Dizziness, stomach pain, chest pain == stress?

[Paul T]

Hi All,

For about 5 months now I've been baraged by a series of different symptoms (these have been getting worse), including dizziness, stomach pain, chest pain, shortness of breath and feeling like I'm going to faint.

I feel dizzy all day.  Get stomach (feels like acid reflux) and chest pains that worsen at night and sometimes feel like I'm going to faint, most often when I'm out.  I feel specially bad around meal times, most often ~20 minutes after I finish eating dinner.

I've had a series of blood tests, an EKG, ultrasound of most of my internal organs and more stool samples then I can count.  Everything has come back as being fine, the only thing not fine is that my blood presure is borderline ~150/95 (though I think I have had high blood presure since I was a teenager).

My Doctor thinks its all stress related, though I continually tell her that I don't feel stressed out.  I work out of my house and have a very relaxing life and never have felt stressed out before.

About the only thing that stresses me out is the constant sick feeling that I have.

Now I know that I have most of the signs of a panic/anxiety attacks, but what concerns me is the constant dizziness and the fact that I feel worse around meal times.  I almost feel like I constantly have low blood sugar.

I don't have a problem being diagnosed and treated with having a panic disorder, but I'd really want to make sure that this was the problem.

My questions are do people who suffer from panic disorders have constant dizziness?  And can panic attacks get triggered by eating/not eating?  Are there any other tests that I can have my doctor run to rule out any non mental cause of my symptoms?

Thanks,

[babird1]

OH MY GOODNESS! I cannot believe what I just read here! I have all the same symptoms I just read here- so much similar, that reading this made me start crying and hyperventilating because it's been worrying me so much. I feel tired and weak 24/7. I have really bad dizzy spells. I feel worse before and after meals. I have symptoms of hypertension. I have a lot of stress, panic, and anxiety.

I am almost 21 years old, but I have felt this way since about 14 years old.

And I just started having pains just below my ribcage when I start feeling especially stressed.

I don't know what to do! Please email me if you have anything helpful! ***@****

[babird1]

Huh. It won't let me post my email address. I should have known. Let me try again: baddbird1 AT yahoo DOT com.

[David R. Cowan, Crieff, Perthshire, Scot]

Paul,
I have had very similar problems for many years:
Nausea, acid feeling in stomach, dizziness, especially when out walking or on public transport, always feeling better after eating sugary sweets (blood sugar is OK).
   I have also had high blood pressure for a few years, which was part of the problem, but have reduced this, except when I go to see my doc when it gets abnormally high.
    A doctor friend told me to go on a vegan diet and watch my BP fall, which it did, from 210/105 down to 125/75.
    |My dizziness is getting better over the years, still a little tinnitus left, but I go out for a 40 minute hard walk every night, plus Yoga exercises, and eating properly - fruit and nuts, vegetables, plus a range of other things to help my BP.
   One possibility is geopathic stress - energies from underground fissures, subterranean streams, etc. See my website for more details: <www.leyman.demon.co.uk>

[Tracey/Canada]

Dear paul
You and I sound very much alike and have almost all the same symptoms .
I in july was amitted to hospital , for what they said was a Kidney stone , they later gave me Morphine for pain where I had a serious allergic reaction that , I almost died ..

After a few months I began to get all the symptoms that you mentioned , I saw medical Drs and went through many test and I am still going through testing .
All the Drs i have seen suggest that i have a panic/Anxiety disorder.

I also suffer the dizziness and also the  stomache problems and I also feel like I have low blood sugar at times .. Can I ask you this ??
Do you feel weak and or like you are having maybe what is like tremors or small seizures ??

I also experience night sweats ...Do you ?
I read your article and found it very intresting that someone out there has the same ,life of hell and frustration that i do !!

I would really lke to have the opportunity to talk to you more about this .

Tracey , In Canada

[Tracey/Canada]

Dear paul
You and I sound very much alike and have almost all the same symptoms .
I in july was amitted to hospital , for what they said was a Kidney stone , they later gave me Morphine for pain where I had a serious allergic reaction that , I almost died ..

After a few months I began to get all the symptoms that you mentioned , I saw medical Drs and went through many test and I am still going through testing .
All the Drs i have seen suggest that i have a panic/Anxiety disorder.

I also suffer the dizziness and also the  stomache problems and I also feel like I have low blood sugar at times .. Can I ask you this ??
Do you feel weak and or like you are having maybe what is like tremors or small seizures ??

I also experience night sweats ...Do you ?
I read your article and found it very intresting that someone out there has the same ,life of hell and frustration that i do !!

I would really lke to have the opportunity to talk to you more about this .

Tracey , In Canada

[Tracey/Canada]

Dear paul
You and I sound very much alike and have almost all the same symptoms .
I in july was amitted to hospital , for what they said was a Kidney stone , they later gave me Morphine for pain where I had a serious allergic reaction that , I almost died ..

After a few months I began to get all the symptoms that you mentioned , I saw medical Drs and went through many test and I am still going through testing .
All the Drs i have seen suggest that i have a panic/Anxiety disorder.

I also suffer the dizziness and also the  stomache problems and I also feel like I have low blood sugar at times .. Can I ask you this ??
Do you feel weak and or like you are having maybe what is like tremors or small seizures ??

I also experience night sweats ...Do you ?
I read your article and found it very intresting that someone out there has the same ,life of hell and frustration that i do !!

I would really lke to have the opportunity to talk to you more about this .

Tracey , In Canada

[HFHS M.D.-SW]

Dear Paul T,


The symptoms you are describing may represent a number of illnesses.
Stomach pain and discomfort may be due to gastric problems (i.e. gastric reflux or ulcer). If indeed your dizziness lasts all day, then it is not characteristic of panic and may indicate problems with inner ear, central nervous system disease, etc.
In some people their level of anxiety may predispose them
to somatic complains. Whether these somatic complain are medical or psychological in origin depend on the results of a thorough history and medical work up.
A panic attack is an episode characterized by some of the following symptoms; shortness of breath, dizziness
palpitations, trembling, sweating, choking, nausea, chest pain, and possibly a fear of going crazy. A person may suffer a number of these attacks in a short period.
Panic attacks usually occur without a trigger and last minutes to hours. It is highly unlikely eating can
cause panic attacks.
There are no medical tests per se for panic, it is a clinical diagnosis and one that is arrived at by a careful history.
Fortunately treatment is available. Medications, specifically certain types of antidepressants (the SSRI) may reduce or alleviate your symptoms.
I recommend you see a psychiatrist, along with your physician.
Best Wishes.

HFHS M.D.-SW

[Rebecca]

Stress can cause many symptoms, but I think it's important to rule out physical causes first.  The way you feel right after you eat reminds me of what's called gastroparesis.  This is where the stomach muscles are not working as well as they should and so food does not go down as fast as it should.  It just kind of sits there and can cause you to feel sick, or have pain, or feel full very quickly.  I would recommend seeing a gastrointestinal doctor where they can do a simple test to see if you delayed emptying in your stomach.  As far as the dizziness, I have had problems with this too.  I would recommend you go to a clinic that specializes in the inner/middle ear where they can run many tests to see if there's a problem.  If this shows nothing, you may want to have an MRA of your head to see if the eighth cranial nerve is being compressed.  This is the nerve that controls balance.  This is what I had and had surgery to correct it.