For anyone who can't find a diagnosis: Undiagnosed Disease Network

Posted by z4pper @z4pper, Feb 9, 2021

If you are like me, and your options are getting slim, perhaps I can offer a new direction.

I found this not too long ago. It's called the Undiagnosed Diseases Network. https://undiagnosed.hms.harvard.edu/ It can be a difficult and frustrating process to try and find a diagnosis. Especially when you know something is wrong, but the doctors can't seem to find any answers. If you are in this same boat or have been searching for years like I have, I would suggest looking into this program. It's federally funded and it's goal is to find out what sicknesses are hurting the US population. The studies are done to try and find a diagnosis when all other methods fail, and to further research into lesser known illnesses.

There is a catch though. They cannot promise a treatment or a cure, but they will do their best to get you a diagnosis. (Which if you haven't been diagnosed and cannot work, you know all to well that a diagnosis means everything when applying for disability.) They have various locations across the US and have cutting edge tech and doctors for those sites. They ask that you fill out a questionnaire, and do some thorough testing (doctors/specialists/etc.) before applying to them. If you choose to apply, it can take 6-8 weeks for the doctors to review your medical records, and then they will tell you one of 3 things: "You've been accepted." "You need to do some more testing before we are allowed to see you." or "You've done everything we possibly know how to do." But if you're like me, and are at the end of your rope, this might be worth a shot.

They will block out an entire week or two, set apart for you, to do all the testing and appointments. And because they are federally funded, they are willing to work with you in covering some of the expenses when you go. To find out which, I highly suggest contacting them personally from their website, the info is located at the bottom of the page.

Hopefully this will help some of you whom I have seen, who are low on hope, or have exhausted all of your options. Hopefully, this will help give you that beacon that you are so desperately searching for. Keep up the good fight. Because your life is worth it!

~ Ian

PS. I have also found a temporary alternative that actually has given me some surprising and positive results. If you have unusual symptoms without any explanation, have joint pains without any cause, or have frequent kidney stones, vulva oddities, or diabetes. I would highly suggest looking up Low Oxalate Diets. Or youtube videos featuring Elliot Overton or Sally Norton. They have If it's something you think could help you, look into the facebook group Trying Low Oxalates (TLO) headed by Susan Owens. Research it thoroughly before trying the diet at all. Good luck!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Autoimmune Diseases Support Group.

I find this disorder puzzling especially since too many doctors have no clue how to treat it.

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@z4pper

Ah yes, it took a while, but I did apply and they looked at my medical profile. They said about a dozen doctors looked through it.

They said that it seems as if it was an autoimmune disorder so I should check out a Rheumatologist. It definitely set me on the right track.

One MRI later and we found a mass inside my sinus cavity. Turns out it was leaking odd bacterial strains down my throat and threw off my entire gut flora. So one surgery later and a Low FODMAP diet plan and things seem to be getting better.

Had to get in touch with a functional medicine doctor in order to see any improvement tho. No amount of antibiotics, steroids, or pills were working. Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

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Wow that’s quite a story and you’ve been through a lot! Please take care and keep in touch with me!

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@lucyhipp

Wow that’s quite a story and you’ve been through a lot! Please take care and keep in touch with me!

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Absolutely, feel free to direct message me whenever

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@clutch

@amandaburnette, thanks for the reply. Glad to know that helped and you are on your way to improvement! Were you actually evaluated by the UDN team, in person? Or did they just consult and suggest the rheumatologist? Did they recommend Functional Medicine or did you decide that on your own? Also, which team of UDN specialists were you working with?
Just as a side note, I was trying to get in with the Duke Medicine UDN group. I had been seen in several specialty clinics at Duke, so decided to ask one of those providers for the referral letter. They turned me DOWN! Actually I thought their excuses were pretty flimsy, so I suspected it was ego-driven in part. I could be wrong, but I certainly did fit the criteria.

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I was evaluated by them, however it was not in person.

A team of doctors got together and looked over all my medical records. They wanted me to get in touch with a Rheumatologist and get back to them. However, the Rheumatologist just said, what do you want me to do? Wish you better?" and promptly scheduled me for a follow-up appointment. I could not cancel that appointment fast enough. but she also told me to see an endocrinologist. The Endocrinologist suspected a pituitary gland disorder and had me do an MRI. The MRI came up with a mass in my sinus cavity and I went to see an ENT from there. The ENT said that the mass was "highly unusual" and the surgery took about 2 hours longer than he had expected. He then disposed of the mass (which we had agreed beforehand to keep and store for further testing). Turns out, the hospital said that proper proceedure for something unsual is to store it. So I got lucky and they stored it against the doctors wishes. (My health was still bad, so I decided to look for another doctor, and a friend suggested I look into a doctor she had that cures odd/bizarre illnesses.)

From that, I got some culture samples and microscope slides from the mass. I ran it through an in depth microbiome test and found some rare bacteria in there as well as the medications they are resistant to. I was then told by my ENT after one last followup that the mass had been leaking down the back of my throat (which explained my horribly bad breath). And my new doctor surmised that those bacterias were wrecking havoc on my gut. Had to get a stool and gut flora test and it turns out that the cultures leaking into my gut not only thrived, but also served as great food for some of the local bad/good bacteria living in my gut too, causing some to either overgrow or die off entirely. So now my gut flora biome is out of balance and is eating away at the membranes of my intestinal wall, causing toxins to flow freely into my blood stream. This is causing all sorts of autoimmune responses, and is causing me to become deficient on vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals super easy and is causing me to just as easily overdose on them. It's been a percarious balance to say the least. And I have had to guage what amounts of vitamins, electrolytes, minerals, and even water I consume down to the milligram to keep my body in homeostasis. For instance, if I have more than 1000mgs of sodium in a day, I suffer sodium overdose symptoms for about 4 days. Or if I eat half a banana, my muscles, joints, and stomach will start to hurt badly and start to fall apart. I eat roughly the equivalent of 1 meal a day. And I can only drink 1 specific brand of water at about 2 bottles per day, because the alkalis or electrolytes in the water will give me symptoms. But even just adding water to my body chemistry can throw it off too if I'm not careful. Even baths have to be taken with some care.

All I can say is, I wouldn't have gotten this far if I hadn't payed attention in my microbiology 101 class.

But yeah. I was working with the UDN at the University of Utah. They said for me to come back if the data from the rheumatologist came up nil. But I have since found progress with my Functional Medicine doctor.

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@z4pper

I was evaluated by them, however it was not in person.

A team of doctors got together and looked over all my medical records. They wanted me to get in touch with a Rheumatologist and get back to them. However, the Rheumatologist just said, what do you want me to do? Wish you better?" and promptly scheduled me for a follow-up appointment. I could not cancel that appointment fast enough. but she also told me to see an endocrinologist. The Endocrinologist suspected a pituitary gland disorder and had me do an MRI. The MRI came up with a mass in my sinus cavity and I went to see an ENT from there. The ENT said that the mass was "highly unusual" and the surgery took about 2 hours longer than he had expected. He then disposed of the mass (which we had agreed beforehand to keep and store for further testing). Turns out, the hospital said that proper proceedure for something unsual is to store it. So I got lucky and they stored it against the doctors wishes. (My health was still bad, so I decided to look for another doctor, and a friend suggested I look into a doctor she had that cures odd/bizarre illnesses.)

From that, I got some culture samples and microscope slides from the mass. I ran it through an in depth microbiome test and found some rare bacteria in there as well as the medications they are resistant to. I was then told by my ENT after one last followup that the mass had been leaking down the back of my throat (which explained my horribly bad breath). And my new doctor surmised that those bacterias were wrecking havoc on my gut. Had to get a stool and gut flora test and it turns out that the cultures leaking into my gut not only thrived, but also served as great food for some of the local bad/good bacteria living in my gut too, causing some to either overgrow or die off entirely. So now my gut flora biome is out of balance and is eating away at the membranes of my intestinal wall, causing toxins to flow freely into my blood stream. This is causing all sorts of autoimmune responses, and is causing me to become deficient on vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals super easy and is causing me to just as easily overdose on them. It's been a percarious balance to say the least. And I have had to guage what amounts of vitamins, electrolytes, minerals, and even water I consume down to the milligram to keep my body in homeostasis. For instance, if I have more than 1000mgs of sodium in a day, I suffer sodium overdose symptoms for about 4 days. Or if I eat half a banana, my muscles, joints, and stomach will start to hurt badly and start to fall apart. I eat roughly the equivalent of 1 meal a day. And I can only drink 1 specific brand of water at about 2 bottles per day, because the alkalis or electrolytes in the water will give me symptoms. But even just adding water to my body chemistry can throw it off too if I'm not careful. Even baths have to be taken with some care.

All I can say is, I wouldn't have gotten this far if I hadn't payed attention in my microbiology 101 class.

But yeah. I was working with the UDN at the University of Utah. They said for me to come back if the data from the rheumatologist came up nil. But I have since found progress with my Functional Medicine doctor.

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Sounds very similar to what I’m going through but vax started it and then caught COVID last December and have never recovered and getting worse by each day. I too have dehydration and sensitivity to everything even water any supplements and was diagnosed with Mcas and my gut is in so much pain it feels as if it is detaching itself along with my muscles, ligaments nerves dying and such severe muscle cramps, spasms , twitching, severe weakness.. numbness tingling in limbs and in face ,severe joint pain , headache, rashes, breathing difficulties, brain issues,lymph’s and gland’s constantly swollen and hard as rock. Muscles feel like they are going to squeeze me to death. Eyes on fire , eyelids red and swollen, Dry mouth. I did do a few tests of my own and very had high arsenic levels, cesium, thallium and robidium. I did a mold panel because I was also exposed to mold and they came back positive. I could probably go on and on hope this even makes sense for I feel brain dead.Also I do feel I have connective tissue disease and have thyroid disease and stage 3 kidney disease.

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Hello all. I’ve been ill for over 13 years with no definitive diagnosis just bizarre symptoms. So severe at times I was awarded disability. In 2018 I decided to go 100% gluten free after my 23andMe report indicated I had one gene for likely developing Celiac. After have an endoscopy the biopsy was negative. But I continued the gluten free and felt so much better without intermittent flareups. After much more research I have discovered it’s not just wheat/rye/barley but GMO’s that has done this to my body. Makes sense because gluten free doesn’t contain GMO’s.

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Hi all,
I was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome and fibromyalgia when I was 31. I am now 64.

About nine months ago, a weird pinpoint rash developed all over both calves. It itched like crazy, and never went away. My dermatologist tried creams and steroids, but neither worked.

At the same time as the rash developed, I lost all interest in food. Had to pretty much force myself to eat and drink protein drinks. Nine months later, I have lost 60 lbs.

Finally, my dermatologist prescribed Naltrexone, which cleared up the rash and itching, but did nothing for the appetite problems.

My doctor referred me to our local cancer center for a complete work up. They said that based on the tests I have already had done (colonoscopy, EGD, chest x-ray, CT scan of abdomen, x-ray of long bones) they can pretty much rule out cancer. But they strongly think my problem is autoimmune. They took ten vials of blood and I will get the results on Tuesday.

I have an app that allows me to see the blood tests when they come in. My TSH was way high and a lot of liver tests were wacky. But my ANA was negative!

I’ll update this on Tuesday.

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@suzettegiordano

Sounds very similar to what I’m going through but vax started it and then caught COVID last December and have never recovered and getting worse by each day. I too have dehydration and sensitivity to everything even water any supplements and was diagnosed with Mcas and my gut is in so much pain it feels as if it is detaching itself along with my muscles, ligaments nerves dying and such severe muscle cramps, spasms , twitching, severe weakness.. numbness tingling in limbs and in face ,severe joint pain , headache, rashes, breathing difficulties, brain issues,lymph’s and gland’s constantly swollen and hard as rock. Muscles feel like they are going to squeeze me to death. Eyes on fire , eyelids red and swollen, Dry mouth. I did do a few tests of my own and very had high arsenic levels, cesium, thallium and robidium. I did a mold panel because I was also exposed to mold and they came back positive. I could probably go on and on hope this even makes sense for I feel brain dead.Also I do feel I have connective tissue disease and have thyroid disease and stage 3 kidney disease.

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Yeah I've had 3 friends/family have adverse reactions from the Vax.

2 have unexplainable neuropathy and one had their mucsles and joint lock up and she requires daily therapy to keep her joints in movable condition. Last I heard they had to wheel her to a pool to do it and it was just getting worse.

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@suzettegiordano

Sounds very similar to what I’m going through but vax started it and then caught COVID last December and have never recovered and getting worse by each day. I too have dehydration and sensitivity to everything even water any supplements and was diagnosed with Mcas and my gut is in so much pain it feels as if it is detaching itself along with my muscles, ligaments nerves dying and such severe muscle cramps, spasms , twitching, severe weakness.. numbness tingling in limbs and in face ,severe joint pain , headache, rashes, breathing difficulties, brain issues,lymph’s and gland’s constantly swollen and hard as rock. Muscles feel like they are going to squeeze me to death. Eyes on fire , eyelids red and swollen, Dry mouth. I did do a few tests of my own and very had high arsenic levels, cesium, thallium and robidium. I did a mold panel because I was also exposed to mold and they came back positive. I could probably go on and on hope this even makes sense for I feel brain dead.Also I do feel I have connective tissue disease and have thyroid disease and stage 3 kidney disease.

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Reply @suzettegiordano sorry about the conditions you are experiencing. Must be very tough. Can you recall whether you have ever used any antibiotic of the fluoroquinolones family such as ciprofloxacin. All you have described are issues which are associated with people having been floxed by these antibiotics. I suggest you also join the Facebook group on "Fluoroquinolones toxicity 24/7 live chat". This will enable you meet many members going through similar conditions and how they are improving. Wish you a speedy and permanent relief

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@dixzeland

Hello all. I’ve been ill for over 13 years with no definitive diagnosis just bizarre symptoms. So severe at times I was awarded disability. In 2018 I decided to go 100% gluten free after my 23andMe report indicated I had one gene for likely developing Celiac. After have an endoscopy the biopsy was negative. But I continued the gluten free and felt so much better without intermittent flareups. After much more research I have discovered it’s not just wheat/rye/barley but GMO’s that has done this to my body. Makes sense because gluten free doesn’t contain GMO’s.

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I have also had weird symptoms for 13 years, starting with gut. My thyroid antibodies were thru the roof--started soon after menopause. I've been GF several years but still getting sicker--it did stop heartburn at least.

I'm going to Mayo Phoenix to r/o Sjogren's, POTS, and likely mast cell activation--they are common together/

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