Hi Joanie,
I can *really* sympathize. I've been under heavy stress for about a year. Six months ago, some circumstances changed for the worse and my stress level skyrocketed.
Within a matter of a week or so, I started having a variety of odd, often unpleasant, symptoms: intense itching in unusual places (ears were the worst), plus itchy/watery eyes, itches up my nose, very low energy, low moods, mood swings, frequent little cough for no reason, lousy sleep, low body temperature, short periods of racing heart, irregular heartbeat, etc.
I'm not much of a sweets eater, but suddenly I was craving sugar, bugging my teen-age daughter to make pies and cookies, drinking mocha coffees, raiding my wife's chocolate stash (I pay her back at the rate of about two for one, so she's very happy to share), and becoming interested in beer.
Then, too, there were headaches (which I virtually never get), joint aches, mental fuzziness, nasal congestion, feeling shaky when hungry, and more.
So I started doing all kinds of research at the library, and even more so online. (I like to do research, so this was fun for me.) I researched hormonal issues, inhalation allergies, heart issues, food allergies, MSG, psychological issues, mercury poisoning, even carbon monoxide.
I worked through a bunch of different lists of symptoms and online questionnaires. I have a strong background in the biological sciences and in psychology, so I was able to target my research pretty precisely.
But nothing was making much sense until I started looking into Candida. Bingo. I found a number of different Candida questionnaires online. The best of them was done by Wm. Crook, M.D., author of The Yeast Connection. I took his questionnaire at
www.yeastconnection.com/pdf/yeastfullsurv.pdf (It's a free instant download with no commercial messages of any kind.)
When I got to the end of the questionnaire, it said, "Yeast-connected health problems are almost certainly present . . . in men with scores more than 140." My score was well over 200.
So I started experimenting off and on with high-protein, low-carb, low-glycemic meals this week. Many of my symptoms are much improved after a low-carb meal, and markedly worse for some time after a high-glycemic meal. (And I'm not talking about regular carbo crashes or sugar crashes. I've been aware of those for a long time.)
Today, for example, I have had nothing except light Zone-type / paleo meals. I've been awake for about eight hours and my moods and energy level have remained consistently high. There has been very little itching or congestion, no cough, no shaky feelings.
Yippee!
Now, I'm looking at ways to get rid of the Candida for good, or at least cut it way back. Most of the anti-fungals I've been reading about online require visits to an M.D. ($$$$), a prescription, and the drugs have potentially harmful side-effects. I don't want to go that route if I can help it. The most promising thing I've read about so far is something called Lufenuron. It doesn't require a prescription. The person whose name is most associated with it online is Sarah Vaughter. If any other lowcarbers have any experience with this product, I'd like to hear about it.
As far as hormonal issues go, there are a couple of places you can go online to get all kinds of blood tests and saliva tests for hormones without a prescription. Two of the most-recommended places I've found are HealthCheckUSA and ZRT labs. You can get three or four different hormones professionally tested for less than $100, and they send you an evaluation by mail.
In contrast, a couple of months ago, I visited the website of a local M.D. who specializes in hormones. An initial appointment would be $300. Testing for one hormone, if I recall correctly, was $125. Then there were the follow-up appoints for prescribing, evaluating, etc., billed at the rate of something like $250 per hour. Those numbers mount up real fast.
If you want to do some reading about the hormonal issues you might want to visit YoungAgain.org. It's a non-commercial site that has a number of free articles and free, downloadable ebooks on hormones, hormone testing, hormone balancing, etc. (The site favors macrobiotics and low-protein ideas, but the hormone info is very helpful anyhow.)
Well, it's time for my next low-carb meal!
Best Wishes to you, Joanie.
Tobey