dizziness, black outs, pins & needles, tiredness, shortness of breath

[koala87]

I am a 24 year old female, last year I started experiencing blacking out for a few seconds, the back of my head & neck felt hot, and feeling dizzy, itd only last a few second and I thought it could be to do with hunger, but one day a few months ago I woke up & found ny sight was a bit blurry around the egde of my right eye almost as if the peripheral vision was blurred, & I felt almost as if I was in a dream, ny vision came back to normal & i felt quite tired. On the same day I was walking a few steps across the room & felt dizzy & my vision blacked out for a few seconds again, I leaned against the wall and my right arm jerked about a little.  
Yesterday my vision went like it again & I felt in that 'dream state' again, my vision came back, but I found it hard to say the right words when I was speaking, instead of saying 'fish' I said 'finish' even though I was thinking the word fish, I then got pins & needles in my thump and then It went dead & I couldn't feel anything in it, this feeling then moved into my index finger, my middle finger and so on, I felt ok after this, just unsettled, before yesterday, when I saw my doctor he said he thinks I may be aneamic, I'm just wondering if anyone else has had similar symptoms to me & may have an answer for this? I've been taking iron tablets the last few days, & I'll be going for a blood test this week.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
If you have headaches and hot flashes and lightheadedness with a feeling of passing out, you could be having either polycystic ovarian disease or GERD with or without H pylori infection. These are the two conditions to be ruled out first. Other conditions to be strongly ruled out in your case could be cervical spinal nerve compression, Meniere’s disease of the ear, wax in the ear, infection of the middle or inner ear, benign positional vertigo and benign intracranial hypertension. Hence it is important to consult an ENT specialist and a neurologist too. At times back and neck problems may persist for years before they really start giving trouble. Chances of TMJ too should be looked into. Other causes are anemia, hypoglycemia or low sugar and some endocrine problems, such as an underactive thyroid (called hypothyroidism), overactive thyroid (called hyperthyroidism), adrenal insufficiency (called Addison's disease),  and in some cases, diabetes, may lead to hypotension and hence lightheadedness and an off balance feeling. It can also be an anxiety and panic attack. It is really difficult to comment on the net. I suggest you consult your PCP to run the basic investigations and get an insight into what could be the cause. Depending on clinical examination and tests, your PCP can refer you to the appropriate specialist. Take care!

[koala87]

Hi, thanks for your advice, don't worry you haven't scared me, its just nice to know I'm not the only one, the doctors sometimes make you feel as though you are over exagerrating.
Thanks to your advice I can tell my doctor what I've been told and tell them to do further tests if need be.
Also epilepsy is not as bad as what I was thinking, but I'm not ruling anything out or expecting anything.
Thanks for your help :)

[Joy1993]

Its definatly a good idea to see your doctor, i have experienced exactly the same thing and my doctor told me i might be aneamic too, i had to have several tests and it turns out that it was infact partial epilepsy. Your condition sounds very similar to mine, i dont want to scare you by saying this but you may have epilepsy, but dont take it from me it could be something completly different or could just be aneamia, mention it to your doctor it took my doctor 10 months to figure out what was wrong with me i hope they can tell you whats wrong sooner. When you feel like your about to black out make sure you try and sit down. Dont panic when you feel like your about to or after because this will induce a blackout or may cause a panic attack. Hope my advice has helped and not scared you at all.

[koala87]

Also forgot to mention, I feel tired quite a bit, get headaches (have been told from a young age these are migraines) and sometimes feel a bit short of breath.