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Dizziness, muscle twitching & cramping
by Pantaleon, Oct 11, 2007 05:31PM
This is kind of a long story...
I am 21 years old an in college. Until this past summer I was fine, and have no history of serious illness or mental disorder. I was prescribed Zocor (5mg) for high cholesterol. 10 days after starting it, I began having symptoms the school doctors called panic attacks. I stopped taking Zocor immediately, those symptoms gradually faded throughout a week but I never felt better; over the past 4 months I have developed muscle twitching all over my body, cramping and terrible pain in my muscles (especially in my neck and calves), and dizziness - sometimes vertigo, sometimes imbalance and a feeling like I'm drunk. Also I've been having problems on and off with very bad heartburn, bloating, gas, constipation, nausea, etc. and my stomach sticks out and feels very firm and hurts when touched. Other strange symptoms that have developed include little red itchy splotches on my knees/butt that appear, dry out and fade within about 24 hours, and a frequent sore throat with pits on my tonsils.
I've been to many doctors, had a CT scan and brain MRI, numerous blood tests (mono, lyme, lupus negative), lumbar puncture, etc. and aside from slightly elevated "absolute monos" everything was normal. My doctor at school can't come up with any explanation and says it must be anxiety.
The dizziness, muscle twitching, etc. don't seem to be correlated with stress from school at all, nothing major has happened in my life during this time (aside from feeling terrible for 4 months, of course), and I don't feel particularly worried about anything.
Does anyone have ideas as to what this could be? I'm not entirely convinced it's anxiety and don't want to start taking anxiety meds without being sure what's going on.
I am 21 years old an in college. Until this past summer I was fine, and have no history of serious illness or mental disorder. I was prescribed Zocor (5mg) for high cholesterol. 10 days after starting it, I began having symptoms the school doctors called panic attacks. I stopped taking Zocor immediately, those symptoms gradually faded throughout a week but I never felt better; over the past 4 months I have developed muscle twitching all over my body, cramping and terrible pain in my muscles (especially in my neck and calves), and dizziness - sometimes vertigo, sometimes imbalance and a feeling like I'm drunk. Also I've been having problems on and off with very bad heartburn, bloating, gas, constipation, nausea, etc. and my stomach sticks out and feels very firm and hurts when touched. Other strange symptoms that have developed include little red itchy splotches on my knees/butt that appear, dry out and fade within about 24 hours, and a frequent sore throat with pits on my tonsils.
I've been to many doctors, had a CT scan and brain MRI, numerous blood tests (mono, lyme, lupus negative), lumbar puncture, etc. and aside from slightly elevated "absolute monos" everything was normal. My doctor at school can't come up with any explanation and says it must be anxiety.
The dizziness, muscle twitching, etc. don't seem to be correlated with stress from school at all, nothing major has happened in my life during this time (aside from feeling terrible for 4 months, of course), and I don't feel particularly worried about anything.
Does anyone have ideas as to what this could be? I'm not entirely convinced it's anxiety and don't want to start taking anxiety meds without being sure what's going on.
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I'm 19 and in college and I have to tell you I have similar symptoms to you. I had a bad bout of IBS for my first month (bloating, GERD, gas etc). This resolved after 6-7 weeks, however, although I do feel "indigestion" more often now and I have constipation now and then.
Then I got panic attacks associated with the IBS. Had trouble breathing. Felt like I had a fever very often though I didn't.
Immediately after my IBS got better, I got terrible headaches. Doctors did a CAT scan of sinuses and brain but found nothing. Told me it was allergies (which is possible since I always felt congested). That eventually got better, but immediately after that (and probably not coincidentely after a plane flight) I developed severe dizziness and vertigo -- I'm on my third week of that now -- and it won't stop. My ears pop every time I swallow, yawn, or just open my mouth too wide. Sometimes my ears feel completely congested. I can't lay down without feeling like I'm jolting a little in every direction unevenly -- or that I'm sinking and falling. I also feel like random small muscles in my body are twitching when I get this weird dizziness, and my face is pulsating (like I'm bouncing around inside my head). Sometiems random muscles feel weaker than others sometimes (specifically my legs). My eyes occasionally hurt too (this is probably associated with the dizziness though).
I have no idea what is wrong with me either because I seem to develop new health problems all the time -- 4 months of it now. Doctors always treat it as something new and see no connection except maybe ...here it comes ... anxiety. So I understand how you feel when you say you have been feeling terrible for 4 months
It's possible we both have anxiety problems but its more likely that these illnesses are CAUSING the anxiety than being precipitated by them.
My guess for your bowel/stomach problems is a preliminary IBS. That will go away, so don't worry.
Your panic attacks can probably be treated by anxiety medication. The dizziness, unless it is associated with some type of ear trouble like mine is... I honestly don't know.
The rash, I don't know how that's connected -- might be unrelated and you're just noticing it too many things you think are symptoms.
Please respond back. I'd like to talk, as I think we both may have the same underlying problem that is precipitating all these different syndromes.
How are you feeling now?
I think your anxiety is the cause for your irritable bowel. As you have been extensively worked up to find out organic cause and reports are termed as normal, then it is all the more reason for you to think that to treat anxiety can help.
Medications could help, but you should also try Yoga, meditation and relaxation exercises to help you cope up stress in your daily life.
Hope this helps.
Bye.
My bouts of IBS, fatigue, acne usually can be linked to my own failure in maintaining a healthy diet with little meat and natural foods. There are so many toxins already in our environment, what is scary is the ones we are consuming. Look at food labels. Are the ingredients natural? Or are they mostly chemical? Beware also of misleading labels, "natural" is thrown around in advertising a lot-look at the actual ingredient label to see what you are really consuming. Drink lots of water and avoid soda. Water is what your body needs... many drinks actually dehydrate, rather than hydrate you.