Aa
lots of symptoms yet no answer on what they mean. HELP PLEASE?
Hi i'm a 19 year old male. i'm 6'1 and a 163 pounds. i eat REALLY healthy...for the most part, and i'm in good shape. I've had a multitude of symptoms and no answer yet. It all started in august. i was hanging out with some of my friends at a buddies house. the whole day had been going fine until i decided to drink and smoke pot. just after i had smoked my heart started pounding and i felt like i was going to die. they had an ambulance drive me to the ER. where they told me i had just had a panic attack. this all sounds pretty normal, but nothing has been the same since then. ever since then, things have gradually gotten worse. starting with my heart, i keep having erratic heart rates which were really uncomfortable. i went to the doctors for it and they did an EKG. they said that i had an incomplete right bundle branch block. which is pretty common. after that other symptoms started occuring, starting with the most annoyingly debilitating one, which is this dizzy and woozy feeling. its constant and never goes away. its hard just to drive, sometimes its worse than others. for instance, when i'm driving i feel this wooziness come over me and it really affects my thinking. i wake up with the feeling and go to sleep with it. my social life has gone down the shitter, i have a hard time going anywhere cause i feel so woozy. i have a hard time remembering things and i keep forgetting words. i feel really stupid and uncoordinated. another really annoying thing is i feel so detached from reality. literally everything is bright and hazy, just dream like. its a really lonely feeling cause i don't even feel like i'm here. i dont know how to explain it but i cant comprehend anything, i cant think straight, when i try to stare at something my eyes kinda jump around and i really have to focus on it. things just don't seem real. absolutely nothing is enjoyable. other symptoms are a constant dull pain in my eye sockets (the upper corners closest to my nose) and when i touch the corners its a really sharp pain, kinda like my sinuses. also i keep twitching like my big toe on my left foot just twitches for no reason, its not constant but it does happen alot. also for a awhile when i turned my head it wasn't a fluid motion. it like wanted to turn on its own. i also feel really weak. i have headaches constantly. nothing works for them. sometimes i also have a hard time breathing. there are times when i wake up from sleeping just so out of it and feeling like i was drifting off, and i dont mean into REM sleep.
The doctors have done a ct scan with no contrast. it came up fine. nothing wrong. a neurologist didn't look at it, my lousy doctor did.
I've had tons of blood work done, for things like lyme disease, std's, bacteria and so on. which all came up fine. My ESR is 5 which i guess is really good.
Earlier in the year i had blood work done which came up positive for H Pylori, they gave me a three step antibiotic. it went away. i also had an appendectomy.
Things have just gotten sooooooo outta hand. i have a hard time going anywhere, nothing and i mean nothing is enjoyable. all i can think is "whats wrong with me?". I'm sick of hearing that i have anxiety, because i've been far more stressed in my life than now, and felt nothing like this. I'm going to school for firefighting, and this has made it so difficult. i'm attending training at the academy soon and i fear i wont be able to attend it because of this feeling. i dont really want to have the feeling of passing out while throwing the fifty ladder.
Please help me out, anything at this point is helpful. Thank you so much.
The doctors have done a ct scan with no contrast. it came up fine. nothing wrong. a neurologist didn't look at it, my lousy doctor did.
I've had tons of blood work done, for things like lyme disease, std's, bacteria and so on. which all came up fine. My ESR is 5 which i guess is really good.
Earlier in the year i had blood work done which came up positive for H Pylori, they gave me a three step antibiotic. it went away. i also had an appendectomy.
Things have just gotten sooooooo outta hand. i have a hard time going anywhere, nothing and i mean nothing is enjoyable. all i can think is "whats wrong with me?". I'm sick of hearing that i have anxiety, because i've been far more stressed in my life than now, and felt nothing like this. I'm going to school for firefighting, and this has made it so difficult. i'm attending training at the academy soon and i fear i wont be able to attend it because of this feeling. i dont really want to have the feeling of passing out while throwing the fifty ladder.
Please help me out, anything at this point is helpful. Thank you so much.
Dear House,
While incomplete right BBB is common, that's only true if there is no underlying heart disease. If you have heart disease, you can get your exact symptoms. Therefore you should visit a cardiologist specialist, tell him your symptoms, and let them do a complete workup on you.
I also think you may be having migraines, the "auras" they talk about sound similar to your condition. There are medications for those, that help with varying degrees of success.
And I wonder, since you work out, perhaps there is something you're taking for body building that is doing this to you. Sometimes something perfectly okay to consume, like green tea, for example, will make your heart jump all over the place and drive you nuts. So, review all that and preferably don't take anything. Also, think about what else was going on back in August that could have set this in motion.
If all that is ruled out, then your symptoms also point to a mental problem, everything from some kind of psychosis, to ordinary panic disorder, both treatable conditions. That's when you go to a psychiatrist, so they can figure out what your mental situation is and treat you with medication and maybe psychotherapy.
I think you should begin to keep records of what your heart is doing. Check your pulse several times a day, especially when you get that whoozy swimming feeling, and write the number down on a little notebook you keep with you, including the time and date. Your pulse should not go over 100 regularly. Also check your blood pressure as often as you can. Which is every time you go to the doctor, ask them what your pressure is, and write that down, including the date. It should not go over 120/80 regularly. You can also go into a pharmacy that has one of those chairs with a blood pressure cuff, and pump it up and see what your BP reading is that way.
I know a couple tricks to help your heart. One is to massage between your toes on your foot, especially between the last three. You should notice that you automatically take a real deep breath, very calming experience. Another thing you should do is, every time you get that wierd feeling, do a deep-breathing technique, becuz it slows the heart, which is to breathe to a count of ten, very slowly and deeply on each count. You won't get to ten, becuz your heart rate will slow before then and you'll "get a grip."
By the way, I've been where you are, that place you're in. I know what it's like, and it's something awful. But there is a way out. As to your fire-fighting training, keep in mind if you cannot keep up right now, that you can always go back to it later, when you feel better. See, there are always fires to be put out, and so they always need people that like to go in there and do that. You'll get there. You just have a health issue that you're dealing with now, that's all.
Most 19-year-olds don't have to worry about their physical condition. But I was just a 20-year-old when I was in a car crash that broke my back in three places, I spent a couple months in the hospital, and talk about unexpected misery at a young age! But all in the world that happened is, I got sick, and then I got well. So, welcome to the club, and you're in good company! Keep us posted, kid, you'll make it.
GG
While incomplete right BBB is common, that's only true if there is no underlying heart disease. If you have heart disease, you can get your exact symptoms. Therefore you should visit a cardiologist specialist, tell him your symptoms, and let them do a complete workup on you.
I also think you may be having migraines, the "auras" they talk about sound similar to your condition. There are medications for those, that help with varying degrees of success.
And I wonder, since you work out, perhaps there is something you're taking for body building that is doing this to you. Sometimes something perfectly okay to consume, like green tea, for example, will make your heart jump all over the place and drive you nuts. So, review all that and preferably don't take anything. Also, think about what else was going on back in August that could have set this in motion.
If all that is ruled out, then your symptoms also point to a mental problem, everything from some kind of psychosis, to ordinary panic disorder, both treatable conditions. That's when you go to a psychiatrist, so they can figure out what your mental situation is and treat you with medication and maybe psychotherapy.
I think you should begin to keep records of what your heart is doing. Check your pulse several times a day, especially when you get that whoozy swimming feeling, and write the number down on a little notebook you keep with you, including the time and date. Your pulse should not go over 100 regularly. Also check your blood pressure as often as you can. Which is every time you go to the doctor, ask them what your pressure is, and write that down, including the date. It should not go over 120/80 regularly. You can also go into a pharmacy that has one of those chairs with a blood pressure cuff, and pump it up and see what your BP reading is that way.
I know a couple tricks to help your heart. One is to massage between your toes on your foot, especially between the last three. You should notice that you automatically take a real deep breath, very calming experience. Another thing you should do is, every time you get that wierd feeling, do a deep-breathing technique, becuz it slows the heart, which is to breathe to a count of ten, very slowly and deeply on each count. You won't get to ten, becuz your heart rate will slow before then and you'll "get a grip."
By the way, I've been where you are, that place you're in. I know what it's like, and it's something awful. But there is a way out. As to your fire-fighting training, keep in mind if you cannot keep up right now, that you can always go back to it later, when you feel better. See, there are always fires to be put out, and so they always need people that like to go in there and do that. You'll get there. You just have a health issue that you're dealing with now, that's all.
Most 19-year-olds don't have to worry about their physical condition. But I was just a 20-year-old when I was in a car crash that broke my back in three places, I spent a couple months in the hospital, and talk about unexpected misery at a young age! But all in the world that happened is, I got sick, and then I got well. So, welcome to the club, and you're in good company! Keep us posted, kid, you'll make it.
GG
I know you didnt want to heat its anxiety, but its sounds just like it. Take it from a person with history of panic attacks. Its weird when it decides to come on. I had them back in 2000 and then went on medication. Then i was fine. When you think you would be stressed and have anxiety sometimes you dont its really weird. Its sounds like your having depersonalization which is very commen in anxiety. Some time you feel as if you have a brain tumor because so many weird things are going on in your body. Did any of the doctors give you something for anxiety?
p.s.s i had my eyes checked and nothings wrong with them. The nerves are completely healthy.
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