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Any of this sound familiar? Please tell me I'm not crazy!!

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:48 am
by mommy2paisley
I'll try to make this short. For over a year now, I've noticed a decrease in what I'd call cognitive function......I get confused easily, I can't remember important conversations I've had with people even the day before, I have trouble placing words (for example, if ordering at a restaurant and asked if I want soup or salad, I'll say soup with ranch dressing, but I really meant salad.....or I'll just be talking to DH and just can't find the word, like it's on the tip of my tongue, but it's an average word that won't come to me).

I've also had extreme vertigo. I feel like I'm always on an elevator if that makes any sense at all....you know, how when it stops or starts suddenly. Like when I turn my head to drive or talk to someone in the room, it's like everything is spinning.

I just feel OFF!!!!

But not ALWAYS......I have what I call spells where it's really bad, then gets better, etc.

And then the over the last few months, I get these tremors in my hands. You can see the muscles twitching in my hands and sometimes it's really bad, other times it's just a small bother (I'm a court reporter so I use my hands for work and it can be bad).

This is my 7th week on a running/dieting program. A friend and I just finished Couch 25K and started yesterday with a new app, 5K to 10K. (I've lost 18 lbs but not that that matters, lol) Before I even started running, during our 5-minute warm-up walk, my face started feeling tingly, my eyes felt twitchy and I could feel when I talked it was different. My hands did their normal thing, only worse, they ceased up as if my fingers were glued together. My face was bilaterally tightened almost like you see in people with Bell's palsy or a stroke, only BOTH sides were like this.

DH took me to the ER and they hooked me up to hear monitors and told me it was stress, gave me an Ativan shot and sent me home. My blood pressure was 149/101 while there and I will say I have NEVER had high blood pressure. Even during both pregnancies, my BP was almost always 110/70....sometimes even low like 105/58. I have even stopped trying to give blood because when I'd go, they'd tell me it was too low, have me walk around a little to get it up, then do it and I'd just feel icky all day.

Anyway, I just don't believe this is stress related!!!! DH and I tried to get in to see my doctor, but they told me she was completely booked up, to go to the urgent care. I went to a different urgent care with a better doctor than what is connected to my doctor's office and when he saw me, my symptoms in my face had gone away, but my hands were still very spasming. He told me I was NOT going crazy, that he only blames stress when there's no other cause and sent me for an MRI to rule out MS and any other abnormalities of my brain/spine. He did blood work as well, even checking for Lyme's Disease, vitamin deficiencies, etc.

We got the MRI results back yesterday, blood work won't be back for a week. After looking at the MRI's, he told me it was stress and that I was going to have to basically chill out. Here's the thing, I have had NO stressors recently. I was definitely not stressed when I was going to run.....it's become something I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do!!!!! I just don't think this is stress at all....and I'm scared of WHY my body is doing this!

The doctor told me since it is stress related, if it happens again, to go ahead and continue to finish my exercise. We went today and it happened again! We had done a 5-minute walk and were on our third 8-minute run with 1-minute walks in between when it happened. I could feel it. We stopped after that 8-minute run and just walked the rest instead of doing the last two 8-minute runs because, honestly, it scares me to death AND I just don't feel "right" when it happens.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any nurses or other professionals have any ideas? I've seen two doctors, plus my primary doctor has known of the past symptoms other than what happened today.....all are saying stress. I will admit I have anxiety and in the past it has been BAD, but over the last couple years, I have managed well (I think) and I just don't see how my body could react like this to everyday stressors, kwim?

I'm at a loss and I'm scared and I'm just wanting to know WHAT is causing this so I can fix it!!!!

I'm going on Day 4 of the vertigo and I feel like I could cry!!!!! I haven't slept because of it. Driving is EXTREMELY hard because just turning my head to check traffic -- just mostly the left to right head motion -- makes my vertigo almost unbearable!!!!

Help me, have any of you dealt with anything similar?

Re: Any of this sound familiar? Please tell me I'm not craz

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:43 am
by jimmylegs
running, like anxiety, is a physiological stressor. I have helped others deal with athletic nutrient depletion. some just with info, some right down the line and I have my own copy of their bloodwork. the docs aren't trained to see the electrolyte problems associated with athletic nutrient depletion.

I used to have SERIOUS cognitive deficits and muscular issues as well. once I started looking into it, I had multiple nutrient depletion issues. i fixed them and got better. i'm still learning new info 7 years later.

there have been a spate of new arrivals here lately with sufficient background to warrant nutritional investigation.
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/regimens- ... ml#p210876 (june 2013)

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/post21123 ... on#p211230 (june 2013)

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/undiagnos ... ml#p211755 (july 2013)

basically it's a good idea to watch for two extremely common and frequently missed deficiencies. a big part of the problem is that the docs don't necessarily know what they should be testing for (mine didn't), and even if they did, they don't necessarily know how to analyze the results (mine didn't).

short story, you can ask them to test magnesium, and zinc b/c it's a cofactor. if you want more info let me know. unfortunately there are a few details to get straight :S

Re: Any of this sound familiar? Please tell me I'm not craz

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 5:29 pm
by lyndacarol
Welcome to ThisIsMS, mommy2paisley. You are NOT crazy!! You have definite symptoms (I do not believe these are directly stress-caused.); you need a GP who wants to be a "disease detective."

I am the resident believer in excess insulin as the cause of symptoms such as yours. Insulin resistance (excess insulin) affects the muscles…… possibly resulting in tremors, muscle twitching in your hands? Maybe even responsible for your high blood pressure when the insulin stiffens and thickens the smooth muscles around the blood vessels.

You mentioned that you have lost 18 pounds – insulin is known as a "fat-storage hormone." Perhaps your body has been producing excess insulin for quite some time; now that you are losing weight (and not gaining) perhaps the excess is circulating throughout your body. Keep a food diary; record if your symptoms worsen when you eat lots of sweet foods or lots of carbohydrates. In fact, I recommend you ask your GP doctor for a "fasting blood insulin test" – this is NOT the same as a glucose test (used to diagnose diabetes). The optimal result for the insulin test should be 3 UU/ML or lower.

When you are under stress, your body produces cortisol, which raises the blood sugar level in your bloodstream. This elevated blood sugar level will trigger the body to produce more insulin… So… indirectly, stress can contribute to your symptoms, if my suspicions of insulin are correct.

Re: Any of this sound familiar? Please tell me I'm not craz

Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:31 am
by scaredtd
hi you,
OMG!! I could have written your post. exact things happening to me. Have never been to an ER for my self. lately, since completing a course of IV therapy in florida for CFS.....that was my most recent diagnosis, I felt great!!!....then it triggered a major "episode" is what I call them.
I also weaned myself down from a very low dose of opiates to treat the muscle pain and "hyperactive" bladder, since I no longer had the pain.
now that I am a little more clearheaded I am recognizing things I may not have before, or is just worse now????
I have been to two urgent care's, 2 ER's, a holistic doc, a reflexologist....not something I would do, but am desperately seeking answers to this weird feeling I get in my brain, especially after exercise.
Muscles tensing, a lot of twitching, I have had restless leg for years before I knew there was a name for it. My young daughters would call it, "momma's flappy leg disease" lol but not funny.
sometimes my jaw feels like it is out of alignment, then later it feels right.
I was told at one ER that I was having a panic attack, yet, NO....I was panicking because my chest muscles were tightening over my esophagus and I had a fluttering feeling. Like a fish is swimming under my breastbone.
I also struggle with word retrieval. I speak 3 languages and I substitute a spanish word for a polish one. never did before.
I can't seem to spell, all of a sudden.
sometimes I stare blankly at a store shelf trying to remember what I was looking for. I get confused driving in the small town I have lived in for over 30 years.
without a list I am lost running errands. sometimes I even forget to look at the list.
I know this sounds crazy, But prior to these symptoms starting I was extremely efficient, professional.
This doctor who treated me in florida (with IV therapy that may have included chelation, heavy doses of amino's and possibly steriods) I don't know excactly because he claims his formula is "proprietary" and will not say what this miracle elixir was. But he was the first to suggest MS, but I discounted it thinking all with MS were in wheelchairs. I had no idea, Plus I was feeling better.
Then, when I started backsliding into my symptoms I spoke with a friend who is a retired neurosurgeon and he suggested MS.
My first MRI was read by my PCP who said he could see nothing but white matter, consistant with someone my age, 56
But my understanding is more tests are needed.
So I am in the process now of waiting for an appointment with a neurologist who specializes in MS.
Trust me, I do not want this to be MS. But it IS something and finding out will be better then thinking I am loosing my mind.
good luck to you, and I, for one, know you are not crazy.
peace,