Uncomfortable Head Sensation and stinging, Vertigo, loss of interest, Headaches, Brain fog
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My Story**
A little background info
*I am a 31 year old Female
- Heavy Drinker (not a smoker) IPAs
- Partook in the MDMA culture in 2010
- overdose on Adderall when I was 21
- lived normal with light anxiety till now
* kicked tramadol obsession 2 yrs ago
April 10th
Took first shot of Moderna
April 24th
Attended a kicked back where I Drank heavily and Smoked a Vape that was very strong all night long and was badly hungover next day
April 26th
Hung out with a friend at the Mall and experienced Vertigo in line. A bit lightheaded, started feeling Anxiety and a onset headache that felt odd
April 28th
Headache still there but it was More like Burning and moved from back of head to left top and left temple. The sensation was like burning electrical currents. Headed to ER to get a CT brain scan was told brain looked good 👍 they gave me a Norco A IV drip and Tylenol and sent me home (Nothing Relieved Pain)
April 29th to 30th
That morning I felt better and decided to write the while thing off as a head ache
I went out to the casino on the 29th to drink with friends and noticed while I was drinking u was oddly super buzzed after only 2 beers and also the buzz wasn't feeling to good. Went home and went to sleep. Next morning felt oddly excited for my bday and chipper. (Probably the afterglow of drinking the night before)
Headed to LA checked into Room and went downstairs for dinner. Bought some drinks and after first Cheers and a sip I started to feel a weird head sensation in the left side on top of my head. Almost a numb spot. I went the the bathroom and was hit with a mental breakdown. Started feeling emotional and crying, dissassociation, my face looked weird to me in the mirror. Like horrible Anxiety but I couldn't shake it off and it made me feel very Wrong and out of place. We checked out and went home and I went back to see 2 doctors with whom both said it must be .....Migraines with Anxiety.
Gave me medicine that has yet to give me relief from the head burning or head sensation and sent me home.................and from that day forward I lived the month of may with little to NO relief.
The Month of MAY
The physical and mental symptoms below till this day I do not know if the mental were a result of Anxiety from the physical symptoms or if the mental symptoms came because they were Due to the physical symptoms and Partook in the illness itself. (I wanna believe the whole thing was a Package.
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
Everyday I experienced the electrical burning headaches that moved around the left side of my head to the back.
Everyday I felt an odd sensation of pressure and sensitivity like pain,
(like before you get a cold you can feel it coming) in my nose, forehead, upper back Throat and in my ears deep. Like a respiratory irritation but with no normal symptoms of a cold.
Every other day I felt tinnitus come and go from my ears
I ALSO noticed that something was happening to MY EYES
Like they were dry and I had something in them but nothing is there.
Like I couldn't see well anymore
I also Developed stomach problems and a sharp pain wondering if this was an ulcer from all the stress.
And one of the worst to me was
I LOST MY APPETITE and cravings. Never hungry
COGNITIVE & PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS
Like all this pain wasn't enough my mind was also acting up in this ordeal
At first I was experiencing Anxiety which I was using meditation aromatherapy and yoga to calm down but then daily I noticed I was experiencing the full spectrum of mental instability.
• Loss of interest in things I once loved
• Emotional Numbness
• Crying spells
• Feeling hopeless like I'm dying
• Dissassociation
• Brain Fog
• Bad memory
• Couldn't focus
• Reading was hard
• Staying present
• My eyes were wanting to stay unfocused
• No mental clarity like looking through a screen.
• Depression
• Hormonal Imbalance
• Bad moods
I was exghausted and the symptoms fluctuated day to day with the physical mixed in and I understood for the first time how people get to a dark enough place to want to make a drastic irreversible choice.
and worse my doctors could only here my symptoms and send me out to other specialists who couldn't see me for weeks and months doing MRI and Cat Scans and ultrasound with Perfect fine results
My blood tests came back and I had low Vitamin D
I felt so lost. Like I needed to accept this torture and just politely wait to pass away from my undiagnosed illness.
It made me feel bad for ppl with fibromyalgia because they to were dealing with pin doctors couldn't diagnose or cure
THE LAST WEEK OF MAY
Slowly like the tiniest baby steps the physical and mental symptoms begin to Dissipate. I started to have good hours and then good days followed by bad ones again.
June 2nd
All of my symptoms have alleviated themself except these Symptoms. I fear they are permanent and the result of the passing infection in my head. (Ive decided to think my brain was infected)
can't find the triggers because every day is random.
• Unnerving head pressure and numb spot on head that feels uncomfortable enough to distract me day to day.
• The upper respiratory sensation like I'm about to get a cold but I never do
• A feeling of uncomfortablness when my head gets that's Numbness making me feel wrong in my own body, it feels like a weird anxiety I never felt but like doing things and tasks feels wrong. Very hard to describe last sometimes minutes or can be on and off a whole day.
. Frustrated and feeling handicapped
. Jaw Pain
• Feeling of hopelessness like i feel sicky with no hope of feeling healthy
• Brain Fog but way less intense.
• Loss of interest but more mild
Depression
• Loss of appetite
I loose track of what I'm thinking and I cannot multi task anymore
reading is hard and I have to reread to understand
planning is hard no longer gives me joy
the feeling I'm just a brain and body not a person and I question myself when I hear myself talk like what I getting at
What im doing about it......
Somedays are good and someday are bad and it's Hard to tell if I'm getting better
I've noticed Obsessing over it makes me feel worse.
I watch ASMR Mukbangs to increase appetite 😐 and sometimes I suprise myself now and feel hungry but I get full too fast
I quit drinking alchohal and I fear that some of the symptoms mixed in is depression because alchohal was a coping mechanism for my boredom and sadness
Losing my appetite was torture as well because I was an emotional eater and used eating as a socializing device and now I cant do either coping mechanisms
I cant drink or eat and life is feeling dull but im trying to seperate that from the other symptoms.
I'm dealing with alot and I fear I will feel this craziness forever and never feel normal again and I wonder if you can even call that living. But I am also a fighter and I love life so much.
To everyone my masking is well played and I come off fine
I feel like a burden who needs to stay classy and not let anyone know what I'm going through because when I share my story and my symptoms I am hit back with my family and friends trying to either compare there own strives against mine telling me they have felt all my symptoms and they suck it up or they totally understand when I have no doubt that they have no idea, or I tell them what happened to me and they say sounds like anxiety you'll be fine
It leaves me feeling crippled.
The few people I do feel have experienced a piece of what I'm feeling I can tell right away. They just Get it.... this tortured look on their face and they just know so I'm around them more.
I'm also trying to deal with all of this without taking anti depressants and Gabepatin
I've read it in forums stating the sensations im feeling is maybe my Nerves misfiring and being out of whack and my hormones being off Gabepatin is for Nerves
But I have a fear
If I just take drugs ill need them forever and never get to the root on how this got started and why and how to prevent it. If i get so low I will resort to that stuff but right now I'm fighting to educate myself and know for sure.
I found a thread on this site of things it could be and I have a huge journey ahead of me but I want you all to know your not alone. Here are some things you can look up
Neuro elasticity
Rewiring the brain (brain excersise)
Excersise
Gut Health
Defeating depression naturally
Acceptance and patience
If all else fails anti depression and Gabepatin
Ask about thyroid
Cervical spine
Ask about eagles syndrome
Chiropractic occipitalantic joint
Folic acid 5mg a day foliage deficiency
Chiari malformation
Physical strain physically stressful event heavy drinking makes it worse
Bodies pushed to the limit and off balance
Gut Brain Axis
Hepatic encephalopathy
Vitamin D Deficiency
Find a doctor that understands Valtrex for brain fog
5hdp
Sometimes something traumatic happens mental or physical and your brain malfunctions and I believe like a computer you have to go in and rebuild it yourself
Your emotions
Your interests
Your happiness
Your structure
Your eating
Your gut health
People get brain damage and do exercises to recover and build new pathways I've read so I hold onto that hope that I'm just learning to walk again and it's gonna hurt.
It does hurt!!
The day is June 27th 2021 and I've noticed I feel better when my mind is stimulated when I'm busy doing tasks working cooking cleaning and weirdly Playing Video games gives me a bad headache but like a real normal one and it's cuz im excersising that muscle. I usually feel good after like a good pain.
I force myself to do things I use to love in hopes it will trigger my old love for them and interest, so far it's uncomfortable and boring but lately I've gotten back into cooking and I can attend some family events.
But day to day I still feel those symptoms.
I tolerate them and Mask alot around my family pretending I'm okay. But I'm not they are very real and very torturous.
Sometimes I let myself feel sorry for myself and I cry and think all the negative thoughts scratching at the surface. I think what if it gets worse or what if I happens again. About going insane and not being able to be a mom and take care of myself.
It's hard because I'm a 31 year old woman who just wants a clear mind who's sober and wants to take control of life that use to take advantage of feeling normal on the daily. Positively I hope I'm healing, even if it's slow building that foundation.
Thinking of looking at Chinese medicine next. Worried because some forums state they have felt these Symptoms for years, with no success stories although if it was me with the success story I may never return to the forum because I just wanna put it all behind me and start living again
Wouldn't wish they symptoms on my worst enemy.
For the past 3 days I've had a headache I can't shake it's been scaring me.
Can any one relate??
1 like, 1 reply
Tiger2021 MissMononoke
Edited
Some of your symptoms sound like what i was diagnosed with, which is occipital neuralgia. In short, you may have a nerve issue in your neck area which could stem from an injury or simply extended periods of bad posture (i.e.. leaning forward to look at a computer/phone).
I also had MRIs and blood work done, which came back normal. Finally, a neurologist gave me the occipital neuralgia diagnoses. I was given physical therapy and a prescription for a drug to treat the nerve issue. Its been several months, but most of my symptoms have gone away.
Like you, this pain and not knowing what was wrong gave me severe anxiety. Before this, anxiety was never even close to being a problem for me. I begin to focus on every little pain in my body to the point that i am sure my brain was playing tricks on my making me think the worst. I had pain in my stomach, but an ultrasound showed nothing wrong. I had severe pain on my chest so my doctor sent me to the ER, where they found no threats. Follow up testing with a cardiologist found my heart to be in great shape. These pains were very real. I also lost my appetite and lost almost 30 lbs in about three months. I had to force myself to eat. It was awful.
Something caused them. Looking back, I'm sure it was anxiety. We all know our own bodies better than anyone else, so if you think something needs to be looked at, go see a doctor, or two (my first PC doc said my pain would just go away but when I saw a second doctor, he took the issue more seriously and sent me to the neurologist).
When I was finally given my diagnoses and treatment 99% of my anxiety went away. Not knowing the cause of pain creates a big snowball leading to more pain. See a neurologist because the peace of mind alone is worth it!
In the mean time, I'd recommend searching "Bob and Brad Occipital Neuralgia" on YouTube. They are two physical therapists who describe symptoms of ON and show some good exercises to alleviate the pain.