'off' feeling lasting 1 month

[klight]

Hello.  I am a 23 year old Female living in Michigan.  Here are my symptoms:  about 1 year ago I started feeling lightheaded, and just "off".  Not spinning, not losing my balance, just off.  This would come and go lasting for a few hours each time.  I had lots of blood work done, everything normal.  I had an ultra sound done on my carotid arteries, results were normal.  My general physician said I had a mild inner ear infection.
1 year later, my symptoms:  "off" feeling started, but has lasted over a month continuously.  In the mornings I feel fine, but an hour or two into the day, the feeling is back.  It will last usualy until night time, when I feel better.  I went to my ENT and he sent me to get an MRI of my brain.  Normal results.  In fact the radiologist said I have one of the most healthy looking brains he's ever seen.  In addition, about 1 month ago, a little after my symptom started, my aunt (mom's sister) got diagnosed with MS.  Since this, anxiety has been off the charts.  I started feeling mild sensations of electricity in my right pinky which spread to my ring and middle finger.  I had a very bad cramp in my right leg.  
Went to see the neurologist a few days ago.  He did an exam and said I don't have MS, and also looked at my brain MRI scans.  He said if he had to put a brain in a textbook he'd use mine.  
This feeling still won't go away.  Is it possible that I have MS?  What else could it be?   Also, I have been on the birth control pill for about 2 years - orthotriciclen lo.  
please let me know what you think I should do.

[kat_olz]

okay well im glad that somebody could describe this feeling. for the passed three days i can say that i really dont feel like myself... its so strange. the first time i noticed it was when i was at work, i honestly felt like i was a little bit high, you know when your sensations are kind of muted... its difficult to explain. kind of like when i know i am doing something but then i dont really feel myself doing it. like i can function perfectly fine... it just doesnt feel right, like im a little bit tipsy or something. it is making me so paranoid because i dont know what is wrong with me. i thought it would go away the day after but i still feel the same. i even got out of bed to look this feeling up because i was starting to get frustrated and a bit worried and hoping that i could find some answers. im actually glad that i came upon this because i now know i am not the only one that feels this way. i think im going to buy that B12 vitamin tomorrow... see if that helps any.
thank you!

[Stevo27]

Hey Jupitermax,

How are you?  
Are you still having the dazed out off feeling?

I have the exact symptoms you were experiencing.
Except also with a lot of drowsiness and fatigue.  I feel lightheaded and sometimes my heart races too. I have shortness of breath too.  I am just spaced out all the time and its worse right after I eat something, especially in the afternoon.
I have had them for the last 2 or 3 weeks or so but they are continuing to get worse.   I have a problem in my apartment with mold.  So I don't know if that could also be causing a problem or making it worse.

I am trying your reccommendation with the multivitamin and the b12.
I am taking some b complex and it seems to be a helping a little, but this problem is getting worse and worse.  It seems like each day im worse than the day before.   I wonder if the mold in my apartment could be killing my brain cells and thats why I am so fatigued and spaced out.

Could anyone tell me what multivitamin supps they are taking that have helped them?

thanks

[feedup13]

Perhaps you have hypoglycemia which can be helped with a special diet.

[rcoones1]

thank you guys so much just to know someone else out there was feeling this also was such a relief for me. i started taking The Big One about a week ago it is a multivitamin made by metabolic maintenance and is working wonders for me i feel ten times better than i have ever felt and it does have methylcobalamin in 100mcg doses which is 1667% of the daily value. i recommend anyone with this feeling using this product also. i started noticing results after about 3 days i can concentrate again and once again my productivity at work is through the roof. thanks again guys this forum is what led to my taking this pill and i cant thank you enough for being so helpful. i went to doctor after doctor whole told me i was crazy and it was just psycological. GOOGLE FTW.

[jupitermax]

Like I said in my last post, I felt like I was getting better in December. Well, it seemed to return (or more probobly never really left, i just thought it was getting better). I was doing some reading around the internet, and found a bunch of info on vitamin B12 deficiency. Many of the people on forums of other websites described this same kind of off feeling, and someone talked about b12 as a possible explanation. What I gathered was that there are a few different kinds of b12, the best being methylcobalamin. That name doesnt really mean anything to anyone who isnt familiar with organic chemistry (unfortunatelly, I am), but the "methyl" is what makes it easier to enter your system. Apparently, one can be defficient in the tissues (where it actually matters) and not show any defficieny in the blood. So, I decided to check it out. I must say, this is the first time I've felt normal in the past 6 months. Before I think that I was just trying to feel normal, but now I hardly think about the "funk", as I deamed it. I know how it feels to think about it to a rather excessive extent, and it feels wonderful to not have to deal with it.
     Anyway, I went to SuperSupplements, a very reputable supplement store in Washington. I briefly described the problem to the store manager, and he said that my best bet was to get a good multivitamin that has methylcobalamin as the b12. If a vitamin/supplement defficieny is the problem, a good multivitamin should rule that in or out, he said. So I took it for about 3 days and I really started to notice a difference. Now, about 2 weeks in, I hardly feel anything like I used to.
     So, I recommend to anyone that is feeling off to go to a store and pick up a good multi-vitamin. I would go to a smaller/local store who's employees will talk to you for more than 15 seconds and also who most likely sell a superior product then a large chain. I have been told that many of the popular brands sold in chain drugstores arent the best products. Good luck and post back if this helps anyone!

[bengalcats]

I have been having this weird feeling in my head, i feel like I am not all there sometimes. I for many years have thought that I have ms, had been to many neuro dr who say I do not. My problems have been going on about 15 years, weird things like electrical zaps, eye pain and eye disturbances, tingling and so many more. i really would like to talk to some one at my email address of ***@****. I recently had another mre that showed some spots but they still say its not ms!

[riz]

god do i know what you mean by off....and i too have that first good hour or two in the morning ....you described just what im feeling ...i too had arteries checked stress test ...multiple mri's , and nothing ...im always check blood sugar and BP in the hopes of finding out whats causing this off feeling ...not enough to fall , not enough to totally stop doing things ...but enough to make me not want to do things when im feeling this way ....its really hurt my quality of life over the past 5-7 years ...i had sleep apniea checked out and i had that ...i thought that was my answer .NO!! it wasnt .....im still stuggling to find the answers ....very depressing at times ...wish i could be more help

[Drewinc]

Hi all ,,,, just been searching the net for something that im feeling - low an behold this is the closest I have found. I am 25 and have had my fair share of problems but always have been of a sound mind. On January 1st, i had woken up with a slight hangover,,, by the evening i started feeling "off". I started to panic - phoned the ambulance - the doctor there thought i was on drugs. Once i had cleared with him i just had a little alcahol (i dont drink alot) he assumed i was an alcaholic and prescribed two sets of tabs for alcaholism. As the days went by i got rid of the tablets and made an appointment with my GP, he has told me im suffering from anxiety/panic attacks. I had all the symptoms - heart palpatations/ heavy breathing etc. I accepted this and calmed my breathing down and really started to relax. Now it has been 28 days and i have realised that i only got the anxiety because of this off feeling. The off feeling is still there regardless of how relaxed i am - Its really starting to bug me :) I also have the feeling of how long its going to last each day since i do have times where i feel fine - but for the majority of the day im spaced out - there are no signs of anxiety or panic - everything seems different. I have been for blood - all normal.  So i am at a complete loss now....  Im clutching at straws here - but anyone have any advice, contact me - teach.....at... gmx.co.uk - the doctors have found nothing, i cant seem to find anything that might be causing it ,, well i hope anyone suffering from this feels better,,,, i cross my fingers each day --- out

[jellicle]

Hello, I think I know what you mean by off jupiter and klight.  I am a 29 year old female and it started for me about 5 years ago.  Like your whole environment blends together.  Sounds, smells, voices, your own movements, all fluid.  I thought at first that it was lack of protien, and it does feel good to eat more protien (to initiate your appetite again Klight)  but it doesn't really help the feeling.  I concur (with my uneducated opinion) that it is emotional and mental -like your brain just says "alright. overwhelmed, take 5".  So far I've only tried welbutrin which made it worse.  I just kind of live with it, and have to keep making excuses for ... not listening or forgetting or not remembering... and I wonder if you guys are experiencing some ... not "black outs"-, just things you know you should remember doing or hearing or saying, and you just don't?  I do, and it is painful and frustrating and even offensive to others in my life, so... go to counseling and get some stuff off your chest.  Medicate if you have to, but you might just need to talk and not even know it 'till you get there!
Best of luck to all of you.

[Vict0ria]

Hello,

My name is Victoria and I live in NY.
About a year ago I started to have severe anxiety which lead to panic attacks that I would have everyday. My doctor put me on Zoloft and Xanax until the Zoloft kicked in.
I am just starting to come off the xanax and almost completly done however jst recently I have been having panic attacks again.
I feel anxious and sorta like an "off" feeling as if I am walking on light feet....... sometimes I feel out of it like I am smaller .... its a weird feeling which causes me to than have my panic attacks....... I get this weird feeling someties out of nowhere...... i feel un attached to my body sometimes...... "off" feeling...... I dont know why I have been feeling like this but it def scares me..... I have been doing well with my anxiety and at first I thought this was the reason of me feeling "off" my blood work is fine and I dont know where to go from there....  I read some of these comments and realized I should get tested for MS as well..... my left ear drum vibrates if I tilt my head to the left..... sometimes I have that crackling feeling in my jaw...... All I know is its scary to feel like your so to speak "high" on some sort of drug when your not......

What should I do?

[floxie]

have you ever taken a flouroquinolone?  cipro, tequin, levaquin, avelox etc.?  You have many symtoms of a adverse reaction.

[jupitermax]

Your description of the "off" feeling seems anything but foreign to me. After searching the internet way more than I would like to admit, this is the first thing ive come across that I can really relate to. I am a 19 yr old male college student that, for the past 5 months or so, has had a feeling that I can only describe to freinds and family as "off". The past month I feel that I am a lot better, like right now I feel great...but I am really sick and tired of waking up and wondering "how many hours am I going to feel weird today?". I have been much less proactive than you about this...in the 5 months or so that I have felt like this I have only seen a GP that had bloodwork done (came out normal). I have also started seeing a chiropractor for unrelated corrective care, but not-so-secretly wishing that the adjustments would relieve my off feeling.
   The feeling has gone from a rather strong "attack" in late july(the first time it happened...i thought it was just fatigue because of drinking the night before and working all day in the sun), to a dull 24/7 weirdness for about 2 months, to an episodal occurence that probobly totals 2-3 hours a day. It thankfully seems to be going away. I have tried to take a scientific approach to figuring out if anything particular triggers it, and I havent thought of anything. I have also thought much about how to describe it, and please post back if this sounds anything like what u feel. I describe it as that very first feeling that one gets when you know that alcohol is in your system. THat very vague feeling...you could still drive, still take a midterm, basically do anything...but youre aware of the feeling. It is a bit like a daze, like when you space out and then realize youre spacing out but still stare in one spot...it feels like that but it isnt releaved when I look away. I thought about this one today actually...it feels like when are staring at a computer screen for an hour then look away to get some "relief". What I feel is a little like what youre trying to get "relief" from. I feel it in my eyes, in my vision...like my depth perception is off somehow. Its like...things dont seem to register as fast as they should, visually.
    Mentally, I dont feel like the symptoms are actually effecting me as much as they are distracting me. The distraction can be moderate to severe sometimes though, like all of my brain power is going to paying attention to this weird feeling and trying to make it go away rather than what I am trying to do. It's also made me feel rather apathetic about things...a weird example is walking into your messy apartment where before you would notice the errant articles but now its like you dont see them. An "altered mental state" seems to describe it well, but caused by physical symptoms.
    About half the time when the off feeling is there I feel pressure in my sinus area. No pain associated with it...it doesnt feel bad at all but just strange and I cant help but think that it's related.
   Its weird...I too feel like its not there in the morning when i wake up, is better when I drive, and goes away again at night. I actually did a lot of research on MS myself...but being male, 19 and not having any other (seemingly) nerological symptoms I ruled that out. I have thought that perhaps it was a physical problem when it first started, then became a mental issue after that. The only thing is...I really think that I have a healthy mental state. I have always been able to think things out and solve them whether it is stress, sadness, loneliness, whatever. THats why its very hard for me to think this is a psychological thing.
   I know this is a long post but if anyone else has felt like this than a long post is in order to describe the weirdness. Klight, I also thought that it would be good for you to hear that someone else has this feeling too...someone that is in your age bracket and is perfectly healthy except for the feeling. Even if what I describe isnt exactly what you feel, I know that at least for me it was good to know someone was having the same thing happen.
   THe thing is...for me it's so slight...it could be a symptom of like 75 different things. Well, hopefully we'll both find what were looking for.
   Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[Forum MD_CM]

"off" as you describe it rings up thoughts like "preoccupied" "deep in thought" "deep concentration" "obsessed" even "bewildered'  Seems to be your first piece of work is to identify which state of "off" applies to you. You are seemingly having an altered mental or emotional state. A good counselor can help you sort that out. It may all be   your concern about MS. Get some one to help you sort out your feelings and thoughts.

The tingling does sound like ulnar nerve compression from leanng on the elbow. The MRI is a gold standard to rule out MS. Good luck

[klight]

when I feel off, it is almost as if I am in a daze.  It is hard to concentrate and go about my life.  When I drive, it is not as noticeable.  I guess you could call it lightheaded, but I don't feel like I am going to faint or pass out really.  It is just a sense that something is not right.  
Also, today, I noticed the same mild electrical sensation in my left pinky besides the feeling in my right fingers.  My neurologist said (when he knew it was only in the right hand) that it could be due to leaning on my elbows, which I do quite often.  He said this was common.
Like I said, my anxiety level is very high because of my fear of having MS.  Even though my brain MRI is normal, I am still scared, and do not know what is wrong me with.  That is the best I can describe my "off" feeling.  Thank you again