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Greeting! I am here for my daughter. She is 24yrs old, 5’4″ and 103lbs (17.6 bmi) and has been experiencing health problems since early high school. By the way, she would be on here but she just finished college and is now trying to study for her NCLEX – I’m just a concerned and doting father who is perplexed by her string of symptoms, been shuffling her from one dr. to the next over the years trying to snag a diagnosis.
Her problems began in high school when she began to succumb to the pressures to excel so that she could get into a good college. In her 10th years she had her wisdom teeth pulled and braces put on. The following year she had a Lefort III jaw surgery to correct a malformation. Two years after that she had her tonsils taken out. It was during this time that she felt extreme fatigue often taking long naps during the afternoon and feeling unrefreshed upon wakening. She began having straight out panic attacks when under certain pressures, dizziness upon standing, irritability (we called it the feed me or I’ll kill you syndrome), moodiness, depression, feeling cold all the time, brain fog which made her studies very very difficult, she began having digestion issues and extreme stomach pains after eating certain foods which led us to suspect gluten sensitivity, she would get a pain in her side if she tried to run or jog with her friends. Her quality of life was pretty poor.
She’s always been thin and the most she’s ever weighed, to her dismay, is 104 lbs. She’s tried very hard to put on weight but finds getting bloated easily gets in the way. We ruled out ED after some serious discussions – she really loves food but can’t get past the bloat. But she absolutely hates her thin profile that much is certain. We began to suspect adrenal fatigue, candida, leaky gut and thyroid issues. This led us down the path of the GAP and SCD diets but felt like she was starving to death on that. We then got led to High Carb Low Fat (or 80-10-10 diet) because many women who were succeeding on that claimed to have been in the same dire straits that my daughter is in. But I began to question the validity of the diet, which eventually led me to Matt’s blog. The ideas I’ve read here have made more sense than anything else I’ve read up to this point – and I’ve read and researched quite a bit. Her problems were a result of the accumulation of physical and emotional stress on a body that was not receiving enough caloric intake to make the needed repairs. She was in a continual downfall of caloric deficit.
I am reminded of the day of my daughter’s wisdom teeth procedure: when she awoke from the anesthesia, she was sobbing uncontrollably and I had to hold her up as we walked to the car. I thought this was a very strange reaction to anesthesia, but the dentist reassured me. Looking back I realize the sobbing was a physical response to the stresses of the procedure by a body that was metabolically unable to meet the demand. If only I had known then what I know now.
Thus begins our new journey, with new hope.
Wow.. that’s amazing your daughters story is almost identical to mine, except that my problems came from an ED. I am very interested about what you said about crying after anesthesia, the exact thing happened to me… where did you hear about this being because of a metabolic issue? Thank you so much for sharing your story, health and happiness to you and your daughter
Hi Della. I should state that the “crying after anesthesia” explanation is my own theory based on my understanding of my daughter’s history and all of her other symptoms. I have repeatedly witnessed her emotional breakdowns when confronted with extreme distress. The physical trauma of surgery is no less a stressor than the trauma one may encounter on an emotional level. Shock is an acute stress response that even normal healthy people can go thru when the nervous system is suddenly overloaded in response to a terrifying or traumatic event. Anesthesiologists say that “emotional outbursts” are a common and very curious yet less researched side effect of anesthesia. Given Matt’s theory that the population at large is probably more metabolically challenged due to their calorie deficits than is commonly understood, I would opine that those who have experienced emotional outbursts upon wakening from a surgical procedure already had an issue with their metabolism to begin with.
Hi majorwest
Your daughter’s story sounds very similar to my teen years, right down to the dental procedures and the tonsillectomy. The main difference is that I over-ate to ease the anxiety and depression, so being underweight was not a problem then, though restrictive eating has been since then. I’m a lot older than your daughter now (46) but have recently found implementing Matt’s ideas very helpful, especially in terms of doing everything I can to get lots and lots of sleep and a good amount of food in the mornings to help reduce the effects of high morning cortisol levels. I’m also getting treatment for Pyroluria based on the Pffiefer treatment protocol through my GP. It is a zinc deficiency that often first shows itself around puberty when the demands for zinc are very high with precisely the symptoms you are describing about your daughter. While there is some scepticism about whether this condition really exists or not, several people I know and I have found a good deal of relief taking the supplements. Matt may say that following the Eat for Heat protocol would achieve the same effects without the need for the supplements, perhaps. I’m cautious about offering advice on such a serious problem, but like I said, your daughter sounds so similar to how I was in my teens that I couldn’t not say something. I wish you all the best.Hi SBC. That’s funny, I recall reading about Pyroluria a while back and bookmarking a couple of links…but I honestly don’t remember ever following up on it. I may have ruled it out since although many of the symptom markers match my daughter’s, the others are way off especially the social aspect of this syndrome: my daughter does have a social life that she enjoys and doesn’t shy away from social functions, parties, etc. So the “loner” aspect may have initially thrown me off back when I first came across Pyroluria. But I am now taking a second look at this. Thank you for bringing this up!
Majorwest, sorry you are going through this. I cried in the same way waking up after my wisdom teeth came out. I think it is a fairly normal reaction, and I cry in response to stress so it did make sense. Going through surgery is pretty stressful to the body.
I am wondering if your daughter can just take several months off to rest and eat. I’m not sure what your circumstances are, but she may just need real time to heal before going into nursing, which is a pretty stressful field. A good mainstream nutritionist (RD) may be able to help, too. They deal with some pretty serious digestive issues, and can probably help point her to things that cause less bloating and problems.
Thank you Amy. She is doing exactly that. She is taking her time and not yet registering for the exam. She is getting as much sleep as she wants and pretty much taking it easy and it seems to be helping. We have also been given suggestions for several nutritionists from a compounding pharmacist and hope to make an appt with one soon. Thank you for the suggestions!
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