Question:
I am a 24 year old male. About two months ago I was driving and began to feel very light-headed. It lasted about 20 minutes. It happened again about three days later. This then began to happen more and more often until it became so bad that I went to the emergency room. I felt as if my body was going to completely shut down. I had tons of blood tests done, an EKG, a chest x-ray, and urine samples taken. I was sent home as they could find nothing to keep me there. I was given a medication for dizziness.
The light-headed feeling would at times get worse, but it would never completely go away. For the first two weeks I experienced the following symptoms along with the light-headed feeling: muscle weakness, severely increased appetite, a feeling of poor circulation in the limbs, small red blotches on my knee, and a stiff, weak neck. I began to see my doctor who took further blood tests and began to treat the illness as a virus. The only thing out of the ordinary in all my blood work was a high white blood cell count. He put me on Methylprednisolone to help my immune system fight the illness.
Then about two weeks into the illness, I began to experience severe headaches. I felt as if my head was going to explode. I checked into the emergency room once again, worried that I might be having a brain hemorrhage or aneurysm. I was sent for an MRI, and given a Lumbar Puncture procedure. Both tests came back clean, and I was prescribed painkillers (Ultracet) to deal with the intense pain. During this time my appetite went in the opposite direction and I barely was eating.
I continued with my primary doctor who was unable to diagnose the illness. He had me meet with a doctor from the Center of Disease Control as well. My doctor began to feel that everything may be psychological, and wanted to put me on Paxil. I was hesitant about this because I felt maybe I should have a psychological exam before being put on the medication. He insisted the medication was harmless and worth a try.
The illness then slowly got better, but never completely went away. I began to try and resume normal life activities. I went back to work, and socialized, but the light-headed feeling was still there and made it nearly impossible to enjoy everyday activities. I began to ease myself off the Paxil because I did not like the side effects.
Then after about two weeks the light-headed feeling became debilitating again. I decided to completely start over with a new doctor. His first step was to have me wear a Holter Monitor. When he examined the results, he felt there was a problem. He said my heartbeat was often higher than normal. When I was sleeping it ranged from 40-100 beats per minute. When I did mild exercise (walking 1 mile at 3.5MPH), it was around 170. Therefore he sent me to a cardiologist.
The cardiologist looked at the results and felt that there was nothing unusual about this. I was baffled at how two doctors could look at a test so differently. He took another EKG and decided things look fine. However he did decide to send me for a Tilt Table test, which the results are pending.
I also felt the symptoms could be as a result of a poor diet at times. However I recently had a Glucose Tolerance Test, which showed nothing out of the ordinary.
I am not sure if this is a physical medical ailment or a psychological one with physical symptoms. I am currently taking St. John’s Wort as a natural way to combat the possibility of anxiety. At this point I am very nervous that the Tilt-Table test may not show anything and I will be back to square one. I am desperate to get back the quality of life that I have lost. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
In Summary:
Main Symptom: Light-headed
Accompanied at times by: sweating, muscle weakness, poor circulation in limbs, dramatic increase/decrease in appetite, small rash on right knee, weak and stiff neck.
Medications taken so far: Meclizine, Methylprednisolone, Naproxen, Ultracet, Avelox, Paxil
Tests taken so far: EKG, chest X-ray, heart enzyme exam, urine sample, MRI (head and neck), Lumbar Puncture, Holter Monitor, Echocardiogram, Glucose Tolerance, Tilt-Table Test.
Answer:
Get a copy of the results of all your tests, especially the blood tests. Most of the glucose tolerence tests are to rule out high readings. They seem to think it's fine if they are lower than normal. I had low blood sugars for years which caused a lot of dizziness, etc. It seemed that if I drank a glass of orange juice, within an hour I could barely keep myself awake. That's why diabetics drink OJ if their sugar drops. As more information became available I realized that snacking on anything sweet or starchy would lead to the dizzy and sleep. I also had low blood pressure, the longer I would stand the lower it would seem to go. I had a terrible time trying to get through a grocery store. I had to change my diet and the way I ate my meals. The protein and greens need to come before the starches. No sugars for a while. NO artificial sweeteners. For a while I was carrying around celery sticks to munch on. I sometimes had carrot sticks, but sometimes even they had too much sugar. When starches and sweets come first the body tends to send out lots of insulin to take care of it. Then the blood sugard drop as the insulin comes on.
I also had a tilt table test done which did show some slight problems. My primary doc gave me proamatine a few weeks later. I guess he had been doing some reading and came across that medication. It was a really big help for me.
I do hope you are able to find an answer soon as I know all too well what you must be going through.
Alice
Answer:
Hi,
Hoping that you have found the answer to your problems by now. If not, you might with to explore the possibilities of Lyme Disease. While exploring the net to try to find out what might be wrong with my son, (age 14), I have come to the conclusion that while these diseases are not caused by the same things, there are many shared symptoms between the following: Addison's Disease, Lyme Disease (from tick bites, if in your area) Thyroid problems, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fybromyalgia, Inner Ear or ignored Sinus infections. Perhaps you need to check your blood pressure AND heart rate. You may be experiencing POTS or orthstatic or postural hypotension (causing the dizziness). These may be symptoms of some of the above diseases or illnesses. I truly hope you have come across the answer to your problems by the time you read this post!
Answer:
Hi,
your symptoms are very much like mine. I added a few symptoms after they started me on paxil, like heavyness and hot/cold sensations in back and shoulders. I have not been to work in 8 months and I am in a financial mess. If you have a rash you need to look into lymes and do it soon because from what I have read the testing sucks, and gets harder to diagnose as time goes by.
I am lightheaded 24/7 and if I get anxious it will change to dizziness and end with a headache in my temples and brainstem. I also experiance brainfog or spaciness, I feel like I am in a dream 24/7. I too weened myself off the paxil over a month ago and feel no differant. My nose and ears are stuffed and my eyes are completly whack!
The worst thing about all of this is I always figured docs could help you out no mater what, even cancer. A while back my new doc sent me for an MRI and it showed my right maxillery was blocked, I was so happy. I was put on tequin and sudafed for two weeks, it did nothing. I pretty much had another emotional breakdown wiped my tears and punched a metel door. I broke my hand. I went to the Emergency Room and told the lady I fell from a latter. She took one look at my hand and said that I had a boxers fracture it happens from punching something. So I told her the truth and asked her, since she was so intelligent, why I have been dizzy for 8 months.
I would look into lymes. It is possible that I even have it or something in the inner ear, the weird sensations I have dont really fit with ear probs. Lymes is in every state but is really common in N.E. states. Good luck finding the right Doc.
Derek
Answer:
paperlantern,
I have also suffered from this problem and I'm beginning to think that it's a case of low blood pressure. I also suffer from heavy sweating, tiredness, dizzy spells, poor circulation and sometimes heart palpitations. I do very little walking these days since purchased a car and even drive to work. To make a long story short, I'm going to get myself into better physical condition and improve my diet, if that helps I'll let you know.