Most of my new patients have seen 3-5 MD's and tried several medications to suppress symptoms. A new male patient in his early 60's came in yesterday with unexplainable hives, heart palpitations, irritability and insomnia. The only system unaffected was his sexual libido.
I go through my usual physical exam and pick up on some significant findings: bone cold from the ankles down minus any edema in the foreleg, nailbed fungus in all toes, pitched ridging in the big toe nailbeds, flabby abdomen, no tenderness, scalloped tongue, 12 amalgam fillings that are wearing down because of nighttime grinding, and misshapen intestines with moderate acidity levels as per iridology exam.
I perform the physical exam portion first and do not look at any papers to reduce my incidence of bias.
He had an interesting history of a deeply lodged wooden splinter that was improperly removed and courses of antibiotics because of his medical care for the splinter. After the first round of antibiotics, things changed.
We proceeded to the comprehensive health history consult where I looked through his previous doctor's labs and in black and white it was clear that he had a wheat and scallop allergy. He told the doctor that he would never eat scallops again and the doctor said good without mentioning anything about the wheat allergy. So that was that.
Patient continued to ingest gluten, pasta, rolls, bread, sprouted wheat, spelt - you name it - and patient became anxious, had heart palpitations, upset stomach, very weird feeling in throat and heartburn. Doctor blew off weird feeling in throat and gave patient Nexium.
Patient saw doctor #2 who suggested getting an endoscopy and prescribed more medication. Neither doctor asked about diet nor did either one comment about the glaring evidence of a wheat allergy.
Patient got scoped and they found two polyps in esophagus and one large cyst in the stomach. Keep in mind that the patient's father died of pancreatic cancer. A biopsy was taken and everything was B9. Doctor said that polyps and cyst were "nothing to worry about." Patient felt confused, relieved and went about life with the same symptoms after eating and drinking certain foods and drinks - beer. He continued to take the prescribed medications because he thought the doctors knew more than him.
I suggested that polyps and cysts are not normal tissue formations. In fact, these are expressions of chronic inflammation which after so many DNA turnovers could become malignant under the right conditions.
I ordered several IgE food and respiratory environmental allergy panels from LabCorp. These panels are comprehensive and they are covered by insurance. I mention these panels because patients ask me about mold testing. There are some indoor mold testing kits to check your air and Labcorp can test to see if you are allergic to specific molds.
My clinical guess which I hope will be confirmed through lab diagnosis is celiac disease or celiac variation. We're checking celiac panels, celiac genomics and individual food allergies.
Celiac disease, food allergies and food sensitivities can be diagnosed at any age. Environmental assaults like a course of antibiotics can trigger gut flora changes that can cause different responses or turn on dormant genes.
We will get to the bottom of his condition. I did not do anything earth shattering - I just did what should have been done. I hate to see patient's lose valuable healing time as they are put on a ferris wheel of medications that may or may not work.
UPDATE: Patient's labs are undeniable. Full blown Celiac Disease.
Forget functional medicine. I practice foundational medicine.
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