I think I've recently suffered nerve damage, but I'm unsure.

Posted , 2 users are following.

I am a 23-year-old male recently recovering from some drug abuses.  Other than this and the occasional alcohol intake, I watch my health like a hawk, almost obsessively.  I exercise regularly, eat a well-balanced low carb-high fat diet, and NEVER eat anything that has been processed (except beer, wine, and spirits on occasion).  I've been dealing with a cold for about 4-5 weeks now that has slowly begun to subside, however, over the weekend my symptoms flared to where I was having frequent bursts of excessive coughing and sneezing, a flagrantly runny nose, and intense sinus congestion.  Strangely enough, my chest congestion I had had for about a week cleared durng this time, however, my eyes became bloodshot and often irritated and itchy.  Friday night when these symptoms had just begun to escalate, I spent a couple hours kissing a girl (she said she didn't mind getting sick) and I was certain she would probably contract the same cold, however, it's been six days now and she seems completely fine.  On Saturday, I was a sneezing mess at work and my nose and the areas surrounding my nose had turned bright red, so I left work three hours early and devoted the afternoon to nursing myself.  I caught up on lost sleep from the busy week and used Vick's VapoRub and some home remedies like herbal tea and breathing in water vapor to cull my symptoms down for a concert of one of my favorite bands I was to be attending that night. My friend had given me a tab of pure LSD to take before the concert.  Over the summer I had abused LSD on almost a weekly basis but had recently sworn off the stuff for good after still suffering from flashbacks and HPPD (hallucinogenic persisting perception disorder), however, given the circumstances, I caved and put tab in my mouth.  It was only on my tongue for about two second before I quickly changed my mind and spat it out.  I'm uncertain if any actually got into my system.  Before the concert, I had some drinks with friends that totaled to about two and a half shots worth of tequila and a beer.  Throughout the concert, I noticed multiple hallucinogenic visuals especially present when looking into some of the lighting of the show that my friends on MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms also were able to see as well.  Whether this was from the LSD tab or my HPPD, I am unsure.  After the concert I spent an hour or two at a party with some friends, but I didn't drink because I needed to drive home that night.  While trying to sleep in my bed that night, I was plagued by insomnia instigated by repeated and sometimes violent coughing episodes as I had seen the two previous nights.  When I woke up on Sunday I felt... off.  I had not drank enough alcohol the night before to instigate a hangover and I was almost certain my brief exposure to the LSD tab had had little to no effect.  My throat was still sore and my nose was still running, but this time when I went to get out of bed, I almost collapsed.  My legs were weaker than they had ever been and felt like jello.  Over the months prior, I had been utilizing daily yoga practices to improve my balance, but all of a sudden it seemed like that all had been taken away from me.  My muscles felt very weak, especially in my legs and it felt like some of the the posture muscles were even paralyzed or had suffered some amount of nerve damage.  I had a significant amount of brain fog and had trouble concentrating even on simple tasks.  What was most discomforting was my vision was completely off and I was seeing double.  Though I could not see any significant deviation in the track of my eyes when looking in the mirror, I definitely had double vision when both eyes were open.  I took the rest of the day to rest and recover, thinking my symptoms would subside.  I took Nyquil that night to help me sleep but the coughing attacks still came on heavily.  The next morning I woke up feeling worse and ended up missing both my college classes that day.  I drove to the student health clinic at my university barely making it there since my double vision was significantly impeding my driving ability.  Unfortunately they were booked for the day and instructed me to a local health clinic, but I was turned away there as well since they did not accept my health insurance.  I also noticed at the time that it had become increasing difficult to use my hands for simple tasks like writing my name down or brushing my teeth.  My dexterity was completely off as though my hands were too cold to function, but their temperature was perfectly fine.  By that time, I was pretty sure what I had suffered over the weekened was the flu and not a cold, and after further research into my symptoms, I was afraid either the influenza had reached brain tissue or the virus and my drug abuse had triggered the early onsets of Multiple Schlerosis.  On Tuesday I woke up feeling just as terrible as I had the prior two mornings.  I went to a scheduled chiropractor appointment and he too was showing concern for my symptoms but was unable to help me further.  In class that day, I could not concentrate to save my life and my double vision became so flagrant, I knew something was definitely wrong.  I called in sick to work and went straight to student health services again, but like the day before, they were booked for that day as well.  After I explained my symptoms to them, they instructed me to rush over to the local instacare immediately.  At the instacare, the doctor also suspected either the flu had entered brain tissue or this was the early signs of MS.  He ran me through several optical tests and observed my walking and standing posture.  No blood tests, spinal taps, or MRI's were taken.  By the end of the exam we examined that now I could see objects steadily if they were directly in front of me, however, if I observed them at an angle, they became double.  Upon discovering this and discussing my symptoms, the doctor told me he did not believe I had MS or the flu, but that what I was experiencing was a severe allergic reaction, most likely coming from something in my house.  When I kept asking him about the double vision at an angle along with the loss of balance and muscle/sensory problems, he said it would probably fade with time but to go to the emergency room if my direct vision became doubled again.  At my house, my roommates and I came across a large amount of mold in a hole in the ceiling of my closet which I guessed to be the culprit.  I'm currently staying at a friend's house now while our landlord deals with the mold, however, I am still experiencing the same neurological and muscular disturbances as I had felt when waking up last Sunday.  In some cases they seem to be getting worse.  My cough, sore throat, runny nose, red eyes, and sinus congestion has subsided dramatically, but my fingertips and fingernails constantly have a numb, tingly feeling and my legs feel like jelly underneath me, especially when I try to walk down a staircase or run.  Many muscles, especially in my outer extremities, feel either weak or nonfunctioning and I seem to get about in a clumsy, unbalanced manner.  I really have to concentrate when I'm moving around.  The double vision has improved slightly, but it seems to be worse when I wake up in the morning.  What's more disturbing is the brain fog and difficulty concentrating has not seen any significant improvement either.  In many cases, it feels like I'm consistently inebriated now, and not in a good way.  My family believes it's my anxiety flaring up (our family has a long history of anxiety), but this is definitely something else.  I've never felt this way before and it doesn't seem to be fading with time.  I'm sick of being turned away from health professionals and not being taken seriously.  Can someone please help me figure out what is happening to me and what I can do to fix it?  My health is everything to me these days.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    Go to the emergency room. You need blood tests done. I am not sure why this was not done first. You could have encephalitis. You could have atypical pneumonia. You could have a number of things, but your symptoms are not the kind that should be left to wait-and-see.

    Do you smoke by the way? I have seen similar symptoms in a tobacco allergy - took a while to diagnose...

     

    • Posted

      I used to smoke on occasion but it was never habitual. It's one of the many unhealthy things I've purged from my lifestyle.

  • Posted

    after reading all of this, your actions do not bring to mind a person to whom health is everything.
    • Posted

      I came here seeking advice, not criticism. So if you don't mind helping, why are you commenting? I know my choices have been poor the past week and in many ways it feels like a relapse. I know I have made a lot of poor decisions in the past as well but I'd like to think I'm learning from my mistakes and have been working toward a healthier lifestyle in the past 4 months in which I have been living healthier than most, aside from this set-back. Don't kick me when I'm down, stranger, when you don't even know me.

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