Hello,
I'm 19 years old, and attending college, living in a dorm in New Hampshire. I have had some crazy health issues in the past couple of weeks, and I was just wondering if people could give me some support, especially if they have dealt with anything close to what I have been going through. I also don't know if I am posting this in the right spot, so, my apologies if i haven't.
About three weeks ago, I went to sleep one night after downing an entire bottle of water, and was rolling around during the night with some slight nausea, thinking it was because I drank the water way too fast. I woke up the next morning with a sore neck and left shoulder, thought nothing of it, and went to classes. The weather here has been crazy for late fall....hot and cold, rainy then sunny...no consistency what so ever. I had been having my typical itchy sore watery eyes and stuffy runny nose for a while, I pretty much get it every season, and just brush it off as slight allergies...it never really caused any major problems. But that morning I had really started to notice the bridge of my nose tingling, into the area between my eyes...just kind of burning and tingling, and it was worse when I would sniffle and draw everything that was coming out of my nose back in. I also had previously noticed a small lump in between the eyes that I had thought was a zit, but found out after trying to pop it that it definitely wasn't. Anyways, later that night I began feeling just overall lousy, lost my appetite, and then got dizzy whenever I turned my head to either side...as if everything would kind of move back and fourth to the corner of the eye of whichever way I was turning my head.
Since I was very young, I have had problems with anxiety, especially after my mother passed away of Stage IV melanoma in 2004. I think it is considered Health Anxiety...and it's mainly just that I always feel like I'm going to have some terminal illness...but lately it has been effecting my quality of life. So, upon feeling dizzy, I suffered a panic attack, and realized, as I had before, that when I sniffled in after crying, the feeling would get worse. The next day, I went to the Health Center at my school, where I was told that I probably had a virus, did have a low grade fever, but was also put on 50mg of Zoloft a day along with 1mg of Lorazepam three times a day. Later that night, after taking the Lorazepam, I felt the anxiety lift for a little while, but was still dizzy, and later on felt jittery, and knew that I was probably having a reaction to the Lorazepam, but continued it for about another 5 days. Laying in bed that night I realized that when I moved around my ears felt very very stuffy, and the following day I started yawning a lot, and noticed that my ears had become what I called "permanently blocked", but it didn't effect my hearing. I went on like that for days, because I was told by family members as well as my councilor that all those symptoms could be related to my recently diagnosed anxiety disorder. I went, again, to the health center, where I was told that I probably had fluid in my ears, but that it didn't look like i had any signs of ear infection, other than a low-grade fever. I was given Sudanyl, a decongestant, and was told to stay on it until the symptoms went away. I felt better immediately after I took it, but the symptoms, again, came back later in the day...after the pills wore off. The weekend came, and I only got sicker, with terrible neck and shoulder pains...my neck was literally rock hard and completely stiff, and I also had a headache in both of my temples, that traveled into my ears and under my eyes and down the sides of my face into my jaw. It was crazy, so I went home. I called my doctor, who told me it was just a simple sinus infection OVER THE PHONE, apparently he felt that he didn't need to see me, and gave me a prescription of amoxicillin, 3 times a day for 10 days. I was also told to continue on a decongestant, Sudafed-PE, and to try to calm down, and stop thinking that I have either MS or a Brain Tumor...which has been my main concern since waking up dizzy, and googling symptoms that made me think I was, again, terminally ill. I wasn't feeling any better two days into the antibiotic, even after discontinuing the Lorazepam, so I was told to go in and see the doctor. Around this time I also developed a giant white puss filled sore in the upper right gum inside my mouth, that was causing a large part of my face to hurt terribly. The doctor told me that I had a decent amount of fluid in my ears, and that I had what seemed to be a viral infection, which was only being made substantially worse by my anxiety. He prescribed me a generic Flonase, Meclizine for the dizziness, and Suphedrine, a behind the counter decongestant that contains Psuedophedrine. A few days later, I was feeling a lot better as far as the dizziness went, in that it was only really noticeable when I would stand up or lay down, or at night time in the dark, which the doctor said was because my eyes were working harder to try and help balance my body, since my ears were unable to do so. I was home from school for the entire week, and by the end of the week was feeling much better...and returned back to school on the following Sunday. By that time I was also about 11 days into the Zoloft.
I was feeling better at the beginning of last week, with very minimal dizziness, but headaches that would come in my temples, that went away with Motrin, though i had been trying to ween myself off all medications. I only had a headache on that first Monday back...I also get tension headaches quite often, and being back at a school that I don't really care for makes everyday a little stressful. The headache was gone by the following day. By last thursday most symptoms had subsided, except for the neck, jaw, and cheek pain...and sore eyes. I'm also living on my last set of contacts which I think are scratched in the left eye, but along with that my eyes were becoming dry, as well as my lips, which I suppose was caused by the decongestant. That night I had developed another headache, but also got my period, which I always get a headache before my period, except for the fact that it was 10 days early. Since starting my period, I have had a very dull headache that is very on and off, and does seem to come back when I start thinking about it, or worrying about what's wrong with me. I also have sore shoulder muscles and a sore elbow on my left arm, which makes my hand feel tingly when I bend it for a long period of time. On the same side of my body, I have muscle pains in my left upper thigh, and tingling in my left foot, that makes me feel like I need to bounce my leg up and down, or do a lot of movement...I don't even think tingling is the right word for it. Whenever I get very nervous, one of my leg bounces up and down, and it tends to be that one. The left side of my neck in the back and the side is still sore and hard, all the way into my back and left shoulder. The hand/foot tingling becomes worse when I get really nervous, and think about it...just like everything else. Since this all started, I have also gone back to the doctor before coming back up to school, and was told I still had a good amount of fluid behind my ear drum, which is still there because my ears are still constantly popping and clicking, and I can still feel the pressure in the ears and the sides of my head, especially when I get up and move around, I will feel a little lightheaded for a couple of seconds when I move quickly. She also told me that I have a lot of post nasal drip, which is still happening near constantly. Could any of this be associated with adjusting to the Zoloft? Has anyone had anything similar? If you could just comment back, that would be great!
Thanks!