Hi. I have been having health issues for years now and i finally feel like i am almost going to get an answer on what to do to get better. All my testing always comes out normal, and i am NOT stressed or anxious (which doctors like to say when they can't figure you out). The only abnormal test i had done was an upper endoscopy which showed lymphocytosis which is indicative of either celiac disease, systemic autoimmune disorder, or small bowel bacterial overgrowth due to a motility issue of the intestines (which can be from scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, or anything else that affects muscles/nerves.). My celiac panel is negative. My labs are all normal (ANA, ESR, rheumatoid factor (that was only high one time when i had a bad head cold), CBC, CMP, LFTS, thyroid). THe only abnormal thing has been my BUN and CReatinine. Last month, my BUN was high but creatinine was normal (and the bun to creatinine ratio was high). ON my last set of labs before that my creatinine was slightly high and my BUN was low, and my protein was slightly high. Anyway, for 6 months now i have been experiencing all over fasciculations (twitching) and worsening of joint pains, but i never get any redness or swelling. The fasciculations are all day long everywhere in my body and my cheeks in my face felt like they were being pulled back towards my ears. I feel better when i exercise because when i am active the joint pain stops. If i sit all day my joints hurt. Over the past few years i get this feeling like someone is stepping on my chest and i can't get enough oxygen, and a lot of times i get labored breathing. ANyways, the chest pressure was getting so bad so finally i took gaviscon, thinking it is maybe reflux even though i don't have any problems like burning, acididc taste in mouth, none of that. Amazingly, i felt like i could expand my chest and get more oxygen in and the twiching just about stopped after using 3 Gaviscon tabs every day for 2 days... so i continued to use it for 2 weeks, and i cant believe it. Interestingly, each gaviscon tab has 35 mg magnesium in it and also has sodium bicarbonate in it. So i then stopped the gaviscon and bought a magnesium oxide supplement and started taking that, and that is holding down my muscle twitching!!! I still get twitching throughout the day in weird spots of my body, like my face, my scalp, my arm, my thumb, my back, my hips, my crotch even, but its not all day every minute like how it used to be. Also, i feel mentally like i can think better or clearer, i was feeling just out of it or kind of confused or something for a while. But i still get that heaviness in my chest but its not as bad as before. So anyways i tell my gastro doctor and he wants me to get a lactulose breath test to rule out small bowel bacterial overgrowth (because maybe i am not absorbing magnesium due to that). He also brought up renal tubular acidosis as a distant possibility, like maybe i am too acidic for some odd reason and that is the cause of the twiching, which would make sense, because the gaviscon has sodium bicarbonate and magnesium and that makes me feel so much better. I never had a kidney stone and i don't have any abdominal pain. My pee has been darker for about a month now but i think thats cause the gaviscon or magnesium makes it more bright yellow, but my pee is usually see-through, and i drink about 4 16 oz water bottles a day. With the small bowel bacterial overgrowth... that is when bacteria releases too much hydrogren that goes into the bloodstream and then the lungs sense it and will cause rapid breathing/chest discomfort and the rapid breathing is how the lungs help to normalize blood pH. Does anyone else with RTA have this problem, of the chest pressure feeling and the muscle twitching. Also i notice if i eat a lot of protein it's worse for some reason. Should you be on a low protein diet if you have RTA? How do they even test for RTA? ANd what is the treatment?