Re: Maternal second-cousin: Generalized Joint/Muscle pain, fatigue, trouble gett

February 11, 2008

I'd have him try 3-4 weeks dairy free...NO dairy at all due to casein

protein. I've had many people with joint pains etc.(including myself)

try this and their symptoms clear up very quickly. It used to take me

forever getting up in the morning due to joint pain....now I bounce up

and have no pains at all unless I accidentally get some dairy.

Casein takes only about two weeks to clear out of your system, so he

wouldn't need to do it for too long to know if it helps. This means no

yogurt, no milk, ice cream, butter, cheese, (goat cheese as well),

etc. And i'd avoid soy as well becasue the proteins are so similar

that if the body has a problem with one it often has a problem with

both. Then after a few weeks he can reintroduce the soy, see if

there's any problem, and then reintroduce dairy.

If that doesn't work, i'd recommend a food allergy elimination diet

(you can find many online) to figure out if it's another food

sensitivity. Most common: gluten, dairy, soy, corn.

It's one of those " simple cures " that is worth investigating! Good luck,

Liz

>

> Hi,

>

> A mystery:

>

> My second cousin (mother's grandson) has what he describes pain in

> his joints, lower back, neck (like a tension headache he describes),

> and muscles. It's constant in presence, but not in intensity. He

> doesn't drink anything caffeinated, and isn't diabetic. At least not

> Type 1 (it would have shown by now), perhaps Type 2 - his grandmother

> is Type 2. He says he craves ice-water constantly. But pain is not

> generally a symptoms of diabetes, is it? He gets up at around 7 in

> the morning, but takes about an hour and a half to get up. Goes to

> bed at 9 or 10, is fatigued " all the time " (as he reports it,

> although it doesn't really show - maybe to someone looking). He did

> go through a period of 1-2 years (before all this started) of major

> depression, and was put on " every pychotropic known to man " (totally

> irresponsible medicine) - including neuroleptics. I'm not sure if

> neuroleptics have been implicated in pain/fatigue syndromes, but he

> doesn't have any tics indicative of dyskinesia. He saw a

> neurologist, who did a " needle in leg, then straighten leg " test - I

> assume perhaps testing nerve conduction? This doc said he had never

> seen anyone with as extensive nerve damge at age *21* - he's 25 or 26

> now. This was after his " trip through neuro-pharmacopia " .

>

> It's not rhumathoid arthritis (I assume he was checked for

> antibodies, although I wouldn't bet on it), says they didn't think it

> was FMG (but, like 's daughter, apparently has a high pain

> threshold, so may be able to " hide " it). Has never had a thyroid

> test (for all the good the normal test would do), or any adrenal tests.

>

> I of course am thinking either thyroid, or adrenals - and I

> actually have an extra DTI kit here he could use - if they will let

> me change the info on the sheet as to age. Can anyone think of any

> other " diagnostic markers " to look for? He doesn't have the puffy

> face that is seen with extreme adrenal problems, or hypoT, but then I

> don't know quite what to look for. I also don't know if there is a

> characteristic " look " for Graves disease, or Cushings - or whether

> the symptom pattern fits it. He is not thin, but not overweight

> either, which *might* suggest against hypoT (but then, not everyone

> gains weight). It might also suggest against Cushings, which I read

> involves weight gaine (but perhaps not always).

>

> Any ideas? Strange autoimmunities not tested for (polymyositis

> for instance) - or is rhumathoid arthritis NOT tested for by

> antibody? As it should - as ALL autoimmune disorders should be

> confirmed if we know the antibody (although negative for antibody

> doesn't necessarily mean negative for autoimmunity)

>

> Jim

>

February 11, 2008

I just noticed the nerve damage mentioned...i'd suspect gluten

especially in this case. There's a very high correlation with gluten

sensitivity and muscle/neurological problems. Go to celiac.com for

more info. If he'd agree, have him try no gluten and no dairy/soy for

2 weeks, then slowly reintroduce to test reaction. I'm also gluten

sensitive, and it's the similarity between the gluten and casein/soy

proteins (only a couple amino acids in different sequence) that causes

antibodies to get activated and attack with all three for many people.