Symptoms: Energy Loss and Energy Swings
Family History: No Disorders
Allergies: None
Medical Misdiagnoses: 2
Permit me to introduce myself. I’m John Simpson, Eileen’s husband. What I’m going to do is start a special series on Eileen’s blog covering medical misdiagnoses, celiac disease, gluten intolerance and allergies. As you read the real life stories of others who have experienced these problems, you may find that one or more of your health issues coincide with what others have experienced. I’m here to say you are not alone.
Let me tell you my story. About six weeks ago, I got the results back on an ALCAT test. Gluten intolerant. That wasn’t so bad, but there were 19 other items I had sensitivities to. The killers: beef (favorite meat), corn (favorite food), apple (pectin is everywhere!), banana (favorite fruit), sweet potato (no more Outback Steakhouse), lobster (so much for high class), crab (I live in Maryland) and coffee (anything but that). I won’t bore you with the rest. Needless to say, I was devastated. I pictured myself eating Japanese the rest of my life.
So that got me taking a path down memory lane. I had no problems with any of this stuff until my late 30’s/early 40’s. When Eileen and I met, I was an active long distance runner and skinny as can be. I had more energy than a nuclear reactor. I was the kid who the parents thought was crazy because I went door to door for the kids to play kickball… when it was 96 degrees out with 100 percent humidity! Then one day a couple of years ago or so, Kyle came home sick with a variant of the “foot and mouth” disease. Naturally, I got it too. That was the trigger for both of us. As you know from Eileen’s blog, he lost all his body hair. As for me, that’s when my body started attacking my pancreas. You guessed it… I was diagnosed as diabetic. My energy level would go from low to high. I wound up exhausted or hyper most of the time (the hyper part was great for running and I could run for 1-1.5 hours and feel fresh like I slept 10 hours).
So I countered it by drinking coffee. Lots of it. Dunkin Donuts was my sensei. I would have a large cup with Spenda and be on top of my game! That is, for about an hour. As you’ve surmised, I was very allergic to coffee, so as I sought more energy, I was just taking more away after the caffeine wore off. I was topping out at 8 cups a day.
The first doctor I went to said I was “pre-diabetic”. He blew the diagnosis and simply offered dietary changes via a dietitian. Well, all that did was waste time. So we changed doctors and I went through the same tests. This time, I got the full Monte. The new doctor said I was Type 1.5. Every heard of that? It means my pancreas still works in spurts and I’m destined to be a full Type 1 insulin dependent in a year or two at most.
During this time, I was starting to have trouble with my running. It was getting impossible to run an hour at all, let alone four days a week. I was also starting to feel really tired in the afternoon. So I tried mixing up my lunch. Nothing seemed to work. I changed foods and changed quantities. Nothing worked. During this time, Dunkin Donuts stopped working for me. No longer did it perc me up. I knew I had a problem that transcended diabetes.
The second doctor blew his diagnosis too. After almost 3 years, I’m still around and my pancreas still works. There’s no way I’m a Type 1.5. So I figure I’m a Type 2. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and I have a theory I’d like to share that explains this all. It also explains my energy problems.
I don’t believe I was born with any of these allergies and I certainly wasn’t diabetic. Somewhere along the line, I believe that all the chemicals we ingest build up in the system. They say some things like certain metals never go away. What happens is that they make you vulnerable to any major shift in body chemistry. The disease that hit Kyle and I triggered a reaction in me that increased my histamine levels to stratospheric levels. So at Eileen’s advice, I got the Alcat test and you know the results.
As for my problems, it took a week to get over my coffee addiction, which was no fun. After a couple of weeks, I was a new man. I didn’t see Brad Pitt in the mirror, but I felt like him on the inside. My daily energy problem was due to my body’s reaction to allergic food that I ate every meal. I ate one or more allergic foods for lunch and bingo… nap time a couple hours later. As for my running, I suffer from a steep drop in blood sugar, but by taking a glucose pill before I begin, I seem to have it licked. Sometimes you just have to diagnose yourself.
The reason I say all this is not to have you shed any tears. I simply want to say that our doctors don’t take the time to order the right tests even if they cost money. The result is misdiagnoses. The other moral of my story is that we are what we eat. Some of the stuff will build up in your system. You may see your body responding by attacking itself and/or suddenly becoming allergic to various foods. Even if you’re not allergic now, the older you become, the greater chance you will be a candidate.
So get a food allergy test even if you think you’re not allergic to anything. Do it every five years or so. Your body will thank you.
John S.
P.S. Would you like to tell your story? I’ll be your ghost writer. Email me!
