Intracranial Hypertension?

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Hi everyone. I'm 26, male and for 4 and a half years, I've been suffering severe, debilitating brain symptoms which have made my life practically not worth living anymore, without getting any closer to any kind of diagnosis or treatment.

This illness started as a sudden onset in June 2016 with what appeared to be some sort of virus or infection, accompanied by disabling brain fog or brandyphrenia (slow thought processing, often associated with Parkinson's).

The actual infection went away within a week, but the brain symptoms remained and just got progressively worse as the months went by. Then other brain and head symptoms started to slowly set in, and my illness started affecting other parts of my body as the years went on. My head is now in constant pain all the time and can barely think or function anymore as I continue to deteriorate with this illness.

Here are the symptoms in the order they appeared:

Sudden flu-like illness (at the start)

Sudden, severe brain fog and rapid cognitive decline

Worsening tiredness

Insomnia (random episodes that come and go)

Worsening headache (often feels like a burning pain around the scalp)

Worsening vision issues (tunnel vision, nothing wrong with eyesight)

Unrefreshing sleep

Heart arrhythmias (includes sudden SVT attacks and bigeminy)

Flat emotions/anhedonia related to cognitive problems getting worse

Bloated/distended abdomen (was previously slim)

Random muscle twitches

Severe head pain when resting head on a pillow (can also cause sudden stabs of pain, followed by ringing ears (like a bomb or gunshot went off) and feeling of hot liquid dripping down the back of the head)

Pressure feeling in head accompanied by pains

Constant loud ringing in ears (seems to fluctuate along with pains in head)

Horrible feelings of discomfort in head (like something is physically irritating my brain)

Various burning and jabbing pains in head

Progressive muscle weakness

Exertional breathlessness ( when going up stairs for example)

Rapid weight loss and muscle waste

Nothing I've tried in the past years has had any effect at all on any of the symptoms and they just gradually worsen with time. I also sometimes get episodes that exacerbate all of my symptoms at once, which can be scary as they start to affect things like my breathing and speech. The only thing I can take to get any kind of relief is codeine, which basically numbs my brain of all the horrible feelings in it.

After years of research on the internet, I'm beginning to think my condition could well be intracranial hypertension induced by a virus. I've heard very little information on this, but know that it is possible and if it were the case, would likely explain all these head and brain symptoms Ive been getting. I'm currently going to see a neuroimmunologist who I hope has answers for me.

Anyway, if anyone on here is experiencing issues similar to mine, feel free to comment.

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1 Reply

  • Posted

    Sleep is very important to lifestyle, its important to get plenty of rest, because if you do not it can cause major issues down the line.

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