In over a decade of medicating me with everything you can imagine and then wondering why I don't respond or how I'm still standing and talking a test was finally run that did not come back normal. All my physical problems, all my "psychiatric" problems (so they claimed and I always insisted had a physical cause) every test has been normal. On paper I am the healthiest person walking around. You know how hard that makes getting disability? :roll: I never know what to tell a doctor because I get labelled hypochondriac easy when I start mentioning everything big and small. It takes years to train a new doctor because I constantly have to present a new aspect of my health and then often prove it before moving on in order to not get written off as clueless and using too much google. So years of meds, monthly appointments, and questions later with my latest insomnia med dispenser (psychiatrist) the idea came up of testing lithium. It's not just a med name but a trace element that is not well understood except they have recognized more recently that it is necessary for normal function. It has mostly only been applied to bipolar and sometimes attempts at treating other depression because one of it's major affects is mood stabilizing, reduced inflammation, and improved thinking. It also impacts sodium and potassium levels leading to impacts on nervous system including pain issues, thyroid, immune system... numerous minor things no one has studied. I was leaning toward chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia but while I hate being wrong I will admit it is good this time. My lithium test is too low to measure. .6 is standard minimum with treatment often exceeding the standard maximum of 1.2 and I am less than .1. They don't measure a number lower than a tenth of a mmol/L. Surprisingly (or maybe not given my past) every related test done was normal. Some of them absolutely, perfectly in the middle of the standard levels. My body counters everything despite an element practically missing. It just couldn't maintain perfect response or normal response to sunlight, sleep, pain signals, and some cognitive function. I thought maybe it would be somewhat low but untestable is surprising. It will be the most interesting experiment yet. That's really all I feel. I have a debilitating deficiency and all I feel is finally something shows up as wrong and let's start dosing it to see what happens.
A possible answer to my health problems
- Thread starter akane
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That is exciting! Please keep us posted. I hope you will be feeling better soon.
Some sources say lithium below .1-.2 is normal but yet others say it is a required nutrient with a list of problems caused by no lithium. It seems no one has researched lithium enough for a solid answer. It is found mostly in water and some plants which I drink all bottled treated by RO before minerals are added back in and my diet could be more complete. No one knows the severity or normality of lithium levels. People just have ideas on what increasing it helps improve.
YAAAYYY!! :cheer1:
Having been (and still somewhat there) where you are, knowing there is something wrong but all the tests coming back "normal" (what is normal anyway, right??) I can understand the relief and glimmer of hope that this brings! I truly believe that science has only skimmed the surface on their knowledge of vitamins and minerals in this world. Fruits and vegetables aren't made up of just a handful of things like calcium, Vit. A, B, C, etc., they are complex living organisms - as are we! We can't just say we need X amt. of this and you can get it by eating so many of this one food group. The recommended amt. of Vit. C that is on food labels is the minimum they have found the average person needs to not get scurvy - maybe not what would be best to keep your body running in tip top shape. There are chemical reactions that occur in our bodies that can change and morph things based on what we eat them with. There are some human bodies that don't function the same as others, absorbing more or less of certain things even with the same food eaten (either by design or because of a malfunction somewhere, such a celiac disease). Some doctors believe that vitamins and supplements make for "expensive urine" (b/c you will just pee out the added stuff), but others have seen the wonderful things that can happen with the right dosing for certain ailments and conditions. I am starting to try out different options for my fibromyalgia... just need to get into a better habit of actually taking them like I am supposed to
(I am good with the one vitamin a day habit, like with my prenatals... that I can handle... this multiple pills at each meal just isn't working yet).
Anyway, all that to say that it's definitely worth trying! Here's hoping you can get what you need and start feeling better!! Are you going to try diet changes specifically, supplements, or a combination of the two? (just curious)
I went to my OBGYN for extreme joint/hip pain (even for me) shortly after my youngest was born, thinking it was something to do with the delivery since there were some issues then... come to find out I was severely low in Vit. D! I can't remember the exact dosage, but they prescribed a crazy high amount for a few weeks to try and get it up. The nurse had only ever seen one other person test as low. Yikes :x .
Having been (and still somewhat there) where you are, knowing there is something wrong but all the tests coming back "normal" (what is normal anyway, right??) I can understand the relief and glimmer of hope that this brings! I truly believe that science has only skimmed the surface on their knowledge of vitamins and minerals in this world. Fruits and vegetables aren't made up of just a handful of things like calcium, Vit. A, B, C, etc., they are complex living organisms - as are we! We can't just say we need X amt. of this and you can get it by eating so many of this one food group. The recommended amt. of Vit. C that is on food labels is the minimum they have found the average person needs to not get scurvy - maybe not what would be best to keep your body running in tip top shape. There are chemical reactions that occur in our bodies that can change and morph things based on what we eat them with. There are some human bodies that don't function the same as others, absorbing more or less of certain things even with the same food eaten (either by design or because of a malfunction somewhere, such a celiac disease). Some doctors believe that vitamins and supplements make for "expensive urine" (b/c you will just pee out the added stuff), but others have seen the wonderful things that can happen with the right dosing for certain ailments and conditions. I am starting to try out different options for my fibromyalgia... just need to get into a better habit of actually taking them like I am supposed to
(I am good with the one vitamin a day habit, like with my prenatals... that I can handle... this multiple pills at each meal just isn't working yet). Anyway, all that to say that it's definitely worth trying! Here's hoping you can get what you need and start feeling better!! Are you going to try diet changes specifically, supplements, or a combination of the two? (just curious)
I went to my OBGYN for extreme joint/hip pain (even for me) shortly after my youngest was born, thinking it was something to do with the delivery since there were some issues then... come to find out I was severely low in Vit. D! I can't remember the exact dosage, but they prescribed a crazy high amount for a few weeks to try and get it up. The nurse had only ever seen one other person test as low. Yikes :x .
I truly hope this is the answer you've been searching for, Akane! :good-luck:
Ugh occasionally it all works out great. Then I spend days either sleeping or feeling too drugged to do anything and none of it is on useful hours. I need like half the lowest dose but it's a capsule I can't repackage. There is an otc option but it's a different compound that is controversial if the body can use it and the cost is prohibitive without insurance paying. I think I'm going to clear my system for 24hrs since I'm still on the lowest dose so it's not like there's anything to taper off of and then try taking it at a different time. Maybe it would make a good every other day thing just to provide a lower level.
Not sure your specific symptoms (trying to piece them together from past posts), but check out pineal gland cysts - shot in the dark. I just recently learned that my doctor failed to mention a fairly large one (11.8 mm) that popped up on my MRI 5 years ago (originally looking for MS)... most doctors will claim they are asymptomatic, but there are a handful that have seen the results when they are removed. I have fallen through the medical systems cracks before, a number of times, but this one ticks me off the most... especially given all the trouble I have had over the years (especially recently). I even specifically asked her if it would explain what was going on and she said "No, I don't think so" - think again lady! (Currently looking for a new doc, by the way). You will read a lot that says they are very "rare" then other sites will comment on how common they are :roll: I have been doing a LOT of research the last few days and am slated for another MRI later this week.
