Brain fog, stomach pains, panic attacks, headaches

[sopink11]

This is my final resort. In the past few weeks I've been to the E.R. twice, my regular phsycian numerous times, a neurologist, an endocronologist and an infectious disease doctor. I've had numerous MRI's, blood tests, etc. and everything has come back negative. (other than a test that says my B12 level is kind of low)

Here's my story:
Over a month ago, on my birthday, I went out to eat, drank in my dorm and later went to a fraternity party, where I drank jungle juice (for those of you who don't know it's a punch-like alcoholic drink). That night, I left the party because I had such bad stomach pains. I went home and was on the toilet for about an hour, with EXTREME stomach pain and diaherra. The next morning I felt out of it, but I attributed it to being hungover. I still felt out of it later that night, but felt that I probably just needed a good night's sleep. I woke up the next day still feeling out of it, almost like I was still drunk, and this continued through the next day. I went to the E.R. where they did numerous tests, which all came back negative. A few days later I came home, and I was still feeling these symptoms. They are continuing to this day, which is over a month later.

Currently I've been experienceing:

*Constant "brain-fog" - feeling completely out of it or as though i'm on drugs or alcohol - unreal feeling
*persistent stomach pains
*headaches
*weakness
*unexplained anxiety/panic attack/depressive sympt.
*numbness
*loss of appetite
*irritability
*chills/hot flashes
*spots in front of my eyes

No doctor has helped at all. Can you?

[aleem]

my advice the first step is to keep mentally strong. in the field of neurology two kind of physicians are there 1. neurologist 2. psychiatrist. if u have unexplained anxiety/panic attack/depressive sympt these may affect your other systems for example stomach, lungs, heart hence u may experience stamah pain, palpitations, breathing difficulty, as most test turned out to be negative i feel u do not have major abnormalities. please note if the symptoms have improved from the first attak even by slighest margin. do more cardiovascular exercise and drink plenty of water n healthy diet, i feel there is some amount of alcohol in ur body fluids for example blood, cerebrospinal fluid, ocular fluid, u need to excrete them out through urine, sweat, stool. i suggest cerebrospinal fluid aspiration and test for unusual alcohol level, do urine test. the panick attack, deprssion, anxiety will be best handled by a psychiatrist. possibility is this anxiety and panick may give rise to all the problems since u do not have any focal neurological deffeceit. u may need some antipsychotic drugs for a while. i am sure everything will come down to normal with time. try not to worry much as this may aggravate ur anxiety and the symptoms. the body's principal control system is neuro-endocrine if u are mentally fit ur symptoms will go away if u lead a healthy life strictly. do not wake over night and try having at least 8 to 9 hours sleep a day. consult an ophthalmologist if u have visual problems.

[aleem]

and also i suggest ultrasonogram of abdomen to see pancreas and liver. alcohol may cause pancreatitis or hepatitis if u drink too much for long time.

[BunnyBee12]

Hi! You mentioned having low b12 level which I have been struggling with.  Here is some information with the web URL/LINKS for you to pursue.  Please note that a person may be deficient in vitamin b12 while having perfectly good red blood cells and not actually being anemic.  It is better to test for the exact level of your vitamin b12.  One of the most common casues for low levels or for depletion is MALABSORPTION/LACK OF INTRINSIC FACTOR.  This is usually a problem for older people.  

But I cut and pasted all this info before I finished reading about your party night!  Perhaps someone put something into the jungle juice....


Anemia is a drop in the number of red blood cells. This can be caused by a lack of vitamin B12.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors Return to top
Vitamin B12 is essential for normal nervous system function and blood cell production. The main sources of vitamin B12 include meat, eggs, and dairy products. For vitamin B12 to be absorbed by the body, it must bind to intrinsic factor, a protein secreted by cells in the stomach.
Causes of vitamin B12 deficiency include:
 A diet low in vitamin B12 (for example, a strict vegetarian diet that excludes all meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs)
 Chronic alcoholism
 Abdominal or intestinal surgery that affects intrinsic factor production or absorption
 Crohn's disease
 Intestinal malabsorption disorders
 Fish tape worm
 Pernicious anemia, which is caused by a lack of intrinsic factor
Treatment

The amount of B12 retained by the body is proportional to the amount given. Calculating the required amount of therapeutic B12 is difficult because repletion must include restoration of liver stores (normally 3,000 to 10,000 µg), during which B12 retention declines. In general, vitamin B12 1000 µg IM 2 to 4 times/wk is given until hematologic abnormalities are corrected, and then it is given once monthly. Alternatively (less commonly), oral B12 can be given in very large doses (0.5 to 2 mg/day). This was from MERCK; forgot to include url.
http://www.supplement-information-library.com/benefits_of_methly_b12.html




The risk factors are related to the causes.

Symptoms Return to top
 Loss of appetite
 Diarrhea
 Numbness and tingling of hands and feet
 Paleness
 Shortness of breath
 Fatigue
 Weakness
 Sore mouth and tongue
 Confusion or change in mental status in severe or advanced cases

Signs and tests Return to top
A physical evaluation of the patient's neurological signs may show depressed deep tendon reflexes, decreased position sense, decreased vibration sense, or positive Babinski reflex. Other signs and tests include the following:
 CBC results show low hematocrit with an elevated MCV
 Bone marrow examination
 Elevated LDH
 Below-normal vitamin B12 level
 Schilling test (to determine where the deficiency in B12 absorption lies).

Treatment Return to top
Treatment depends on the cause of the anemia:
 Pernicious anemia requires lifelong therapy with vitamin B12 injections.
 Anemia caused by a lack of vitamin B12 can be corrected by vitamin pills combined with a more balanced diet. It may be treated initially with vitamin B12 injections.
 Anemia caused by malabsorption is treated with vitamin B12 injections until the condition improves.

Expectations (prognosis) Return to top
Treatment for this form of anemia is usually effective.

Complications Return to top
 The signs and symptoms related to the central nervous system may be irreversible if treatment is not begun within 6 months of when these symptoms begin.
 Vitamin B12 affects epithelial cells (cells that form the outer surface of the body and line inner passageways). Therefore, a lack of B12 may cause a false-positive Pap smear.

Calling your health care provider Return to top
Call your health care provider if you have any of the symptoms of anemia.

Prevention Return to top
Anemia caused by a lack of vitamin B12 can be prevented through a well-balanced diet. B12 injections can prevent anemia after surgeries known to cause vitamin B12 deficiency. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can limit the severity of this anemia as well as the neurologic complications.
Update Date: 1/26/2005
Updated by: Rita Nanda, MD., Department of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.


B12 Linus Pauling
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminB12/

Neurologic symptoms
The neurologic symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include numbness and tingling of the arms and more commonly the legs, difficulty walking, memory loss, disorientation, and dementia, with or without mood changes. Although the progression of neurologic complications is generally gradual, they are not always reversible with treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency, especially if they have been present for a long time. Neurologic complications are not always associated with megaloblastic anemia, and are the only clinical symptom of vitamin B12 deficiency in about 25% of cases (5). Although vitamin B12 deficiency is known to damage the myelin sheath covering cranial, spinal, and peripheral nerves, the biochemical processes leading to neurological damage in B12 deficiency are not well understood (2).

http://www.supplement-information-library.com/benefits_of_methly_b12.html
Unlike other water-soluble nutrients, vitamin B12 is stored in the liver, kidney, and other body tissues. As a result, signs and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency may not show themselves until after five or six years of deficient intake or lack of intrinsic factor. While anemia is most often thought of as the primary sign of vitamin B12 deficiency, it appears that a deficiency of vitamin B12 will actually first affect the brain and nervous system. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause depression
It can also produce such symptoms as numbness, pins and needles sensations, or a burning feeling in the feet as well as impaired mental function that in the elderly can mimic Alzheimer's disease. In addition to anemia and nervous system symptoms, a vitamin B12 deficiency will also result in a smooth, beefy red tongue; and diarrhea due to the fact that rapidly reproducing cells such as those which line the mouth and entire gastrointestinal tract will not be able to replicate without vitamin B12 (folic acid supplementation will mask this deficiency symptom).
Correcting Low B12 Levels Improves Mental Performance

[kemosabi]

Hi..my comments are to: BunnyBee12...I see you did your research well! I have pernicious anemia and I would like to add some comments in addition to yours. For me, I had headaches that were their 24/7. I had like 2 different type of headaches going at the same time. The first, was an overall aching of of the head that felt like somone had their hand over the top of my head and squeezing it. The second, at the right temple, their would be pulses of pain (the pulses was not with the heart beat) they were irregular..at times it would do it alot..at times not so much. Then their was a pulse pain at the lower right back of the head, like the temple pain. At night I would wake up and have both arms and hands asleep...I would have to swing my body to try and get my arms and hands moving to get circulation going again. For me, the depression was severe,let's just say that I almost died from it.

  It took almost a year to find a doctor that recognized what was wrong with me..and did the right tests. In the physical exam, she did the Babinski reflex test, which was positive for me. Then she did 2 blood tests: the first, vitamin B-12 cascade. The second, test and see if I had an antibody against my intrinsic factor...which I did (most people with pernicious anemia do). One thing that I can't stress enough is: Once the symptoms of pernicious anemia appear, they must be treated, (with injections of vitamin B-12), left untreated, life threatening conditions can occur.

  BunnyBee12..I hope that you will comment further...I am hoping that I can find other people, like me, that we can compare info with. I would like to know if you got your vitamin B-12 problem solved..if yes, what did you find out? Take care..kemosabi

[skroon]

Hi,

sopink11 I'm wondering if you found out what was troubling you?

You're story sound exactly like what has been hapenning to me for the last month. I haven't felt like myself for over a month now (the "brain fog").

After going out to dinner 1 month ago, I felt nauseus & suffered from an anxiety attack that night. Since then I have had constant stomach/abdominal pain. For the first 2 weeks I was waking up several times at night with what felt like adrenaline surges (anxiety symptoms).
Those symptoms are less common now, but I still have very bad pains in my gut, and it often hurts to touch areas of my stomach. (Around my navel, and to my right of the navel).

Anyway, I've had a lot of medical tests and all have turned up normal so far.  The only thing that showed abnormal was that I have an elevated sed rate (indicating inflammation apparently).

Tonight I had some more anxiety attack symptoms that seemed to be linked to the pains in my gut (as one got worse, so did the other).

I'm not an anxious person, and am very calm through all of this.

Thanks

[andytof47]

Yeah Hi Skroon,

Just happpen to notice your situation and it is almost identical to mine.

At coffee one morning and then Bam - panic attack (am i going mad etc etc)

I'm not that type of guy either....

anyway i have been searching hi and low for many months now and just switched doctors, when he heard the symptons he recomended a vitmin b12 blood test.

i am waiting for the results....

however in the mean time i took it upon myself to up my dosage from one b12 tablet per day 500mg to two today and i couldn't beleive the change in my mental state

depression lifted, much much less anxious - like almost normal again.

so i think that if you haven't done the specific fasting b12 test get it checked.

there are many things that can stop b12 being absorbed, so upping my daily dosage seems to work for me maybe because it's not an absorbtion issue

i had H.pylori bug and it interferes with the bodys absobrtion for some reason.

anyway

really hope this helps -

BTW - brain fog, headache(left side and very sore TMJ), tender stomach - literally improved an hour or two after my second tablet wouldn't have believed it myself :)

[ThomasK5]

just read this book (I know the title is lame but this book can fix you.)

The Ultramind Solution
- Mark Hyman, MD.

he links the body and brain in a comprehensive and intelligent way.  My guess is that you have some intestinal digestion issues that can be fixed over time with probiotics.  Anyway check out the book.  Seriously.

[shkurbon]

For those of you experiencing symptoms that cannot be explained ...check out websites about MERCURY POISONING! If you have these symptoms,go see a holistic dentist to have your amalgram (mercury)fillings removed safely.