Wondering if i have autoimmune issues
Hi I can’t believe i’m coming here for answers but it’s because I’ve exhausted all my options and spent thousands of dollars with getting nothing but being brushed off.
I’m 33, 5’4” 160 pounds. I take concerta, wellbutrin, POPs birth control, and buspirone daily. i smoke marjuana multiple times a day and drink and smoke nicotine occasionally.
I’ve been mostly healthy in my 20’s. I had some unexplainable medical things happen here and there. Like routinely my lymphs and neuts are just below or above the range. When i was 24 i had a compression fracture from a tiny fall and the doctors found i had vitamin D levels of 13 ng/ml even though i walked two miles outside everyday to commute to work in Washington D.C where we get a lot of sun. When i was 26 shortly before the pandemic i experienced mono like symptoms, tested negative for mono and everything else but still had a really high white blood cell count. Doctors couldn’t explain what it was and they said it was just a ~virus~
Fast forward to 2023 is when everything started to surface up. I admittedly was under a lot of stress because i was close to finishing my PhD and was much heavier because i was on SSRIs. It started with stomach issues. Bad constipation and discomfort. I eventually decided to get off my SSRIs and birth control to hopefully feel better with doctors guidance. I started to have weird aura and floaters blackouts where i couldn’t see at all. I went to the eye doctor and they saw some swelling in my optical nerves and urged me to go to the ER to get and MRI. I went to the ER and i had to beg them to get one done since i looked fine. After waiting 12 hours without even getting to eat they finally got one done and they immediately changed their tone and said i was gonna be hospitalized because there was excess fluid in my brain. They did a spinal tab and if I remember correctly pressure was in high 30’s. I was diagnosed with pseudo tumor cerebri and the only reason they could think of is that because i was ~fat~. I was 180 pounds and yes that technically is obese but i wasn’t larger than a size 12. I was put on diamox and then topamax for a year which made my stomach issues much worse. Burning sensation in my stomach and when I go the bathroom. Eventually my neuro-opt thought my condition was stable enough to be taken off of topamax.
Fast forward to the last 2 years, i started to have really bad urticaria episodes almost daily, as well as really bad stomachaches that sometimes last a week-10 days. Sometimes they occur together but most of the time they happen separately. With my stomachaches, bowel events aren’t always accompanying them, but sometimes it would be so bad i would spend the whole night in the bathroom. I went to an allergen. My skin got bumpy for almost every allergy but because the control was bumpy and itchy too, they told me it’s probably just sensitive skin and to take allegra twice daily to feel better. Then i saw a GI doctor. Ultrasound showed that I had a borderline enlarged spleen (13 cm which I was told is big for someone my size). Endoscopy was normal. So my doctor said it’s probably IBS and i should just take MiraLAX everyday to help with the irregular bowels and really bad stomachaches. He didn’t seem concerned about my spleen at all. But i just got the results of my last test which is why I’m here. My stool was tested for calprotectin and this was the result i got from the lab. But then i got this letter from my doctor and he once again is just dismissive of an outside of range result. His exact words are “This test strongly suggests no significant inflammation in the intestine“. I know none of these results are EXTREMELY alarming but when it’s combined with life altering symptoms i would to at least feel like someone is considering a chronic inflammation/autoimmune disease.
Im seeing a nutritionist too right now about IBS and she mentioned SIBO. But again my doctor think its pointless to test for it because it’s kinda untreatable anyway.
I guess I just want to know if i should get a second opinion or if there’s additional testing i should request. Please help me, I’m desperate. Sorry for the long post and thank you if you’ve taken the time to read it all.