Eye problems with Panic Disorder

[Mat-Mcknight]

  My wife has had a number of ongoing symptoms for the last six weeks. They began with a feeling of lightheadedness, not dizziness, which culminated in about ten hours to a feeling like she was going to faint. It also included tingling in her arms and a blurriness in her right eye. We went to the emergency room and they kept her overnight for observation, but all the test, a CAT scan and an EKG, as well as blood, were fine.
  The tingling and blurriness have come and gone, but the lightheadedness has stayed constant, sometimes getting stronger, sometimes getting weaker. She has had an echocardiogram done and the results were fine. She also has seen an opthomalogist and he has found nothing wrong. She wore a heart monitor, but not, I believe, a Holter, rather it was on her wrist and she gripped it to record her heart palpitations when the episodes got bad. Those, apparently were fine.
  The present guess is that it is either a Panic Disorder or an atypical Migraine.
  In addition to the continuing tingling, which has gone at times to different parts of her body, and blurriness in her right eye, she has also felt a burning sensation on the right side of her head and chest pains.
  I have hunted for the symptoms of a Panic Disorder and there is no mention of it affecting vision. Could Panic Disorder affect vision? Could this be PSVT? Any other ideas?
  We hope to have her take an MRI soon and see a Neurologist, but everything so far reports she is healthy as an ox.
  thanks a lot!
  matt

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

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Dear Matt, thank you for your question.  The symptoms of panic disorder are diverse and can vary greatly with each individual.  With all the negative tests that have been done on your wife, I suspect that she does not have any significant cardiac or neurologic disease.  However, it is a good idea for her to see a neurologist to definitively exclude neurologic disease.  If this evaluation fails to show any problems, then I suggest that you consider having your wife be evaluated by a psychiatrist for panic disorder.  
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