undiagnosed episodes after sinus infection

[helpmeinmemphis]

i am a 39 year old male that i have just recently been experiencing episodes in which i will start getting a very strange feeling and get a tightness in my neck, my head will start throbbing especially on the right side, i will get a very axious feeling in my stomach and during the more pronounced episodes it will feel like i am experiencing heart palpitations and my mouth and throat will get extremely dry and get short of breath as if my airway is trying to close and there is a tightness in my chest. also during the worse ones i will get tremors badly. they have lasted as long as an hour or so.
i have been battling a very bad sinus infection for a month or so and it seems that these symptoms have started at the peak of this infection which is in my sphenoid sinusus according to the docs.
i have seen an e.n.t. for the sinus issues and she would not tell me anything yet until i continue antibiotics for several more weeks and then she can perform a cat scan to determine a course of action. she explained that she did not feel that he sinus problems would cause the symptoms i am describing.
i have had to go to the e.r. twice now when these episodes got very bad.
i was just released yeterday aftersaying in the hospital for three days while they ran tests. they ran an eeg, ekg, stress test, mri of my brain, and an echo test of my heart. all of the tests showed no issues and of course while i was there being sedentery in the bed, i had no problems.
they reccomended that i go on Keppra anti seizure meds even though they are not sure that i am having seizures.
Needless to say last night after i returned home the symptoms returned, i have not had a bad episode but my head will start aching in my sinus area and the back of my neck will get tense and i will just start getting nervous and even emotional.
i have never had anything like this happen and i have had no traumatic experiences lately and no family history of anything like this.
i am wondering if what i am experiencing may be a result of this bad sinus infection i am battling. also i am reluctant to begin the Keppra before getting a second opinion.
i am just not sure where to go or who to consult about these issues.
someone please help!
i am currently only taking amoxicillin, clariton, and medrol dosepak (3rd one)
thanks.

[LivingInHope]

Other thoughts- did you check out potential side effects from the medications you are currently taking?

Have you ever had a chiropractor check out how your cervical spine is- the top two of your vertabrae I was told is key in headaches and so much more.  If the spinal cord is being pinched at all up there, it could reak major havoc for you.

[helpmeinmemphis]

thanks for the post. i have had issues with cluster headaches once before, about 4 years ago. They were very debilitating and unpredictable and lasted for about a month, despite any treatment.
The symptoms were somewhat simalar to the pain, tension in the back of my neck and the pain mainy always on the right side of my head.
maybe this sphenoid sinus was casing the issues then also.
When i was having the cluster headaches i never experienced any of the other symptoms, racing heart, blurred vision, tightness of my chest etc.
I will definetly ask my doctor about the tests you mentioned, i am not sure what blood tests they performed specifically in the hospital, but my guess is they did not check those things.

[LivingInHope]

Oh, and adenomas on pituitary, if large enough can also affect one's vision.

[LivingInHope]

A number of the symptoms you are experiencing sound like panic attack.  I just learned recently that thyroid imbalance can cause a person to have emotional upheaval and anxiety- have you had your TSH, T3 and T4 blood levels checked?  

Also, I recently learned that high norepinephrine can actually induce a panic attack and tachycardia.  Have you had your catecholamines and plasma free metanephrines tested to rule out pheochromoctyoma (a rare tumor of the adrenal gland that can cause headache, tachycardia, high BP, etc.)?  

The h/a description fits migraine fairly well, although men can be more likely than women to get severe headaches called cluster headaches.  Studies have shown, I heard on tv that people with cluster headaches have a different shaped hypothalamus gland.  

Have they taken an MRI of the pituitary? This scan is different than the brain MRI, which is more general.  Adenomas, if big enough, on the pituitary gland can cause headache and the pituitary is close, I believe, to one of the sphenoid sinuses.