weakness & vision blackouts -- what is this?

[mithranqueen]

hi. i am for the most part a healthy 24 year old female. i have no medical "problems" per say, outside of migraines, and am not currently taking any medication. however, for the last 4 or 5 years i've dealt with some strange symptoms that are very confusing to me, and apparently, to my doctor as well. i've been getting random episodes of weakness (these occur maybe once every few months) accompanied by a complete vision blackout of vision which can last anywhere from 5 seconds to, say, 40 seconds or so. as far as the weakness goes, it's hard to describe in any way other than to say that my muscles feel very fatigued. it becomes hard to walk, move around, and climbing stairs or lifting things is especially difficult. there is no real physical pain in this area, however, more than once this weakness has been accompanied by nausea and vomiting. i also can feel dizzy and have trouble focusing. the whole thing tends to last a half hour at most, and after it's over i feel pretty much back to normal, although i'm usually left feeling tired for the rest of the day. eating/drinking foods high in sugar helps it pass quicker. candy and gatorade seem to be particularly effective, and drinking things with caffeine (such as coffee or soda) seems to make it worse and will trigger the nausea. my doctor attributes all of this to my migraines, although i find this very odd since i've *never once* had these symptons at the same time that i've had a migraine. please help if you can. any input on what this could possibly be is appreciated. or if you've any idea on what specialist might be better able than my regular doctor to diagnose this sort of thing - i'd like that information as well. thank you.

[ladylay]

A related discussion, me too was started.

[jdlk]

I would have to agree with darlingdivatx.  I kept getting dizzy and nauseous.... when I stood up my vision would get very fuzzy and I couldn't see much.  After going to the ER I had blood tests done which came back so low, they thought the machine was broken.  I had a severe potassium and magnesium deficiency.  I took some Potassium and magnesium pills and am good to go.  Who knows why I was deficient... I have yet to figure it out.  I now take a One-a-day pill and it seems to help - no more dizzy or nauseous feelings!  I also had an iron deficiency a few years ago and it affected my vision and my body in general... I was very very tired all the time.

[Pum]

Sounds like migraine to me. Not all migraines progress to the pain stage, sometimes you just get the "other" odd symptoms like you describe. I once had half my vision go into a stained glass window effect for about half an hour but no pain. My friend gets tingling tongue, nausea, vomitting, vision loss etc.
Do the occur with your cycle at all? Maybe day 1 or day 3?
Caffeine is a bad trigger of headaches in my experience.

[darlingdivatx]

Sounds like your potassium could be falling. Might also be a cardio problem, which can also affect potassium. Good luck. Keep us posted.