At 55 minutes into the one-hour visit, we finally figured out a years-old medical mystery!
Kelly has been my patient for many years. In the past few years she has had rashes all over… dry patches, dug-open itchy spots. They have not responded to creams, ointments, vitamins, or various supplements. She had been to dermatologists without any improvement. It had been suggested she could use strong meds to decrease her immune system response, but there was no way she wanted to do that.
Over the years Kelly has realized she is allergic to corn, soy, wheat and eggs. Even with cutting out foods, she has still suffered with the rashes. We made plans to look more at her gut microbiome and function.
Could stress be contributing? Or what about when we had changed the dose of her thyroid medicine? Had that helped? What about supplements? Did anything make her symptoms better or worse?
I felt like a detective, trying to figure all this out. In the past couple of years, I’ve been learning to look for the underlying cause of problems, rather than adding more medicines. In my traditional medicine job, time was tight as I had to see many patients per day. But with my DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice, I’m usually spending an hour with patients.
Near the end of our last office visit, Kelly reminded me that she has a pork allergy. Oh my! She’s on Armour Thyroid, which is from Pig Thyroid!! AND I had just heard a podcast mentioning that Armour Thyroid has corn in its ingredients, something she is allergic to!!
So, with some begging to the insurance company, we got approval for Tirosint, a thyroid capsule, which does not have the fillers that the tablets have. No corn, no pork derivatives.
I saw Kelly today, and for the first time in years her skin was clear! It is so rewarding to have finally solved the mystery.
Medicine the way it should be.