# Primary Raynauds and IBS-D!?



## legacydoctor (Mar 6, 2015)

Helloooooooo,

So here's my story (bullet points below):

I'm currently 24 years old, *170 lbs* and muscularly built (i'm also a male). During high school I weighed around *220 lbs* (opposite of muscular) and so decided that exercise and eating well below what my body required was the way to go. I lost over *70 pounds* within a *six-month* period by exercising 3-6 hours a day and not eating. By the end of it I was in miserable shape, woke up only to fall to the ground panting with my eyes open yet all i could see was black for a few minutes. I became a shut-in that couldn't do a damned thing other than go to his high school (then college) classes and force himself to exercise.

Before this period I was completely normal and healthy, no bowel problems and no Raynauds symptoms. After this period I began to have diarrhea bowel movements every few hours do to the fact that I only ate fruits and cereal. I also began experiencing decreased body temperatures which I associated with low body fat but soon after realized that this cold temperature was only in my hands, feet and face. My hands would turn white and become unusable until placed in warm water or near a space heater

I eventually realized my mistakes and began to reverse what i had done by tracking all of my macronutrients and eating exactly what my body required. I supplemented with multivitamins during this time as well. Shortly after gaining some weight and looking like a normal person (not anorexic) all of my nutrition deficiency symptoms such as fatigue and the like went away. The only things that have stayed with me till this day are the IBS-D (half of my bowel movements are D and i'm always gassy/bloated) and consistent damned raynauds attacks that have gotten progressively worse.

*Timeline Bullet points:*


Age 16: normal bowel movements and raynauds symptoms; started exercising/not eating which lead to losing ~70 lbs within a six month period.
Age 17-22: suffered greatly from nutrition deficiencies which lead to IBS-D and raynauds attacks.
Age 23-now: eat normally/supplement with multivitamins/exercise regularly yet IBS-D (not as severe but at least 1 or 2 D BMs per day) and raynauds attacks persist (raynauds has gotten progressively worse --- I'm cold literally all the time).

I've received multiple blood tests that have all come out negative, I have absolutely no autoimmune diseases, and my last stool sample came out negative for parasites. SInce my physicians haven't figured anything out, I myself have theorized that I've somehow damaged my gastrointestinal system (maybe formed ulcers, etc) and that this, somehow, is related to my "primary" Raynauds attacks.

I would really appreciate any sort of feedback on what I should do next. Any advice on what tests (nutrition deficiencies, GI tract exams, etc) or just simply what I should do next to avoid living the rest of my life with regret. I've lost countless friendships and suffered greatly during school even though I graduated with an impressive undergraduate GPA.

The only positive thing that has come out of this is my dedication to my body (I weight lift 5-6 days a week and have an outstanding physique (not trying to brag so much as portray my identity); my dedication to nutrition and exercise will eventually lead me to enter graduate school that involves those aspects but before I could do that I would like to "fix" this ongoing intrusion in my life.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I remember when I was a kid that I visited the ER because of a strained finger and the dr. looked at my blue hands and pressed on them and mentioned something about raynauds. He pronounced in French so until recently (some 20 years later) I never knew what he was talking about as I didn't know how to spell it.


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## legacydoctor (Mar 6, 2015)

jaumeb said:


> I remember when I was a kid that I visited the ER because of a strained finger and the dr. looked at my blue hands and pressed on them and mentioned something about raynauds. He pronounced in French so until recently (some 20 years later) I never knew what he was talking about as I didn't know how to spell it.


Did you end up overcoming it?


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I never went to the doctor for it. I am not even sure I had it. My only symptom was the blue-ish purple-ish skin in winter that stayed white after pressure. But it never bothered me. To be honest, I never thought about it until recently a woman talked about it in a Spanish forum about IBS.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

i have had reynauld's for many years. fingers especially get quite bad, feet somewhat and yes i'm cold all the time too. (except in summer unless i'm in a building where the air conditioning is on too high for my comfort)

from what i've read about reynaulds and from what i have been told about it by doctors, it is not related to gastro problems (i do not have ibs, btw) . reynaulds is a separate condition all it's own.

i have just basically learned to live with it. which is a challenge because i live in michigan lol....


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## legacydoctor (Mar 6, 2015)

annie7 said:


> i have had reynauld's for many years. fingers especially get quite bad, feet somewhat and yes i'm cold all the time too. (except in summer unless i'm in a building where the air conditioning is on too high for my comfort)
> 
> from what i've read about reynaulds and from what i have been told about it by doctors, it is not related to gastro problems (i do not have ibs, btw) . reynaulds is a separate condition all it's own.
> 
> i have just basically learned to live with it. which is a challenge because i live in michigan lol....


I live in a cold climate as well and the weather has been just horrible lately. I've been trying to live with Raynaud's the past few years as well but I would much rather live without it (if you know what I mean).


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

oh i sure do know what you mean.

and yes, this has been a very cold winter here, too. this february was the second coldest feb. on record in our area.

i get especially cold at the grocery store. my fingers get so bad i wear gloves as much as possible in there, even in the summer. i have to wear a jacket in there, too, in the summer--when people all around me are in shorts and flip flops....


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## legacydoctor (Mar 6, 2015)

annie7 said:


> oh i sure do know what you mean.
> 
> and yes, this has been a very cold winter here, too. this february was the second coldest feb. on record in our area.
> 
> i get especially cold at the grocery store. my fingers get so bad i wear gloves as much as possible in there, even in the summer. i have to wear a jacket in there, too, in the summer--when people all around me are in shorts and flip flops....


I know exactly how you feel. I started wearing mittens in grocery stores because of how cold my hands would get (especially in the refrigerated foods section)!

Those people in shorts and flip flops make me so jealous!  I do wonder what It would be like if I started wearing shorts in the winter...complete hell is what comes to mind.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

shorts in the winter--brrr--would be like hell freezing over...i stopped wearing shorts years ago lol...


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