I'm sorry this is a bit long & I know this isn't a medical board but I'm hoping maybe someone will recongnize these symptoms?
I've been having facial pain, migraines, either a runny nose or a stuffy nose, and fatigue on and off again for the past 13 years. I don't always have all the symptoms at the same time or to the same degree but the runny or stuffy nose seems to be a daily thing so does the fatigue. I went to the doctor for the fatigue and they did a blood test but it didn't reveal anything.
About 7 years ago, my MD told me that I had allergies so I requested a referal to an allergist/sinus specialist. I was also getting sinus infections at that time. The specialist did a SKIN test and I came up positive for a ton of allergies. I could see the areas on my back becoming red and inflamed, some welted, itched like crazy, etc. I also did an asthma test using a breathing tube hooked up to a computer and was told that I have mild asthma. The specialist also reviewed my sinus histroy. I had three sinus infections within the past two years. I'm also allergic to three different antibiotics and each time they put me on a new one I either seem to develop and allergy to it or it makes me sick to my stomach. He said that is consistent with my sinus/allergy problems. I had my tonsils & adenoids removed when I was 3 after being constanlty sick as a child. My tonsils have grown back (not sure about the adenoids as they are further back in the throat and he couldn't tell). As a reslut of that appointment, I started getting allergy injections for about 2 years. I was also given allergy medications to take prior to my injections and an inhaler to use as needed. I was getting watery eyes, itchy throat, etc. at that time as well.
I've since changed health care companies and had been feeling better so didn't bother changing to another allergy & sinus specialist. Well, I've been getting far too many migraines, headaches, facial pain, fatigue, runny/stuffy nose and so I thought maybe it was due to sinus problems since the blood test from the MD didn't reveal anything. So about six months ago I made an appointment with an Allergist & Sinus Specialist. When I went to the appointment he said they'll have me test for allergies via a BLOOD test (vs. the skin test I had before). I went to the lab and had the blood test done and a couple of days later when my result came in it showed that I was NOT allergic to anything! I can't explain it except to say that maybe the test results were wrong? The odd thing is I'm not getting the watery eyes and scratcht, itchy throat anymore. All the research I've done says that getting allergy injections for two years is not enough to make them go away. I also take over the counter allergy medications sometimes and it does nothing to help me so the allergist is saying this is evidence as well that my problems are not being caused by allergies. As far as sinus problems, he is trying to say that I don't have any.?. He says that although referrence materials often associate facial pain with sinus problems it is often not true. He says it probably isn't worth having me scanned to see what my sinus passages look like. He thinks it is referred neck pain. He says my neck is probably were the pain is even though I feel it in my facial areas. He had me do a asthma test but it wasn't hooked up to a computer and he says I don't have asthma. I'm so frustrated because I feel he didn't do anything for me. Now I get a call from his assistant saying that the doctor would like to see me again and trying to schedule me an appointment. Why? when he says I don't have any allergies and sinus problems! So what do you think should I go back and maybe request a skin test and/or sinus scan to see what's going on? I'm get facial pain far too often and it is taking away from my daily life's activites.
I'm also wondering if it could be food allergies but my health insurance won't pay for that testing.
Any advice?
Thanks in Advance :0)
Teeth & gums are in good condition. I do brush & flush daily. I see a dentist regularly.
I've tried Claritin-D as well. It use to work for me back when I had allergy symtoms but doesn't do the trick anymore.
No, I hadn't thought to talk to my dentist about it. She did mention that I have mild TMJ. I'm actually getting ready to switch to a new dentist, a highly recommended dentist, so I'll talk to him about it.
I'll give the MSG elmination diet a try and see if that helps. I also get the nauseau & vomitting when my migraines get severe enough. I'm willing to try anything at this point!
That's interesting about outgrowing allergies. I hadn't heard that before but it makes sense. I know I had them at one point and now they're gone. I haven't moved so it's not that I'm around different plants & trees.
Thanks for the advice & well wishes :0)
A friend of mine has gotten rid of her migraines with a supplement that has Omega 3's and a bunch of other factors. Just message me and I can get you the info on what she is using. Hope this helps!
I'm going to say you sound like you might have a candida overgrowth. A lot of times they are caused by taking a lot of antibiotics. A Candida overgrowth can have many different symptoms.
Google Candida overgrowth and take a look at the symptoms. You may need something like ThreeLac or Candex and maybe a candida diet.
I had symptoms of allergies, sinus issues, achiness, and migraines for most of my life. Then about 5 years ago I found the msgmyth.com website. I did an elimination diet and I totally changed the food I eat to make sure I don't eat ANY of those ingredients they list on their webpage (about 25 ingredients). I can't even tell you how much better I feel. All those symptoms went away! I used to get such bad migraines I would get nauseated and throw up. Now I can tell when I mess up eating in a restaurant or at someone's house...I get a bad headache but not AS bad as they used to be. That is because those ingredients have an accumulative effect. It sound overwhelming to change the food you buy but it is SO worth it. I check ingredient labels now and I make almost everything from scratch. I recommend you try this out. It sounds like you have the exact same problem I had. Here is the webpage of the ingredients to avoid: http://www.msgmyth.com/hidden_names.html
Good luck and let us know how it goes. Remember, it takes about 7 days to get the bad stuff out of your system. PS - I had such bad sinus issues before. It was like I was allergic to everything ALL year round. I had puffy eyes and was stuffed up. I really think you should try out eating this way.
I went to so many specialist for years, primarily for migraines...I don't know if this will help you, but it has been tremendous for me. I found a great neurologist who asked me to read, "Heal your Headache: the 1-2-3 program for taking charge of your headaches" by David Buchholz. Apparently, there is another book with a similar name so be careful. I just got it from the library and it recommended a strict elimination diet that did wonders for me. It is not fun, but my daily headaches are gone and my migraines are beginning to get under control. I can predict them now! Good luck, it is worth looking into. BTW, she STRONGLY advised this in combination with daily 20-30 minutes of walking, as the book does as well. :)
I agree with L L K...the very first thing I thought of was MSG. There are so many chemicals in our food now-a-days. This is what I would do: write down every single thing you eat every day. Rule things out. And don't just write "cheerios"...write down every single ingredient listed on the box of cheerios. Eventually you should be able to target whatever is causing your symptoms.
I would start by eating very natural, un-processed food and see how you feel. If your diet consists of organic fruits & vegetables and chemical free cereals, etc. and you start to feel better, then it's a safe bet that something in your regular diet is the culprit. Good luck--I hope you figure it out soon!! 13 years is a long time to be suffering! :(
Try some OPC3. It's great for all kinds of allergies.
www.coliryan.com and search OPC3.
:)
I would do two things:
1) push for a referral to an ENT, not an allergist. You may be dealing with a structural issue here. I had very similar symptoms, plus nosebleeds, my whole childhood. Finally I was referred to an ENT, who did a CT scan and found that my sinuses had no drainage at all on one side. This was why antibiotics never cleared up my sinus issues, hence why they always thought I had allergies, AND why I had pain (pressure in the sinuses DOES cause facial pain), and continual headaches. I, too, had had a multitude of blood tests, skin patch tests, etc, which had all revealed nothing, so the CT scan results were pretty surprising to everyone. I had sinus surgery to open up drainage for my sinuses, and I have had no problems with my sinuses in the 20 years since then.
2) Go to a good chiropractor. You'd be surprised at all the nasty pain in your body that can be caused by simple mis-alignment. If it doesn't work, you're only out $50 or so.
I do have advice and it would be to anyone that feels crappy and can't figure out what is wrong. You need to get to a baseline so that whatever is going on can be recognized. Three things need to happen. You need to be avoiding synthetic chemicals...(they weaken the immune system so it won't work right. Both meds and household chemicals can do damage.) You need to be getting good nutrition....(an absorbable multivitamin/mineral complex is essential with the depletion of the minerals in our soil and the abundance of processed foods at our fingertips) You also need to be in principled chiropractic care. Chiropractic care will remove interference so that the body will function to it's optimum level. Your body will not work the way it is supposed to if there is interference in your neurological system...it controls EVERYTHING!
It's completely possible that if you do these three things, you will find out absolutely nothing is wrong with you. If you are still having complaints, I'm sure there will be someone with expertise that can identify what is going on.
Hope you are feeling good soon!
M.
Try this test from Better Health USA. www.betterhealthusa.com
If insurance won't pay for that, cut out wheat, yeast, and dairy. Don't eat ANY of it for a month & see how much better you will feel! You must read the ingredients on EVERYTHING to be able to do it. I promise you will feel better! Sounds like a classic case of Toxic Food Syndrome. I hope you feel better!!
Check out www.msgmyth.com.
I would start label reading an look for MSG. BUT, there are many loopholes and MSG can be labeled many things. Pretty much anything autolyzed or hydrolyzed is a form of MSG. Also look for 'yeast extract'.
But if you go to the website they explain a lot. And no I am NOT affiliated in any way to the site. But as an RN and wellness educator, I refer to it quite a bit.
I would find a different doctor, first. You don't need a referral to discuss sinus problems and migraines, which is what it sounds like to me.
When I have a sinus infection, that will often trigger a migraine...and both come with fairly intense facial pain. As far as THAT part of it goes, that's what it sounds like.
Also, your skin test showed allergies....ergo, you've been avoiding those things. Allergy tests are largely based on your reactions to things, so if you haven't been ingesting these things for THAT long it's my understanding that the tests can have false negatives...also, you aren't supposed to take ANY allergy medication for some specified time before having one.
It does sound like a mix of allergies and sinus problems to me, and I think you should try addressing it that way. Did he give you a list of what he was testing for with the blood test? My mom, for example, is allergic to about 200 different things (no joke) and has the worst dermatitis I've ever seen because of it...her skin just literally splits, cracks, etc. I know that's not your situation, but it's just an example.
Good luck! I hope you feel better soon!
Yuck, the awful "skin prick" tests!! My clients and their patients prefer the IgE blood tests because it is a single blood draw, gives you a quantitative measure of a specific allergens and helps you to determine your triggers to regional allergens as well as a food profile (in the same test, there is awesome insurance coverage really). Do you even know what the Allergist stuck you with? Can you share them with the doc that ordered the blood test to compare? The blood tests are determined by where you live....I don't have access to some of the same triggers that someone may have in Maine or New York. It could be that the doc that ordered the blood test wasn't really sure what to order....it happens. With the blood test, you are not limited to just those allergens in the profiles, suspected allergens can be added on (they will make sure there is enough blood in the tube) and the suspected food allergens are done concurrently.
Please remember there are IgE Mediated Responses (ALLERGY) such as dust mites, mold, pollen, pet dander, cockroach, etc. The non-IgE Mediated Response (NON-ALLERGY) can include pollution, smoke, perfume, chemicals, exercise, etc. Although cockroaches are totally natural they can cause an allergy that leads to asthma. Smoke or cleaning supplies cause a non-allergy irritation that can also trigger asthma.
Good luck.
I'm so sorry about your suffering.
I had very similar problems. Then I had a stroke. Thankfully, I recovered. It turned out my problems were from a hole in my heart. After having it repaired, my headaches because much less severe then went away.
So maybe see a neurologist and see if you should have a transthoracic echocardiogram.
This sounds like what I feel like and I'm chemically sensitive. It's not a true allergy and the allergy meds do nothing except for help with the sinusitis enough to keep my teeth from falling out. I kid you not, I've gotten loose teeth when the swelling gets bad enough. My triggers are perfumes. I can handle most cleaning products if I'm only smelling the soap. If perfumes are added to make them smell like flowers, I'm done. Wet ones make me miserable if I get the wrong ones. Candles make me sick and it's impossible to stay home all the time. Even the tiniest amounts that can't be detected with the nose make me sick.
What kind of shape are your teeth and gums in? Do you brush and floss daily? Gum disease and bad teeth can give you headaches, colds, and some other problems.
I would go to a different allergist.... if they don't keep their samples stored correctly (for the skin prick test) they lose potency. Or if you don't quit allergy meds a couple of weeks before the skin test you may not have a big reaction.
Similar thing happened to me after one skin test (no reaction), at the next (& a previous) allergist I had all kinds of redness and swelling and tested allergic to everything I already knew I was allergic to. (by obvious symptoms like sneezing coughing drippy nose etc. when exposed).
Allergies can make you fatigued, but I would also want to get my thyroid and vitamin levels tested. (iron/ferritin or CBC, homocysteine or B12, & vitamin D).
You also might want to see an ENT for a sinus scan- I also get frequent sinus infections and turns out the drain points for my sinuses are pretty blocked. I'm actually going to have surgery to correct the problem.
I also had a lot of what I thought were "sinus headaches" that turned out to be migraines and a neurologist might be helpful with those. Migraines can cause pressure in sinus area and even a stuffy nose. The thing that helped me the most with my migraines was a gluten free diet, but there are other things you can try first. I found a headache/migraine diary helped me ID some of my migraine triggers.
If you think it is referred pain from your neck I would see a good chiropractor. I have had nerve pain in the past due to a pre-existing injury (slipped/herniated disc in my neck) and a chiropractor helps me a lot.
I haven't read what anyone else has said however.. you sy you have migraines. Why hasn't your MD had you see a Neurologist? I am a migraine sufferer of almost 30 years. See a neurologist. Most insurance plans now you do NOT need a referral. I have mention in the past that I have a list of migraine triggers PM me if you would like them.
I am not attempting to diagnose you. I'm a teacher, not a doctor, but I will share a few of my experiences. People can outgrow (and grow into) allergies - at least that's what I've been told, and my son seems to have done that. He used to have terrible allergies, and now he's not so bad. I also had incredibly bad allergies as a child/teenager, and now I don't.
I have had chronic migraines since I was 14. Now I am 41. I first know I am getting a migraine because my face hurts. I also have pretty advanced TMJ. I constantly clench my teeth, especially at night, but often during the day. This is contributing to my migraines/facial pain. I'm currently working with my neurologist and a dentist to try to correct this. Maybe you have TMJ issues that are causing your headaches and facial pain.
As for the fatigue, anyone who deals with pain for an extended period will tell you that it takes a lot out of you. I know I don't sleep much when I'm having migraines, and then I have more migraines because of lack of sleep. It's an awful cycle.
Whatever is going on with you, I hope you get answers soon.
Allergies can arrive and fade at any time during a person's life. All of what you describe could potentially result from allergy, or from auto-immune problems (closely related to allergy in many instances).
Some of your symptoms also suggest another possibility, which is also an auto-immune situation: Giant Cell Arteritis. It's apparently uncommon in people under 50, though I've suffered from many of these symptoms and had three different doctors since developing the symptoms in my late 40's, and was only last week given this diagnosis (along with closely-related Polymyalgia Rheumatica). Here's a link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001484/
You could be describing any number of illnesses or conditions, of course, or even a combination of two or three different ones. Whatever it is, I sure hope you get to the bottom of it and find some relief.
I've gotten tremendous benefit from acupuncture, but of course that isn't included in most insurance plans, and repeated treatments usually help a lot more than just one or two.
Have you asked your dentist about this? I was getting over a cold once when I had my teeth xrayed. The dentist commented on how much fluid I had in my sinuses and suggested I see a doctor. Another time I had a minor motorcycle accident where I hit my chin on the pavement. (it sounds a lot worse then it really was). I went to the ER for stitches and mentioned a ringing in my ears, but they didn't seem concerned but didn't really talk to me about it. . About 2 weeks later I went to my regular doctor and mentioned a ringing in my ears and he couldn't really tell me anything about it either. I went to the dentist for a regular visit and just in normal conversation I mentioned the ringing in my ears. He told me that it would take about 2 months to go away if it was still there I needed to have it checked out further and he went into a big explanation of TMJ and the jaw and all sorts of stuff. I mention this just because I think your dentist may be able to give an idea of whether things look ok or not.
I have been experiencing very similar symptoms within the past few months! My face hurt so bad and I had a headache for a month straight (I mean 24 hours a day 7 days a week) I was also so tired I could sleep 12 hours wake up and need a nap. I bought claritan-D it is behind the counter! You have to ask for it and sign for it its different than the stuff you pick up on the shelf and its about $1 per pill but so worth it. I have been taking it for about 2 weeks now and feel normal again. I don't know if this will help you but it might be worth it to try. I had tried everything and felt better within a day or two of taking it. I hope this helps and I hope you feel better soon!
