looking for advice (long message)
Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:55 am
Hello, before I begin I'd like to thank you for taking the time to listen to my story and potentially giving advice. So basically up to about 5 weeks ago there were no health issues in my life that I considered to be serious/significant. I developed exercise induced asthma and allergies about 5 years ago (I'm 20 now) and have kept them pretty under control with medicine. I also am a competitive runner and college student. Last year in about April I noticed an increased tightness in my throat that was prevalent most of the time. It faded after about a month, however, and I just looked at it as allergy related. Fast forward a year to now where there were not health issues in between other than a week of the flu. The only abnormal thing was there were two occasions where after an intense running workout part of my face (cheek/lip) would feel numb but it went away as I caught my breath a few minutes later. Then as my college semester is wrapping up once again my throat is feeling tight a lot of the time. I once again figure its from allergies and plan on talking to my doctor about it once home. So finals week happens and I wrap it up with a party with my friends. I drink, obviously, but wasn't out of control and am able to make it home safely and get to bed. I wake up the next morning not feeling right (wake up early after only like 5 hours of rest). I almost still felt drunk which was weird since I was sobering up when I went to sleep, but I just sat on my computer for a little while and ignored it. Then out of nowhere my right lip starts to tingle and slowly the feeling creeps to most of the right side of my head. I began to worry a good amount and start looking on google what it could be from. Still worrying I begin to feel faint and as I were to pass out which scared the shit out of me. This gave me a HUGE rush of adrenaline and I sent myself to the hospital thinking something was seriously wrong. I was at the ER for like 5 hours before I saw a doctor and in that time I no longer felt any dizziness but had remaining facial tingling. The ER doctor said it was from the drinking and kind of just blew it off. The next day I awake early and feel slightly dizzy but after sleeping a little more felt fine. That day I come home from college and for the next few days feel normal and start running again. I also see my doctor who upon hearing this story says that it was caused by the stress of finals plus not being healthy (tough to eat right/get enough sleep as the semester winds down) and thinks I should just relax for a few days. So for the few days after the visit I feel 100% normal and feel great on my runs. Until one day (2-3 days later) I felt more fatigued on my run (it was hot and I had forgotten to take my inhaler) and was extra tired that night. Before I went to bed I had begun thinking about my health again but went to sleep fine. This next day was TERRIBLE because for whatever reason I felt dizzy and lightheaded and super fatigued. Then I search on google for my symptoms and stumble upon Brain Tumors and MS. I become obsessed with the ideas of having these two sicknesses and get soooo worked up. That night I was so convinced I was dying I couldn't fall asleep my head was spinning so much. I see my doctor the next day but don't mention MS or a BT. He tells me I'm freaking out and getting super anxious and thus experiencing everything associated with those sicknesses. After my appointment my right foot and then leg gets this weird buzzy feeling (not numb or tingling but feels like its week but actually isnt) and I become fucking convinced I have ALS. Like 100% convinced but I just do as my doctor says and lay in bed and after a day or two the left feels normal but I'm still obsessed with every little weird feeling I have. I also began twitching a lot which fueled the ALS fear. As I begin to chill out I feel more and more cognitively impaired like there is a delay between my mind and my body. Like difficulty concentrating and fuzzy vision as well as an omnipresent head fog. My doctor tells me that he thinks I have an anxiety issue and says that everything I'm experience is normal. The issue is I've never been that much of a hypochondriac so I'm skeptical. I begin running again a week after my last time running and feel fine on the run but still feel foggy when not running. After about 3 or 4 days the dizziness starts to subside and the running continues unhindered. I still feel as though my vision is blurred and can't stop thinking about it but manage to forget about the rest of the stuff. I see my doctor again after about 5 days of feeling normal and tell him I'm feeling better and he says to come in again if anything changes. Then my run the next day goes poorly (my calves are tight but its something I've dealt with before and see a PT for it). So after this I start to remember the past few weeks and start to worry again. This brings back the random moments of facial tingling, dizziness, and random feelings that an arm or leg is weak but actually isn't. SO after about a week of this I see the doctor because I'm fed up with everything and he tells me I have an anxiety issue and gives me meds (Citalopram if youre wondering) and has me see a therapist. This was a few days ago and as I'm writing this I've only been on the meds for a few days and haven't seen the therapist yet. Now, I understand that I sound like I'm crazy and it's obvious I have anxiety issues. I'm not saying that isn't true BUT what scares me is the symptoms I've been having. The facial tingling (which only ever occurs on the right side), random fatigue, the head fog, the visual fog, the difficulty concentrating, lots of twitching all over, the dizziness/lightheaded and the buzzing feeling in my leg along with randomly feeling weak in a limb. These symptoms are extremely worrisome to me and I just can't help but think its more than anxiety. I've read a lot of stuff about MS and from what I've gathered my symptoms match up (at least to a degree?), I'm just unsure if the circumstances match up. So basically if you read this massive wall of text I appreciate it and would just like some advice on whether or not to ask my doctor about MS. THANK YOU
sorry to hear things are rough. I can't read the whole post right now just dropping in some links to older TiMS chat. related to my first impression. esp. since some of your earliest issues are diagnosed as related to exercise.