Suggest Remedy For Nausea And Dizziness While Running

Question: My son, XXXX, is 26 years old and has had great success as a runner. He ran the 2013 XXXXXXX Marathon in 2:49 and ran the 2010 Rock & Roll Half Marathon in 1:15. A year later he ran the same time in the XXXXXXX Half Marathon. He has also run a 31:59 10K in college and walked on the varsity cross country team at the University of Illinois in 2007. After running the marathon in 2013 he took his normal time off and 6 weeks later started training again. 5 minutes into a run he became dizzy and nauseous and had to stop. This has been the situation ever since.

He has seen doctors, neurologists, and a chiropractor/nutritionist over the last 18 months. He has had every test imaginable, including EKG, Brain MRI, Vertigo testing, anything and everything related to the ears and no cause has been discovered and even after shutting down completely for months when he tries to run, anywhere from 5-15 minutes into the run the dizziness and nausea return. We have documented all the testing and doctor visits. He is very fit and has a true "runner's body". The chiropractor is exploring the possibility of adrenal malfunction and had him tested. His cortisol levels were low normal to below normal and he suspects that might be the problem. One neurologist insists this is vestibular migraine and the other neurologist doesn't know and has suggested going to Mayo. He had a partial splenectomy 20 years ago from a hemangioma on his spleen. The scar has bothered him.

I teach at a high school and a trainer at my school thinks he might have suffered an injury to his hypothalamus during the marathon. To be honest, we don't know what's wrong. Thank you for your consideration.

XXXX

He did a swab saliva test at 4 times in one day. His times and scores follow:

6 AM - 8 AM - 18 Ref Values 13-24
11 AM - 1PM - 4 Ref Values 5-10
4 PM - 5 PM - 5 Ref Values3-8
10 PM - 12 AM - 2 Ref Values1-4

Total Cortisol Out put 29 Ref Values 22-46

So morning wasn't low.

Thank you for your explanation and advice. In your experience when something like this happens, can it be successfully treated and cured? He desperately wants to get back to competitive running. He was aiming for a sub 2:30 marathon time when these symptoms literally stopped him. Thank you again.

There are other values in the test. His Dehydroepiandrosterone Free Pooled Value was 12 (DHEA + DHEA-S) - Ref Values 3-10

His fasting and non fasting insulin values were <3 - Ref Values 3-11
His P17-OH Progesterone Level was a normal 42 - Ref Values 22-100
His Tonal Salivary SigA value was borderline low <5 - Ref Values 5-9
His Gliadin Ab, SigA (Saliva) was <1 Ref Values 13-15 U/mi

I should also mention MS runs in our family. My mother and her aunt had it. However the neurologists both checked and cleared him of that. Having lived in a home with MS he doesn't show any of the symptoms except fatigue, but I thought you should be aware of the history and that it has been checked.

Thank you for your guidance. We will follow up as you advised. The one question you didn't answer was:

In your experience when something like this happens, can it be successfully treated and cured? He desperately wants to get back to competitive running.

Thank you again.