[CRITTER]

Greetings all! I'm still trying to navigate the site & hope I'm posting this in the correct region! I'm Critter from South Dakota, a 40-ish (emphasis on this ish) chick, with IgA deficiency, auto-immune disease, pernicious anemia, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, osteoporosis, peripheral uveitis, cataracts, chronic hives, neck & back problems, arthritis, hiatal hernia, constant gut problems (not celiacs tho, I was just tested) IgG food toxicity, allergies, fibromyalgia, asthma, and a buncha other junk too numerous to mention! Lol! I love animals, especially cats, am involved in many animal, human & environmental causes, am almost completely isolated because of my health & must avoid exposure to buggys and I am seriously cold-intolerant so I can't step foot out the door in cold weather. I spend 90 percent or more of my time alone & am owned by 2 cats who keep me in line! My doctor is no help and knows very little about what ails me and since I'm on disability, he is my P.C.P., so I'm getting virtually no health care. I know no one with IgA deficiency & the resulting problems, the auto-immune crappola and so forth that go along with it and it would sure be nice to connect with others who know what it's like to live your life with a disabilty that isolates you and makes you feel rotten every day.

[Alffe]

Hi Critter and welcome to NeuroTalk. I see you have located our pet forum.
*grin. Just jump in anywhere...you're going to like it here.

[glenntaj]

--go take a look at our celiac/gluten sensitivity forum:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum13.html

--especially The Gluten File, with its material on how IgA deficiency is involved with gluten syndromes. A number of people there are very conversant with this type of immune situation. (And have you been tested for anti-glidain, anti-endomyseial, and anti-transglutaminase antibodies? What you've got going sounds so much like there could be a gluten problem. And it wouldn't have to be celiac--as one of our posters says, that's only one finger on the gluen sensitivity hand.)

[DM]

Hello Critter and Welcome to NT. That is some list!! I'm glad you found us, as this place is awesome. You'll find your'e never really alone here. Look forward to hearing more from you.

[Darlene]

Critter,

Great to see you have come to be with us. You will find a great number of caring, supporting members here willing to help each other as they can.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene

[CRITTER]

It sure was nice to get all of your replies! I really appreciate it! I agree on that gluten stuff, it is definitely implicated in IgA deficiency, allergies, skin conditions, among other things. (and gonna check the link out next) I don't know exactly what tests they ran for the celiac test, and they only recently began doing them here. They sent the blood to some other state...and all they told me when the results were back was that I don't have celiac's disease. My doc...aarrgghh!!! (and his nurse is a snip and on a huge power trip so attempting to get any feedback or anything from them if I hafta go thru her, which I generally do, is fruitless.) I'm doc shopping and next summer plan to recruit a different one. It's a bummer tho., when you're on SSI, cuz ya need a really good reason to switch docs and I don't like to shut any doors within the limited medical field in my area for one thing, since down the road I may need them (so I don't dare tell them he's an idiot!! Lol! ) and he's my Primary Care Physician so I have to have approval from him just to phart! Lol! It's a major hassle. There's only one allergy/immunologist here too so that makes it tough and that doc has discontinued many of the types of testing he used to do. (they just get sooo elevated & important don't they!!) Oh big kahuna, thank you so very much for deigning to consort with us mere mortals!!! Puhleeease allow us to donate to the Harvard education of your children, help you pay off your condo, your ex-wife's alimony, your ex-wife's condo, your ex-mistress' palimony, her crib, and your hair transplant! Lolol!!! Oh I'm notta total beeyotch or bitter or anything, just hissed off dontcha know! Lol!
Gettin back to the gluten-enigma.....lolol......
I bloat like crazy from wheat products and my entire family on Mom's side has gut problems, and we all have distended guts! Lol! Between my Dolly-Partonesqueness & my bloated belly, it's understandable that my tootsies are tiny, they being sheltered from the growth benefits that ol' Sol Sunshine provides!! Lol!! My diet is already so limited what with IgG food toxicity & food allergies that it's getting very hard to eat...I never know what I'll be able to handle. I have zero IgA but at one point some 20 years ago I had a wee bit. I always think there has gotta be a food connection since much of this stems from the gut, like with my pernicious anemia, my immune system destroyed my intrinsic factor in the gut so I can't break down or assimilate B-12, so I do my monthly B-12 shot. Aaarrggh!! GUTS!, can't live withem, can't live without em! Lol! I wonder if there might be some way thru diet & nutrition to kick-start IgA into production. Some people do spontaneously start to produce it, however I don't know what causes that to happen & I've read it's very rare. Back when they determined I had IgA def. they didn't tell me much & I've had to learn on my own what I could...but thank God for the advent of computers! That's where I got the most info. regarding it. Way back, the docs just said I was born with IgA def. and it was a genetic defect and there was nothing I could do for it.
I am sooo tickled to have found this group! I actually am feeling like not so much of a freak and like I can really talk about this stuff! As a kid...oyyy, hide the illness, don't tell people, feel guilty, etc. miss tonz of school, felt so isolated with this & never once during that time ever had a friend with illness anything like it & not a soul to talk with about it. (Except my Mom) Virtually nothing was known about the immune system back then & I was in my 20's before I had a name fer what ailed me! (the IgA def.) All those years growin up, sick all the time as a kid with one thing after another and docs couldn't figure out what I had so they always called it the flu.... the docs would tell my Mom, "Well, Mother, we'll just give her a shot of penicillin, half the time it won't hurt & the other half it will help" so they treated every single childhood illness in me with penicillin...(yep I'm allergic now! Lol!) but I think that all the antibiotics (many others they used on me too) took their toll on me, not to mention on my gut. The last time I had antibiotics they used biaxin and I got bloody colitis and C-Deficile, (I had to figure out I had the C-Def. on my own) and by then I was in BAD shape, I had lost so much weight from the diarrhea so after throwing the diflucan away I went & bought probiotics & healed the C-Deficile & thrush I had. It took me 2 years to fully recover. I would love to find a doc that could address all these things but I reckon I'm dreamin huh? I'm dreamin' right now of a warm, sunny day, tipped back in my chaise lounge. ohh yoooohoo, cabana boy....my drink needs refreshing and don't forget the foot cream, my tootsies needs massagin, ahhh warm sunshine, iced beverage, blue skies, balmy day....but we've got 10 inches of snow & it's -3 degrees! See? I DO have imagination anyway!? Dream big! Lololol!!! Well, now my secret is out, I'm long winded so I bid you all a fond adieu and anxiously await replies!!! Lol!
Thanks fur listenin.......
=^..^=
Huggs!
CRITTER
Blind Azza Bat

[AfterMyNap]

Howdy, Critter! Welcome to NeuroTalk!