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I've been lightheaded for about 9 months now

Posted , 1 user is following.

marion30801
marion30801

Doctors have attributed this to anxiety and depression.  I also have a long history of this but Zoloff and Prozac medication has helped in the past. When antidepresants did not work this time, I was diagnosed by one MD as symptoms being from arthritis in the neck and for the tingling and numbness in the hands and feet.  I've had that for about 3 months and it is getting worse.  My primary now thinks that is is neurological.

I have been referred to specialists in arthritis and neurology.

I am afraid to go out because I feel like I might faint.  I am still on

buspar for anxiety for 2 months and a week but I think it makes me more dizzy and have cut down to 15 mgs a day from 20 and plan to stop  gradually as it got worse when I stopped taking it for a few days.  

My mind won't stop racing and I can't concentrate on anything.  My memory is still good but I keep thinking of the past,  

just turned 80 years old.  I am on BP medication, cholesterol med and

Prilosec and have had numerous blood tests that are normal except for  A little low on electrolytes but told I drink too much water so am cutting down.  I am sick of going to doctors and I dread the tests that I may have to endure by the neurologist.  I thought it was MS because I have a lot of the symptoms but I still have strength in my hands and passed the basic tests they give you in a GP's office.  They can't really tell in the

few minutes they give you for the exam so are just guessing.  

At the clinic I go to, they treat me like a hypochondriac because I go

so frequently whenever a new symptoms appears. It may take months

to get an appointment with the neurologist so don't know what to do for

the dizziness in the meantime if anything can be done. I doubt if arthritis is causing it as my neck has only recently started to hurt. 

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • bildo
    bildo marion30801

    Posted

    Maybe ask a doctor about Amitritplaine which is a different classs of antidepressant from Zooloft and Prozac. It is good for neuropathy based pain which might be causing the pain. If anything else just try to find someone to talk to about the pain like support groups and/or one to one session with a mental health practitioner.
    • bildo
      bildo

      Posted

      that would be "Amitriptyline" not Amitritplaine. Sorry.
    • marion30801
      marion30801 bildo

      Posted

      I tried Nortriptyline many years ago that is a tricyclic antidepressant also and it worked pretty well but made me tired but I am tired all the time anyway.  Trouble is that antidepressants don't work for me anymore,

      but I'm willing to try it.  My provider last gave me a prescription for

      Cybalta but it made me very ill and had to stop after 5 days.  He also

      recommends therapy as did some of the doctors I've had.  My worst

      symptom is the lightheadedness.  It is so bad now that I'm afraid to go out and have to take cabs everywhere.  I am even afraid to go to the store that is only a few doors down from me.  I have appointments with

      2 specialists but it's probably a waste of time and I get more anxious each time I have an appointment.  If I can get rid of the lightheadedness, I'd go for therapy.  

    • bildo
      bildo marion30801

      Posted

      Definitely try therapy if you can manage to! I was amazed I had so many aches and pains but just talking about it eventually led me to getting by better. Its like that old military training thing "pain is all in the mind", sometimes I felt like it was some sort of black magic the therapist  was doing on me lol. If you can't muster getting into therapy due to anxiety then maybe the old Nortyiptyline combined with therapy this time might be the way to go for you. Therapy might even in turn give you enough energy to get over the tirednesss side effect, but of course I dont know the . Hope you do well.

      Very strangely I used to have lightheadedness, but after therapy it just seemed to disappear.

      Hope you find a solution!

  • lisalisa67
    lisalisa67 marion30801

    Posted

    Congrats on being 80 years young! Dont be so hard on yourself you are doing pretty well. They do have placing called vestubular rehab centers and balance centers. No one should be treating you like a hypochondriac. I wonder if you need b12, did they check your levels? They sell b12 tablets that go under your tongue and melt within a few minutes and b12 gets absorbed that way. You noted you are on prisolec and thats a proton pump inhibitor which depletes the body of calcium and causes mal absorption of calcium and b12.  It did it to me now i take b12 injections. I was lucky a nurse came in to me long time ago and held my hand and whispered in my ear its probably b12 go get tested. She saved me and it was. I was having all kinds of interesting issues and she knew. Bp meds also can have side effects. As you age your body metabolizes medicine very differently. Cholesterol meds also effect muscles. You have a lot going on here that could be causing you issues. Hopefully you are co enzyme q10(ubiqinol) in the usa that have everyone on cholersterol meds taking coenyme q10 as well. I dont remember why but they say thats very important. I hope all your issues resolve soon. Whatever changes you make always let your gp know. And please ask the pharmacist if there are any interactions with all your meds. 
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