Brain Fog, Dizziness, and Lightheaded.. Im constantly worried I need answers!
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello everyone,
I thought I'd come on this forum in search of some answers. Let me give you a background story and info about me before we start. I apologize in advance if it being so lengthy but i need to spillway hear and mind out for your understanding.
Short background about me:
I am a 24 year old male of South East Asian decent (Cambodian/Laos) and I live a regular life. I have a girlfriend who I have been with for 4 years and happy along with a 2 year old son. I eat a normal diet nothing to junky and drink fluids on the regular. I hardly exercise however at walk I walk a lot.
Symptoms/background:
On October 2nd of 2017 I had started a new job with a new company working long hours from 5am to 5pm. I was excited to start this new opportunity leaving the sales job I had for many year and now having more time to spend at home with my family. Nearly a month has gone by and a little after halloween is where everything started to go downhill. One day I was at Fred Myers grocery shopping and felt out of it. I remember staring at my deli food I was eating and felt as if I had zoned out along with a headache. I went home and just went to bed hoping I could just shake it off. The following morning I felt very fatigued out, Light headed, and this brain fog. I won't up as I felt I am in a dream and tried to not think of it so much.
Nearly 2-3 weeks has passed and the headache has gone away but the brain fog and light headedness feeling stayed. I went to my local walk in clinic and did a short EKG on me and found nothing. Blood pressure was fine and oxidizing was great but my inner ears and nostrils were slightly red I guess do to the season change. They had taken a blood test from me(CBC) to test for anemia and electrolytes. He mentioned that if they can not find anything this it much be a head virus. A week has past and the clinic gave me a call stating that I have low red blood cells along with good electrolyte and I should call my primary doctor. Since I do not have health insurance due to the job transition I was unable to schedule an appointment immediately and was worried about paying the visit I had just done.
I had applied for Multi-Care financial aid and needed to wait 3-4 weeks for an answer so I did so. So for those 3-4 weeks I was just going to take Iron and B12 supplements to combat the anemia until i figured out how I'm going to see the doctor. Well through out the weeks the symptoms was just un-bearable thinking the vitamins was going to help. My brain fog was so bad that I was afraid I'm going to lose my memory. I was forgetting simple stuff then remembering them shortly after. If I had to think about something I actually have to concentrate something whereas in the past I didn't really have to. When i am looking at something (Reading or look to another spot after looking at another spot) my focus is hard. I feel flustered and actually have to concentrate on what I am looking at. The dizziness is 24/7 I wouldn't say its vertigo where the room is spinning but I'm just dizzy and feel even worst when I'm in a vehicle or coming from sitting to standing. At this point I am agitated with how I feel and wonder if Ill ever wake up feeling normal.
The symptoms eventually drove me to go into the doctors office not caring about the cost. During the visit I was a bit confused... after the doctor was reading my visit history and told her my symptoms he said that I was not short on red blood cells but they are small in size. She re ordered a CBC test to see have anything has changed since the last visit along with a thyroid test to ensure my hormones are in order. A week has passed and my doctor said well your red blood cells are still small and thyroid is in order. She wanted me to come in a do another blood draw to test my red blood cell proteins and chronic diseases. When I heard that I was in great fear hoping I don't have leukemia or lupus.
I stalled on the next visit only because now I was racking up my medical bills and was worried I could not afford all the testing they are going to do. About 2-3weeks has passed and now I am freaking out. I googled everything and scared myself with the constant worry of cancer, lupus, and was just getting depressed/stressed out. I lost motivation to live my normal life I had before these last 2 months. I have not talk to any of my friends or going out and just doing something. Not because I just didn't want to but my brain fog and dizziness is so bad I just want to stay home. The financial aid paper work came in and said I was covered 100% in full until March of 2018 and will pay for all past visits! I was so relieved I scheduled an appointment asap to get these labs done. After doing the labs and chatting with the doctor about my symptoms she believes I'm depressed and stressed out. She recommended me to take SSRI to help with the depression and stress but I refuse because I believe I am not depressed/ stressed. I only feel unmotivated because my symptoms not an outside force like a family member passing or something. Now its about christmas time and I got the call... My heart dropped for the answer and she said that there was no chronic disease and that i have a Homogoblin E disease where my blood cells are just small and common among South East Asian decent. She informed me that I should talk to a hematologist and the reason why I'm felling like this might be answered by a hematologist and it seemed as if my blood is the issue now.
Here is were I'm at and current state of mind and symptoms. I still feel my symptoms and if not slightly worst. My dizziness is consistent were if I'm at a low level of body and going up like laying down/sitting then standing up I'm having a dizzy spell. Brain fog is the same with the memory problem a question. Im not forgetting as bad but more of the concentration and focus part that worries me and mild fatigue. Now I have to wait for a call from the hematologist to come in a for a consultation. My doctor said i have to wait about a week or so to hear from them. Now I'm in panic mode again googling all my symptoms because I just need answers. Im convinced that I may have a brain tumor and suffering from derealization because lately I've been felling like out of it and in a dream trying to snap out of it and want to be normal again. I have been having a dull headache not painful just a numb/ persistent feeling in my head but on occasion it will hurt. I get a pulling sensation on my temples and between my eyebrows throughout the week. When I think complex or just thinking in general ill get a dizzy and hard concentration feeling. I even went deaf in one ear for a short time like 1 second or so. Im so worried I may have a tumor I went to the clinic again and this time with someone else. After explaining all the symptoms she believes its depression and stress stating due to my job change... She its for 3 months this has been happening and that when I started my new job. Coming form a 9-5 job to 5-5 job thus working longer hours. Standing on anti fatigue mats to hard concrete for 12 hours. A sudden change in sleep schedule were I sleep earlier and wake up earlier. Im young and its hard for me to believe its my work affecting me. Ive stayed up playing video games and partying and had irregular sleep schedules. I worked in high pressure sales and handled a lot of stress ranging from meeting sales goals and caring for customer needs. Once again this doctor wanted me on an SSRI 10mg of Celexa to be exact and wanted me to take it for 2 weeks and come see her again. I bought the damn pills but I don't want to take it. I fear of becoming mentally addicted and don't think its stress. I don't want to take something and ruin something that is doing fine. I've been doing CBD oil as an alternative and more naturally. I feel more calm and the things I feared have lessened. She doesn't know I do CBD and I'm going to tell her I didn't take the pills in two weeks. She wants to start on the SSRI and doesn't believe I may have a brain tumor but will keep it open for discussion after she sees what the pills will do.
I have very minor thought of hurting myself but I been lately because I'm going crazy how i lived normal then it was taken away just like that. Now will i hurt myself? i don't think so because I have more self respect and pride for that. Plus I have a little one to raise. I fear my symptoms will get worst and drive me to another level. I'm irritated every day because my symptoms and worry I may not live any longer because i feel a dramatic event may happen. I fear I might slip in a comma during sleep because I'm mentally exhausted. Im jus too young and want my life back. I need to raise a son and does anyone have an understand on what to do? Is anyone else going though my symptoms and have no idea on why they arise.
Thank you for reading and understanding
-Alex
2 likes, 2 replies
verity56501 Alexo
Posted
Hi , Do you suffer with anxiety ? I have had a similar experience to you. But I don't want to diagnose you. And you should definitely get him to rule out serious illnesses rather than saying we will check for that next time. But I take it you are not in the UK with nhs. 3 years ago I felt for a few weeks like I was just existing but not here I felt of balance dizzy and constant fatigue I kept going to sleep in the day but woke up feeling worse. If that sounds like you I will write the rest of what happend ?
peterjones9000 Alexo
Posted
Hi,
I'm replying to this in the hope of helping anyone who comes across the post. I recently experienced similar symptoms for a period of three months from 15th December 2017 to mid-march 2018.
The symptoms came on overnight. They included:
Dizziness- It wasn't 'vertigo'. It was more a feeling on being on a rocking boat 24/7
Fatigue- this was at its worst for the first few weeks and then lessened. But for the first few weeks everyday tasks- changing the bedsheets for instance- totally exhausted me and I would have to sit down after. For the first week or two, I would crawl into bed in the afternoon and fall into very deep sleep. As I say, the extreme fatigue went away after a few weeks. All the other symptoms remained though.
Flustered- As the person above describes, I would have to really concentrate on things that don't normally require a lot of thought. Selling something on eBay, for example. This was probably the most distressing symptom. I could only manage one straightforward task at a time. If a few problems arose at once I would get this awful overwhelmed feeling, like I was hanging on for dear life. This was usually accompanied by a feeling of pressure at the back of my head, similar to the sensation of blushing.
Concentration- A few typos per sentence if I was writing on the computer, for example. Missing words, wrong endings on words etc. Just muddled.
Puffy under eyes and a feeling of pressure around the eyes. Also a redness at the edge of my eyelids. These symptoms gradually went away over the months before I was fully recovered.
Clumsy- my proprioception was off: crashing glasses and plates onto tabletops, breaking a piece off the shower, pulling stuff out of the cupboard onto the floor unintentionally.
Depersonalisation- for the first month I was in a very dreamlike state all the time.
Incapable of exercise of any sort- even using a cloth to wash the windows would aggravate the dizziness. I think the increased movement of the head may have been responsible for this.
The dizziness and brain fog/confusion were worse when I was tired and when I was hungry. Eating a meal would ease things quite a bit, for an hour or so at least.
My GP found nothing wrong with my ears when he examined them with his little scope thing. He prescribed anti-vertigo medication, but this did nothing. Maybe 10 weeks in I had an MRI and this came back with nothing.
The symptoms remained constant until mid-march then cleared up in the course of 24 - 48 hours. In the few days before they cleared up, I had started taking long baths. Could the steam have done something to the passages in my head? I had also been reading about cervicogenic dizziness- dizziness arising from issues with the neck. I was going to go to a physio specialising in that and in the meantime had been massaging the back of my neck myself, stretching and rolling my head etc, trying to loosen it all up. Maybe that had some effect. The prolonged heat of the baths might also have loosened something up.
It was a big relief when it cleared up. For the duration, I just stuck to routine as best I could, including a walk for 45 minutes in the evening. That's all for now. If I can think of anything else I'll be back! Cheers.