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724734 tn?1230941272

Lightheaded, brain fog...Not right

Hello everyone, 25/M

About a year ago I began experiencing some strange sensations which I sometimes have trouble finding the words to describe, but their presence is definitely there regardless. In a nutshell my symptoms seem to be fatigue, lightheadedness, "brain fog", trouble focusing, numbness and generally just feeling disconnected. I'm "not there" so to speak, both physically and mentally. I can still function in my daily life, but doing anything that requires real thought (including conversation) is very hard sometimes and it's sort of like my mind and body have been numbed and covered in novocain. I feel stoned and like things just aren't really hitting me so to speak. There are times when it's hard to even focus my eye sight on anything, as all my eyes want to do is drift off and blankly stare in to the middle distance while my head shuts. I'm like a zombie and talking to people is like struggling through improv. It doesn't feel natural and life is sort of like reading the words out of a book and understanding what they mean, but not quite having them quite connect. Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy, or that I'm not even a real person...but again, it's hard to describe. I also have fatigue, which hits me very hard toward the end of the day (along with dizzy spells) and all I want to do is crash in my bed when I get home from work. I've also suddenly developed large bags/circles under my eyes over the last year, but I'm not sure how that could be related.

I've had every type of bloodwork done which all came back normal as did my EEG. This has brought me to the conclusion that it has to be something "mental" as opposed to physical, but whether that's anxiety, ADD, depression, depersonalization, post traumatic stress disorder or something else is hard to say. I tried taking Lexapro for a short while which may have helped a bit, but I stopped about a month in since it completely killed my libido and that wasn't even remotely acceptable to me.

Has anyone else experienced similar symptoms? Is this all in my head or are there physical disorders that can result in these feelings? My only other lead is that I started feeling this way shortly after I moved in to my new apartment, so it's possible there's some sort of mold that's making me have problems. I also feel somewhat better when I visit my parents out of state for a week, but that could very well just be in my head or a result of lessened anxiety...Who knows. I just need help and I honestly don't know what else to ask.

153 Responses
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Avatar universal
Anyone else experience emotional blunting along with the absence of thoughts?
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Avatar universal
ANYONE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! SAME PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!! NO ANSWERS!!!!!!!!!!  Can anyone who got better explain how please?
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Avatar universal
I might have solution. Just short description. Candida, leaky gut, heavy metals...I had all symptom above..and im 70 % better now..still worki g in it..
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Avatar universal
Man, this is me exactly except for two differences: I'm female, and for some reason, my symptoms have come and gone for the past two years.
I just got accepted into Johns Hopkins for graduate school, but I feel like a retard because I'm dealing with this issue now... People keep congratulating me, like I'm some sort of huge success... but it seems pointless now. I hope we figure this out soon.
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Avatar universal
I forgot to include that I have gestational diabetes. I am not overweight and I am quite an athletic and active person. I work in a high stress job, I am also studying my honours at university and I have a my own family.

I think stress aggravates my symptoms a lot.
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Avatar universal
It was so enlightening to read this forum and see that everyone is experiencing the same symptoms.

I have had these symptoms on/off for probably 15 years. I am now 24 and I remember the very first time It felt like everything was collapsing on me and I felt a sense of claustrophobia. I didn't pass out but I was unable to walk and so I sat with my head between my legs for about 20 minutes. A paramedic wheeled me away in a wheelchair to my parents car. He suggested I have my iron checked. I have the typical anaemic white rimmed eyes look but never actually checked my iron!

When I was 18 I was simultaneously diagnosed with pre-diabetes and high cholesterol. I went on a year's sugar-free diet (including cutting out of high GI carbohydrates), I lost almost 8 kgs in 2 months and I never felt healthier in my entire life. All those symptoms of light headedness, feeling almost dazed or "high", fatigue and strained eyes went away and I could honestly not believe the difference it made to my life! My doctor said after a year I could slowly reintroduce sugar into my diet. I did so and let me say it took about 4 years before I started noticing those symptoms again.

It could really be any deficiency or overgrowth of candida as sugar would feed the yeast and make it worse and a bad diet will generally cause diabetes. I can honestly say my problems revolve around my diet. I know how much better I feel when I cut out High GI foods.

If you are willing to try a sugar-free diet, give it about 3 months to fully kick in. The first week will be the worst because you will experience terrible headaches and EXTREME exhaustion because your body will have withdrawal symptoms for sugar and it wont know how to replace the lost sugars at first. Once you get past the initial cravings (I lived on sugar free gum for a few weeks to get rid of the cravings) you will start to feel tons better.

By the way sugar affects eyesight hugely. My eyes are generally blurry when I overdo the sugars and the fact that I look at a computer screen for 8 hours a day at work makes it only that much worse.

Another tip to stabilising sugar is to drink 1 glass of low fat or skim milk a day, try eat small meals throughout the day because your sugar spikes when you eat large meals and don't skip breakfast.

Hope this helps someone :)
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