't having symptoms then, the elevators made me very dizzy. This time I avoided them as much as possible but did have to ride them quite a bit the first day and a few times the following few days.
OH and sorry this is so out of order - in March I had what I thought might be a weird flu - I had my mealiness feeling all the time and I was so light-headed that I couldn't drive or do very much at all, which was NOT normal for me, but no vomiting that usually says flu. I was ok as long as I was sitting or lying down, but felt awful every time I got up. This lasted about two weeks. In the meantime, I saw my primary care (not helpful at all - she wouldn't give me any advice besides referring me to a neurologist), a neurologist (different one than the one she chose!), my gastroenterologist, and an ENT. The ENT said he did not think I had vertigo since I didn't have a spinning sensation and that I probably had the flu and prescribed Tamiflu. I took it and after 7 days or so felt better - my primary care says I started taking it too late - that it's only helpful when you first start experiencing symptoms, and that I got better not from the medicine but because enough time had gone by for the virus to resolve itself. The neurologist took my sitting/standing/lying down blood pressure and found my to have orthostatic hypostension - said I probably just had a virus, that it would pass. I came back to see him two weeks later and still had the blood pressure problem. Sent me to a cardiologist for the tilt table test and I've been seeing him since, and now you're caught up.
Anyway, the doc reduced my dosage to midodrine 5mg 4x/day, taking the last dose at bedtime because I said my symptoms were worst in the morning - but they've only been worse in the morning since I started taking medication. Called him back two days later feeling still incredibly light-headed (like that time in March) and now sluggish instead of wired, and now with palpitations. A nurse took my pulse and found it to be normal. He said to stick to the schedule and call in a few days if I still wasn't feeling better. He said also that he wasn't sure it was a medication reaction. A few days later I told him I was still feeling badly - he discontinued the midodrine altogether and ordered the holter. Two days after that I told him I was still feeling badly - dizzier than ever and was there anything I could do. He put me back on the midodrine - 2.5mg 3x/day. That was this past Sunday. My former symptoms are back in full-force, so maybe the midodrine was helping more than I realized since I notice the difference now, and the light-headedness has continued. I'm going in to see the doc tomorrow and I'm going to bring your recommendations (he was open when I told him about how I was treating my acid reflux), and also bring him a list of meds that I found from a dysautonomia web group to ask him if some other kind of medicine might be worth trying.
Oh and he also said he might test me for adrenal insufficiency and I think I read somewhere (maybe even on your site)that if you don't eat meat, that can negatively affect your adrenals. True? I would really hate to have to eat animal products again and would try to explore all options before doing that, but would do it if I had no other option to preserve my health.
I also tend to grind my teeth, and not just at night, but during the day as well. I feel like I can't stop it.
I'm going to start seeing a naturopathic doctor very soon and think I might try biofeedback from your suggestion and do some skilled relaxation. I already get a massage once a month, mainly to help with some back pain and to correct my shoulders which I have always rolled forward.
Ok, I think that's all. Mainly I want to know if I can safely continue to eat a vegan diet.