PLEASE HELP- need advice/theories

So I have been suffering froma score of symptoms ever since I was a teenager. When I was 14-15-16 I suddenly developed anxiety/depression, light senstitivity, eye floaters,tinnitus, post nasal drip, an inflamed itchy scalp and hairloss. All of these symptoms have continued to the present day(I'm now 25) and I've recently had an episode where they've increased tenfold and have been joined by new ones. I started the candida diet and anti-fungals about 4 months ago and after about a month on the regimen my hairloss almost completely stopped. I was on cloud nine for about 2 weeks as my hair was looking great and I was experiencing other great health improvemnts as well. My libido increased dramatically, my anxiety was greatly diminished etc. I stopped the anti-fungals (grapeseed extract, grapefruit seed extract, caprylic acid, coconut oil, garlic) and a few days later woke up to hell. All of my symptoms came back literally overnight and have been twice as bad as they've ever been. I'm experiencing neuropathy, two swollen neck lymph nodes that have finally gone down, no sex drive, horrible anxiety, agressive hair shedding, increase in eye floaters, innability to concentrate/brain fog, and blurred vision are just a few. I'm not sure if I ever had Candida overgrowth but all I know is that by using antifungals I STIRRED SOMETHING UP THAT HAS BEEN AFFLICTING ME FOR ALMOST 10 YEARS. I had a ton of bloodwork done when this happened and the only thing that came back abnormal was my white cell count was low. Any advice on theories or what I should do next is greatly appreciated. I feel like I saw the light at the end of the tunnel for those couple weeks for the first time in years and is really the only thing keeping me optimistic as my current state is terrible.

a couple of my theories:

antifungals released mercury into body
underlying lyme disease
candida got worse or something when I stopped antifungals
I was exposed to mold when younger and it flared up( is this possible)

Please leave any thoughts on what I could have done to stir this up. My body seemed to have gotten used to the symptoms over the years but when I tried to fight them they flared up agressively. I'm not currently taking any supplements.

I would definitely get checked for mold mycotoxin exposure.  Note that this does not necessarily mean there is a mold or fungus actually growing inside of you, but you may have been exposed to the harmful byproducts of mold that you breath in and your body is not able to detoxify.  A lot of your symptoms sound like pretty classic mold sickness.

Do a search for mold in this forum and closely read everything that rdkml has posted.  The leading authority on this condition is Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker.  His website is:

www.survivingmold.com

He also has a couple books for sale, particularly "Mold Warriors", that could be quite useful.

Best of luck,
TG

By the way, the specific blood test you can get to see if you are mold susceptible is called "HLA DR".

It tests your genes to see if you are in the estimated 24% of the world population that is not able to detoxify mold like the rest of the population.  If you test positive on HLA DR, there is a specific list of tests you can get off of Shoemaker's website to look at different inflammatory markers etc.  This will hopefully show wether or not your immune system is silently going haywire and leading to hair loss.

@trueground

do you have any more info about that DNA strand? I actually got a 23andme test that shows whether you're homozygous or heterozygous for different DNA snps. I would be curious to see where I fall for that.

@op

you should be looking at different things like gut, heavy metals, and thyroid. you can get a metametrix test that shows you a clear picture of your gut health. if you have heavy metals or toxins in your body, it will cause issues. search the forum for this stuff. your thyroid could be malfunctioning also. 

it could really be so many things. those are some places to start. 

i would start eating straight organic food only and only high quality protein if i was you if anything. that's a given.

I would recommend a full thyroid panel, and also get your adrenal function tested. Low immune function can be a good indicator of poor adrenal function. Get DHEA and cortisol tested (24 hour urine collection, 3 samples). The reason I say thyroid is that the bloodwork you mentioned probably only tested TSH. The problem with that is its only looking at the communication between the pituitary and the thyroid, not the actual thyroid hormone output, let alone the active fraction of those thyroid hormones. Its important to know the big picture when it comes to thyroid, because there are several things that could be throwing off your conversion of T4 > T3, not the least of which is an imbalance of adrenal hormones. 

What you tend to see happen in the long term of undiagnosed hypothyroid is the pituitary has to take over the main role of metabolic director and this often sends the adrenals into overdrive. What people will often have is a period where they feel great, like they are in the clear. Its the rush of cortisol and catecholamines. But that can't be sustained for too long before stress hormone levels start to crash, and anxiety develops, along with other aches and pains. Basically your stress adaptation is next to nothing and everything seems a bit more overwhelming.

You could try supplementing Thyro-gold and DHEA for a short period and see if you improve, this might be a good indicator if the problem exists there. Make sure you are getting enough fat in your diet, good fats btw. Lastly, keep track of your body temperature throughout the day. Test in morning, afternoon, and night.

The tinnitus is often a sign of oxidative stress in the cells of the inner ear. Try taking some good antioxidants.

Besides what I've mentioned, and based on the symptoms you've shown, you might be dealing with some form of autoimmunity, and it could be one of several things. Was your red blood cell count low as well? Butterfly rash on the face? Bladder problems or poor muscle coordination/slurred speech? But don't freak out (this is the internet after all) I'm just suggesting that and the likelihood is low. I really can't know just how severe your symptoms are, and given that you are experiencing anxiety, sometimes that anxiety can be inwardly directed and we feel a lot worse than we might actually be physically.

Anthony,

What are your thoughts on Danny Roddy's most recent article on adrenal fatigue?

Guys thank you so much for your input, its so nice to get some actual direction for once.

@trueground: I will definetely look into those things. The first time I started experiencing these symptoms was not long after moving into the basment of a house that was on a very wet, shady piece of land. I don't think anyone ever searched for mold as it was a fairly new house.

@anthonyspencer54: I don't believe my red cell count was low but I have been experiencing bladder problems. That same morning I awoke to all these symptoms I started having to urinate frequently and especially at night. This has just recently gotten a bit better as I was getting up around 4-5 times a night to pee. I can now usually make it to morning if I go right before bed. I also had the urge to pee constantly even if there was nothing to come out. I've had no butterfly rash but I have been slurring words occasionally. That was something I forgot to mention but has really freaked me out. the brain fog is so bad  I've been blanking out during conversations trying to think of what I'm trying to say and sometimes random words come out slurred. Any thoughts? I have had low thyroid in the past but never low enough for the doctors to prescribe any hormones. Your exactly right that they just test the TSH which comes back on the low side of normal and they dismiss me. I did have a cortisol test done about a year ago where they inject you with cortisol then wait an hour and take your blood. The doctor told me my cortisol levels rose very fast and this means I do not have adrenal fatigue. Is this a reliable test? I also want to mention that the neuropathy symptoms I've been experiencing are apparently what diabetic neuropathy symptoms are like but I'm definetely not diabetic. I've had insulin tested as well as the fasting glucose test and  my levels always come back great. Besides the supplements you mentioned are there any others you would recommend? should I start the top 6? Thanks so much for your reply.

I actually hadn't read it. I just went and looked over it after you mentioned it. Thanks btw. I usually get his updates but must have missed this one.

I can't help but agree. I think given the chance, aka taking the burden off of the pituitary to be the body's metabolic driver, the adrenals will heal quickly and reliably. The problem is, once the problem of adrenal insufficiency has begun, people generally don't do what it takes to resolve the problem, i.e. fix the thyroid.

I think he provides good evidence that a low thyroid situation is inherently stressful on the body, and that proper thyroid function/proper mitochondrial respiration leads to production of proper levels of youthful steroid hormones > better sugar metabolism > less need for pituitary hormones and better function overall. I mean its so elegant and straightforward, it just seems intuitively right to me.

When the thyroid is running poorly, all of the pituitary hormones that tend to elevate in that circumstance all increase ACTH, which all lead to an increase in cortisol. Its like the body's backup stress mechanism. Okay we're low thyroid, the metabolic machinery isn't running at full speed, we're imbalanced in steroid hormones, we aren't going to handle stress properly and will probably accumulate an excess of estrogen > then we need to be blasting out cortisol to help the body be able to at least function and deal with daily stressors.

The problem is that a lot of physicians probably don't see the link, and would no doubt resort to prescribing corticosteroid medication. But I truly believe if they were to focus on handing control of the body's metabolism back over to the thyroid, adrenal problems would disappear rapidly. Supplemental progesterone would probably be beneficial during this interim period because as DRoddy points out, it can replace adrenal hormones. It can be converted directly to the corticosteroids. On that note, I also think supplemental pregnenalone could also be beneficial while beginning thyroid replacement, because it can be synthesized to DHEA through one or two steps I believe.

I really like a lot of the material he's been putting out lately, he's very good at communicating some otherwise pretty complex things in a concise way. He makes Peat pretty accessible if you ask me.

Honestly, I would make sure you aren't dealing with MS. Again, don't let that worry you. Chances are slim. Just going on the symptoms listed. Remember, this is the internet . Cancelling that out of the equation would be a good start though. Do some research on it, and see how you feel. Mold has serious connections to MS. But the bladder issues, coordination problems, slurred speech, vision disturbances, neuropathy....classic signs of early MS.

As far as supplementation, nothing in the top six could do anything but benefit you. Before you throw out a ton of money, however, I'd try to narrow down what is specifically going on. That said, taking a good dedicated antioxidant, a multi-vitamin, minerals, and some quality fatty acids are going to benefit anyone, sick or not.

Thanks Anthony I certainly will look into ms. I have a lot to go on now and will update as I progress. Hopefully I'll get some answers . Thanks again for your help.

AFAIK hydrogen peroxide is best for Candida as it removes biofilms.

Selenium is the best supp for mercury chelation that I'm aware of that's easy to take, and ofc being wary of mercury-containing fillings.

People say Rife is best for Lyme disease, but personally I'd go for colloidal silver first

The antifungals you mentioned fail IMO due to residual Candidal biofilms.

Hope that helps - I think you're doing great so far to work this stuff out, etc