Dizziness, brain fog, memory, and other symptoms.

Hello, I'm new to the forum here. I've been chasing this problem for a few months now and haven't been able to find out anything yet. I'm hoping I can get some information that could be helpful, since my symptoms seem to be pretty generic and it makes it hard to pinpoint what the problem is.

So I'll try to keep this somewhat short and not include too much information that may not be important. I have multiple pages of notes I've kept on this, so I'll try to filter it out a bit.

This problem started the end of may this year (about 4 months ago). My first problem was that when I was eating large meals, sometimes I would get light-headed after eating. I was also losing hair quickly, which was a little concerning to me. After noticing my hair and lightheadedness, I decided to go to the doctor. They suggested taking a multi-vitamin and cut out sodium in my diet (note: I don't eat very large amounts of sodium to begin with). I started taking a multivitamin about a week after that doctor visit and the day after I started getting light-headed throughout the day, I was very out of it(brain fog), my memory was very bad, and I had numbness in multiple areas of my body. I felt very confused and weak, and had trouble just functioning. This came on very quickly, as the day before I was perfectly fine. My only issues before where some minor light-headedness when I would eat food. I went back to the doctor, and they took me off my blood pressure medicine and told me again to start eating better. Since the biggest variable that had changed was the multivitamin I started taking, I stopped taking that. The next day I was fine. I experimented with this on and off, and it seemed like it was better if I didn't take the multivitamin. I figured I may be getting too much of a certain vitamin so I cut it back to small amount of the multivitamin and worked on eating better. A few days after this started things seemed better, but I had one day where I felt quiet a bit better and by the end of the day I started having trouble catching my breath. I wasn't doing anything, I just had trouble breathing for some reason. This lasted for a few hours. That next day when I had to go in to work, I felt fine. I went in and after about an hour I started to get very light-headed. It was very strong and I felt like I was going to pass out. I could not do my job for about 2 hours before it finally went away enough I could go back to my job. I was fine for about an hour or two and then I started having trouble breathing. Oddly enough, these 2 problems never seemed to happen at the same time. I sat there trying to do my job but having so much difficulty breathing (again, not doing anything to exert my body). My brain fog and general feeling of being out of it was incredibly bad. I remember just sitting there looking at the desk not knowing what was going on around me at all. I tried desperately to catch my breath and after about 2 or 3 hours, it finally went away. The end of that week I went to another doctor and they finally ran some tests to check for anemia or thyroid problems but everything came back normal. The only thing that wasn't normal that showed up on the lab work was slightly higher than normal bilirubin, and eosinophils being slightly low (with other liver levels being normal). That next week I still had some of the same issues, but not near to the same extent. That first week was the worst.

Basically for the fist week I had: Lightheaded, dizzy, weakness, numbness, trouble breathing, brain fog, memory problems. All of which came on very suddenly, and shortly after I started taking a multi-vitamin. Cutting back seemed to help but didn't always help so I was unsure if there was a definite connection. The second week was a lot the same, but not quiet as bad.

So I didn't go back to the doctor for about 2 months. Between those times, I still had some of the same symptoms but not as bad. One of the worst parts about what's been going on is that I always feel it slightly, whether I feel like i'm a bit weak, out of it, or that i'm going to start getting light-headed. Up to this point, there where no abnormal results from blood work. Everything appeared to be normal.

So when I went back to the doctor, I still had the same problems going on, but they weren't as bad as before. I decided after 2 months without the problem going away, I should probably go back. They put me on anxiety medicine thinking that my problem might have been anxiety. It didn't seem to work, and I had a pretty bad reaction to the medication that included not being able to go to work. After this I stopped taking the multivitamin completely as well.

A little over a month later (about 2 weeks ago) I went back to the doctor because I started getting light-headed again for multiple days in a row. Something new that had started happening was I was getting a weird feeling in the middle of my abdomen on the right side. This was a very minor issue before, since it was barely noticeable. When my light-headedness would happen this time though, I would get this really weird sensation in my abdomen before I would get light-headed. Always in the same spot. Along with this, my heart rate was increasing significantly when I would stand up and walk around. Going from about 60bpm (normal resting heart rate for me) to about 90bpm, and sometimes even as high as 115. It would stay elevated for very long periods of time and I would not be able to stand for very long without getting lightheaded. These 2 issues where something that I didn't really notice before.

So the doctor ordered more blood work, and everything came back normal again. This included more thyroid tests, cbc, electrolytes, everything was normal.The only abnormalities where things that weren't being tested for. Bilirubin was normal this time, but eosinophils where even lower. Lymphs were low, and nrbc's were high. Other than that, everything was perfectly within normal levels.

One other things that's been going on, and has gotten noticeably worse within the last few weeks is blueness in the veins of my arms/hands. It has been more blue since all of this has been going on, but my hands seem to turn blue at times. It's hard to tell if it's just the veins, or it's actually my hands. I have lost about 15 pounds since all of this happened (and I was pretty thin to begin with) so it may be less fat covering the veins. I'm not entirely sure. It is much more noticeable though, and I can easily see it many times when I look at my hand. My oxygen saturation readings have always been 97%+ though, unless i'm exercising, in which case I've seen it drop to 96% once. Never have I seen a low number. I know there could be oxygenation issues even with normal oxygen saturation, but I feel like my skin would be more pale if that were the issue. At this point, I really don't even know what to consider.

I've tried eating better and exercising more. I started doing this even before all this started happening, but all of this going on has really hurt my exercising. It's hard to push myself because it can cause some of my symptoms to get worse. Since my last doctors visit about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I've tried to push myself harder regardless of whether it'll make me feel bad or not. I don't think my walking a few extra steps a day are really going to do anything for me. If It has to do with circulation problems or something, this may help. I'm really just trying to do everything I can to help myself. I look at nutritional facts of everything I eat. I exercise. I get plenty of vitamins, water, etc. I check my oxygen levels, and even got a glucose meter to start testing my blood sugar. Everything has always been normal.

This has really affected my ability to do things that I would normally do. I'm afraid to leave the house, afraid to do much of anything. I'm hoping that maybe somebody might have some suggestions for me. I've had 5 doctors appointments now and I'll likely go back soon to again see what my options are, and try to get a referral to a specialist.

Sorry if this was a bit poorly written. It's very late at night and I'm short on time. I do appreciate anybody taking time to read this. I'm open to any suggestions or ideas, especially if anybody has experienced something similar.

Thanks!

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