What is wrong with me? Slew of symptoms

[missamericanpie]

Symptoms: NAUSEA, lightheaded, loss of balance, upset stomach, constipation, fatigue, loss of appetite, miss periods or sporadic periods, anxiety, irritability, feeling like the room is spinning or when I'm sitting or laying down, like bed or chair is shaking.

I'm an active 25 year old female. I have a relatively clean health history (gall bladder removed when I was 14, herniated discs when I was 20) I've been dealing with these worsening symptoms since June when I attended my friends graduation and went to dinner afterward to celebrate. I ate seafood paella and bread at dinner and on the way home I had to pull over to a Dunkin Donuts with an upset stomach, feeling nauseous, lightheaded, and feeling like I had to either vomit or poop but I couldn't do either. I attributed it to bad seafood and my dad had to come get me from an hour away because I couldn't drive.

From June-November I have been experiencing these symptoms increasingly. I had a blood panel done and everything is normal. No allergies present. I tried cutting out gluten and I felt less foggy. But I still have severe episodes, typically in the middle of the night, where I wake up with severe belly pain and feeling like I need to vomit (out of 10 or so of these episodes, I've only ever vomited once). I usually get ready to vomit and immediately the feeling to vomit dissipates and I have to go to the bathroom, but I'm constipated and it's painful. Last time, I had very hard, dry stools and then I expelled water for about 20 minutes. During this entire time, I was shaking and SWEATING severely (like drops of sweat on the floor, I soaked though my t shirt.)

Another factor of note is I noticed these incidents occur around my irregular period. Either the end of the third week of my pill pack (always) or I will have an episode and the following day I will start bleeding for a day or two. I have painful cramps and usual menstrual symptoms, such as acne breakouts and I become extremely hormonal (like, yelling at my boyfriend for silly things and crying over everything, not like me at all.)

On the "good" days, I am still nauseous and constipated with absolutely no appetite. I'm only prompted to eat when I feel sluggish.

I'm seeing a second opinion for a gynecologist. My regular doctor prescribed me pericolace for the constipation. I take wellbutrin for the anxiety and I take a swig of Pepto Bismal almost every night before bed to try and avoid a mid-night episode. I'm still avoiding gluten, but the other night I had a bite of a hamburger with the bun on without thinking and I felt fine.

PLEASE HELP. I feel written off, it's affecting my relationships, I'm so sick of feeling like this. At least help me with dealing with the symptoms and the episodes that are unbearable.

[Londres70]

I would suggest consulting a GI Specialist vs. a GYN Specialist because in my opinion this is a GI issue.  You should probably have an Upper Endoscopy done and if that's clean then a Lower Endoscopy should be done.  

Have you had any imaging done of your abdomen at all?  

[panda2526]

Hi there, and I also have a suggestion that in addition to your "full blood panel" that showed everything "normal" please ask you dr if this included anything to do with screening for iron overload. Often they will screen or test for iron deficiency or anemia, but the iron overload is almost always overlooked, and your symptoms very specific to this common genetic condition. You are young, but all the symptoms you describe I myself have as well, and have suffered with for years and first my husband was diagnosed by accident and then myself...I would not have known about iron overload other than he was diagnosed and we then learned of the severe and progressive damage iron overload does. The longer this is left undetected and undiagnosed the more damage is done to organs, tissues, and joints.

I strongly encourage you to have this checked out, even to rule it out as iron is toxic. If you genetically load iron, you will be having symptoms as you describe.

You need a ferittin, transferinsaturation, TIBC, and serum iron...if your dr has done tests they would be the routine CBC's and not these tests. If you have any European background, the prevalence for this disorder is much greater and is passed on by parents who have it themselves or are carriers.

If you have any other ?'s let me know, or PM me if you like. You can look it up for yourself and see how it fits to your circumstance. I can tell you the fatigue, the periods, the abdominal pain (and the fact you had your gallbladder out so young) are all tell-tale signs. But this is the most rarely diagnosed and most often misdiagnosed of all genetic disorders.

Take care...

[mouse464]

Maybe try haveing your doctor check your vitamin d levels and your thyriod.

[missamericanpie]

if i were pregnant, I would be 6 months along from the start date of these symptoms. Also, I've been getting my period, it's just I have irregular bleeding in between my period too. I know you can get your period while pregnant sometimes but I'm on the pill and we use condoms. I had 2 negative tests in early October.

[hisangel86]

Most of those symptoms are of pregnancy. I would definitly get a test or go to your doctor. Some of it could just be from stress so take a hot bath and clear your head. Take some stool softeners to ease pain but do not take laxatives. If you are those are not good to use. But if you have had these for a long time it probably is more just stress. I hope some of this helped. Good luck.