Vertigo: Diagnostics

On my earlier post I tried to roughly explain my illness. Now I will try to go a little deeper into the different illness theories the doctors has had over the years.
First of all, I call my illness "Vertigo". Which all in all just explains my biggest symptom: dizziness.I have had Vertigo for 22 years, and the doctors have never figured out what really has been wrong with me.They have had several theories, but no outcome. When i get dizzy, or have a seizure, my blood-sugar drops really low. Sometimes dangerously low. So the doctors thought I had reverse diabetes, but sadly no. (well, not sadly, because i HATE needles.. which I will probably come back to..) Anyways, at some point my blood-sugar was so low they thought I would end up in a coma. Luckily I didn't. Later on they thought I had a rare type of migraine, but never really did anything about it. So they gave me up.

 When I turned 16 i was regarded as an adult, and they wanted to have a look at my "case" again. So I was in for a lot more tests. This time they thought I had a form of epilepsy, and did a epilepsy test. the outcome was: epilepsy A LIKE registration in the brain. Conclusion: not epilepsy, but they wanted to send me to an epilepsy facility, which we declined. They also thought i could have gotten Lyme disease from a tic, but the blood-results were negative. So yet again no outcome.

When I came back from my trip in February I was so ill we went to the doctors again. This time we went to a private clinic whom went back to the possibility of a special migraine called: Basilar Migraine. Basilar Migraine can give severe vertigo instead of or in addition to a severe headache. Personally this has always been my theory, but since I am in a chronic state of vertigo, I have started to rethink that theory. Can you have chronic migraine, especially this type of migraine? (Because I can get sick from just turning my head too fast). In that case, is it normal to get sick from nothing, small movements, etc?  Where does my blood-sugar add up in all this?

Anyways, I was finally sent to a neurologist (Yeah, they never gave me migraine medicine as a kid, or even a neurologist consult.) The neurologist tested me, and had basically diagnosed me before i stepped through the door. But he did a few tests and it all pointed towards migraine. To this day my official diagnosis is: undefinable migraine, even though he says it points to Basilar Migraine. First he gave me blood-thinners to see if they would help. (they often help prevent migraines, and usually has none or very little side effects). I tried those for 2 months, but nothing changed. So we went back to the neurologist, only this time I got a new neurologist, and he told me there was nothing more they could do for me. Well first of all, that's a load of crap! Which i wish i had told the doctor there and then.. Unfortunately i didn't.. I just took what he told me, and begged for a new appointment, (which I will have in January or February.. hopefully!) and left.. Which i really regret. I feel he could have tried to give me some sort of actual migraine medicine, and see if any of them would help. So to this day i still have the diagnose Undefinable Migraine, and I have yet not taken migraine medicine. And there are sooo many people out there that receive migraine medicine easy as that!! Kind of frustrating.. So the next appointment i will not keep my mouth shut..

In the midst of all this, we (me and my parents) decided to try some more untraditional methods. I went to a TCM specialist (Traditional Chinese Medicine), and he diagnosed me with a liver-weakness from birth.  So for several months now I have been on natural (homeopathic) medicines. I can't tell if they have helped or not, since my healing process all in all has been so slow, but I am sure they have not made it any worse. In addition a lot vitamins of course. A few days ago i started a really big treatment to help my digestive system.You see, around the same time as i started to get really sick, i all of the sudden became very sensitive to lactose, gluten, and finally onions. Only recently i have thought of this intolerance problem as "the root to all evil", aka what started this whole big mess. Since my intolerance has not really gotten any better, I have started to think that's what's keeping me so ill. So right now I am staying away from absolutely everything that contains lactose, gluten and of course all types of onions. The treatment i started a few days ago is to help me fix my stomach, and hopefully help me with my intolerance. And even more, help my vertigo become "livable" again.

Well, I have never had an allergy or an intolerance in my life, which I have always been thankful for. That means going from no allergy/intolerance to several ones is quite an (unpleasant) change.. My best friend (you know who you are ;)) has been going through the same thing as well. She has a lot more to deal with though when it comes to intolerances, and I think mine alone are bad enough! I really admire her for for taking this big change as well as she is. Because it is actually really really hard, especially when all of your favorite food contains those ingredients.. :P But we just have deal with it, and stay positive! Hopefully my intolerances and my friend's will go away one day, and the sooner the better. ;)

That would be an awesome Christmas present^^