What's going on with my health? Any ideas?

[MrsKCastle]

I've been feeling unwell for a while, the doctor has run various tests but the only thing that has shown up is that I have been low in B12, vit D and calcium. I'm hoping that if I list my symptoms, it might ring a bell for someone? What should I be asking the GP at my next appointment?

Here goes:
Depression for several years (on sertraline)
Ongoing fatigue
Ongoing joint pain/generally aching all over
Frequent diarrhoea, and occasional constipation
Feeling bloated, stomach pain, occasional nausea
No sex drive
Weight gain with no change to diet/exercise
Just recently feeling very thirsty (but blood sugar was normal when tested a few weeks ago)

GP has run a full blood count, coeliac screening, I think thyroid function... nothing showing up.

I single isolated blood sugar reading in isolation isn’t diagnostic or really useful, so you probably need to ask your GP if they thinks it could be diabetes and let them decide on the diagnostic method they want to use.

Some of the other things are a bit woolly and non-specific, could be age related, separate coincidentally occurring issues or all part of a single overall diagnosis.

How long have you been on the treatment for your vitamin issues? How old are you?

I’ve never used the word isolated that many times in one go before.

Well at least 4 of those symptoms can be caused by the vitamin D & b12 deficiencies. Sertraline can make you tired, I know some patients take them at night rather than the morning to help with this.

I would suggest keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks to see if the gastro symptoms have an obvious trigger.

Thanks for responding QueenOfPain.

I'm 41, so could be peri-menopause?
With the vitamins, I had a set of B12 loading injections, with the last one about 10 weeks ago. I have been taking calcium, B12 and vit D supplements from about the same time, just over the counter ones. Not sure how quickly they work?

Thanks Bringback. I can certainly try a food diary.

This resonates with me. I've been suffering very similar symptoms for several years. They can't put their finger on anything with me either.

Watching with interest.

How low are your vitamin d and b12 readings? A lot of the symptoms you've posted (fatigue, joint pain, depression), can be directly attributed to that. Another deficiency lots of people have is magnesium - can contribute to digestion, stomach issues amongst other things.

How's other stuff - are you under a lot of stress recently?

Sorry to hear that horizontalis. Let's hope we both get some answers soon!

Maybe Crohn's disease?

Coeliac Disease

fibromyalgoa

Thanks for all the suggestions. LittleMy77, my vit D level was something like 24 when it should be 50+. B12 was originally about 150, with normal levels at 180+. But that was before the loading injections, so it should be fine now.

Fibromyalgia sounds like a possibility, but I don't have increased sensitivity to pain.

I have tested negative for coeliac and am not iga deficient so that is unlikely.

But literally all of those are symptoms of low B12 and vitamin D. Are you still deficient?

Yes sorry upon re-reading, I should have said most not all x

...and now I've read your updates OP. Ignore me, I'm not with it today x

Following as I am the same (Sorry OP - not helpful I know!) Had tests done but nothing conclusive - probably premenopausal. Joint pain making me cry today.

Same here - I already have a thyroid condition which is controlled so I suspect chronic fatigue (argh!).

Anti depressants can give you IBS, as I discovered, I can't take any of them, as I had the same side effects from. 8 different types

When you say thyroid was tested/ok, do you know what the results were and what was checked?

I am in the very boring and annoying process of getting an under active thyroid diagnosis by the looks of things. Despite having a bunch of symptoms it's only now my blood tests are starting to show above the nhs 'normal' limits.

I think this also goes with low vit d and b and iron (my d and iron are always crappy).

Worth revisiting?

Many many people continue to need B12 injections after the initial injections. The NHS guidelines are one injection every three months but many people need more. www.b12deficincy.info

Have you had the loading injections for Vit D too? Mine was 23, and I was told to take at least 10,000 IU a day

I just re-read your symptoms. I was also on anti depressants, and had no sex drive, weight gain (mainly as I couldn't be arsed about gaining weight as the ADs made me apathetic) and the thirsty thing can often be related to dry mouth syndrome, which is a side effect of the ADs. The Dr was like 'yeah, nah" when I said I thought they were side effects, but Dr Google tells me its common

Gamorasgran one of the blood tests was thyroid stimulating hormone and that was normal. I don't know if they did any other thyroid related tests.

LittleMy77 I haven't had any loading doses of vit D, I haven't seen or spoken to the GP since my vit D levels came back as low. So they may well still be low, although I've been taking the highest recommended dose since then.

From the sound of it, it may still be the vitamin issues causing most of my symptoms without anything more going on. I just thought I should be feeling better by now!

I think you need to get more detailed thyroid tests. I have just been diagnosed with hypothyroidism but my doctor told me it wouldn't have shown up on the typical test which just tests for TSH.

Apparently you need a test that looks at levels of both T3 and T4. My T3 was low though TSH was normal.

The link below explains it better than I can. See the second bullet under "At the appointment "

www.thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/diagnosis/getting_diagnosis.html

all of it could be due to deficiencies, but also due to coeliacs or thyroid issues.

coeliacs blood test is only an indicator and can sometimes be negative, a biopsy (with a colonoscopy) is needed to be sure.

you need to get a printout of the blood results and google (or post here). what the nhs says is 'normal' would be treated in other countries.

Peri menopause.

Thanks again everyone. I have an appointment with the GP on Monday so will ask about the thyroid function.

I was convinced that coeliac disease was the answer, as my daughter has just been diagnosed. After the negative screening test I asked the GP to check my total iga, and that was normal - so no deficiency that would give a false negative.