What’s happening to me - feels like I’ve taken amphetamines or something - what is this?!

[Deathgrip]

My health has been bad for years. Endometriosis, adenomyosis, ME and allegedly fibromyalgia. I’ve had all the symptoms of hypothyroidism but levels always within normal range. Nothing has helped. I am reasonably sure I’ve had some sort of hormonal imbalance for years due to the symptoms I’ve had.

A month ago I quit smoking. A week or so ago I got my AWOL libido back. Ever since I’ve had some very weird symptoms I’ve never had before - I feel like I’ve taken amphetamines (which I only did once 20 years ago!)

Feels like my insides are shaking. My heart is pounding. My hands are shaking. I feel sick and dizzy and light headed. I’m getting headaches. My fatigue, which has crippled me for years, is about 90% gone which sounds great, but I feel so shocking that I’m needing to lie down all the time. I’m sweating even when it’s not hot. I’ve had diarrhoea, but now have awful pain like I’m constipated and have trapped wind. I feel anxious and panicky for no reason.

I have no idea what could be causing this. I just bought a fit bit type watch thing so I could check heartbeat and blood pressure when I feel really bad. My resting heart rate is varying between 60 and 115. My blood pressure is varying between 112/75 and 156/100. My bp has always been on the low side.

I have just recently had a nasty infection in my lung but I finished the antibiotics a while ago and that’s cleared up.

I will be seeing my GP next week but I have no idea what to ask for since I had blood tests a few weeks ago and they were normal (thyroid, full blood count and b12).

Any ideas?

Are you taking any nicotine replacements? Vape, patches or pills?

Panic attack?

Are you taking any tablets with caffeine in? Or drink a lot of tonic water?

Things like pro-plus/flu tablets with caffeine in give me these kinds of symptoms. As well as high levels of quinine, found in tonic water

This all sounds like someone I know who quit smoking, the nicotine withdrawal. Seems odd that it's a month later but maybe it took longer for you for some reason, maybe to do with the infection and antibiotics you had in the meantime. Worth getting checked out I'd say.

Sounds like thyroid but hyperthyroidism rather than hypothyroidism - recheck thyroid levels and check for antibodies for Graves' disease and Hashimoto's?

It sounds like a common or garden panic attack. They are very debilitating but not life threatening

Perhaps you could ask your GP to check your adrenaline levels. You might need a referral to an endocrinologist to check for things like Cushing's syndrome which has adrenaline overproduction as a key symptom. It could be that smoking has masked some of the problems for you.

Yes, I also knew someone who had these severe withdrawal symptoms, but in the first week after quitting. He was using patches, not sure what strength (probably not strong enough) but he had been a very heavy smoker and also had previous serious mental health problems and drug use. He started smoking again to stop the symptoms so he could work. I understand he did manage to quit several years later but don't know what method he used. Difficult to find web references right now but I have read before that these severe symptoms are recognised as a problem for some people and there are ways of managing it with NRT etc

As soon as I quit smoking I lost the ability to lie in. Like overnight. Mornings I woke up FULL of energy. Hasn't stopped since. Hope things settle and you continue to reap benefits. Well done.

Thyroid
Anxiety

Gah, wrote a big reply and lost it! Will be brief...

Definitely not a panic attack - had them before and this is too consistent and always present. Plus the fact that my sex drive has gone from 0% to 100% overnight after years of not having one at all, and the fact that until a week or so I was always cold and now I’m sweating from doing nothing at all and feel boiling - it’s like I’ve gone from one extreme to the other. I feel absolutely shocking, just in the opposite way to how I felt shocking before!

I’m using a vaporiser - still on the same level of nicotine, still using it the same amount. No excessive caffeine (1 or 2 lattes a day from my coffee machine which is consistent) and not taking anything with caffeine in or any new medications. I take morphine for endometriosis but have done for years and dose is the same. Nothing was abnormal in my blood count, thyroid and B12 totally normal (not even close to out of range although my FT4 is always at the bottom of normal range).

I did some research this morning - apparently quitting smoking makes you six times more likely to develop thyroid problems. Smoking apparently suppresses TPO antibodies and TSH and increases FT4. Which is infuriating as I had to beg my GP to retest my thyroid and the fact it was normal means she will not entertain that possibility.

Could be Hashimotos as some sufferers swing from hypo to hyperthyroid - if GP won’t retest then I guess I may have to, just to see if that’s what’s going on. Lab wouldn’t do the antibodies tests as they were normal in August. I’ve had TPO antibodies in the past (highest was 23, normal range up to 34) but last check they were under 4.

I honestly feel awful, like my insides are shaking and my hands are shaking all the time. I don’t have fatigue like I did but I feel completely wiped out in a different way.

So irritating! I will ask about an endocrinologist again, I’ve already asked many times. I just want to feel well. Seems like I’m trading one for another!

Sounds similar to the nicotine withdrawal symptoms I had when I quit. Quite later on than I had them though so worth investigating.

Are you peri-menopausal? The heat/flushes, anxiety, high sex drive all sound like peri-menopause to me

No I don’t believe so. Years ago I was put on a medication that induces temporary chemical menopause - I was on it for a couple of years, and this doesn’t feel like hot flushes. When I had hot flushes I would literally feel like I was on fire - had one in a changing room once and literally saw myself go from a normal colour to bright red and then it died down. This feels different. It’s also not flushes that come and go, it’s pretty consistent and it’s not as extreme as that. It’s just like my thermostat is set a bit too high!

I had my hormone levels checked several months ago - my oestrogen was reasonably low but everything else was optimal, and I think the low oestrogen is a result of that drug I was on years ago as it’s a common longterm issue apparently (wish they’d told me that at the time!)!

OP couple of things occurred to me

is caffeine, or green tea, hidden in any supplements you take?

were you smoking a lot - so maybe it was affecting how other meds are metabolised?

also, I have experience of anxiety and it took me a while to realise that I can't take probiotics because they make it much worse.

just saying that as you never know which innocent looking thing is causing which symptom.

Thank you - oh I know, it’s so hard to know what’s what isn’t it? I need that inflatable chap from Big Hero 6, or Dr House 😂

I don’t drink green tea - I drink a couple of coffees a day and water. Same as normal, same coffee beans as normal. I’m wracking my brain for anything that’s changed but it’s just the smoking and the recent antibiotics course.

Like I say I’m using a vaporiser, same liquid the whole time, same amount of use give or take. It’s nicotine salts liquid so very effective at delivering nicotine so shouldn’t be withdrawal. If it happened when I first started using it I’d think it was that but after a month of use it seems odd.

Fingers crossed the GP has some ideas!

I feel this way if I have anything that contains glucose fructose syrup. It causes a spike in blood sugar which the body can struggle to cope with. They're including it in lots of drinks now because it's cheap and avoids the sugar tax. It's in some foods as well.

Get your blood sugar tested.
Also make sure that if this continues or gets more pronounced that you go to out of hours. If it's hyperthyroidism or diabetes related it can get very serious.

I once took too many pills with pseudoephidrine (the stuff in cold pills, can't remember what it's called) and felt like that. I don't imagine you've been taking day nurse for a month though?

Thank you - I have a glucose monitor as my son was born with the opposite of T1 diabetes and still has hypoglycaemia now. I will check my fasting sugars in the morning. Hadn’t thought of that.

No, I did take Sudafed when I hadn’t the virus leading up to the lung infection but not for a couple of weeks I think? Struggling to remember exactly when it was!

What is your temp?
You have recently had illness/ infection
You need to see a doctor.
Worst case could be a heart issue.

Menopause?

I’m 99.9% sure it’s not menopause (see my comments earlier - unusually I have experienced what menopause feels like thanks to a medication that induces it years ago - i realise natural menopause would be different, but by all accounts it’s less intense than chemical menopause as that happens much more quickly). This is more intense than that was and feels quite different.

My temp is currently 37.2, which is normal for me - bp is averaging around 135/90 which is high for me. I don’t really get it at all.

I’ve told DH I’m not feeling great and obviously if things get worse I’ll need to get seen sooner, otherwise I’ll hold on until Tuesday.

I also need to pee constantly even though my bladder is empty although I don’t think it’s an infection.

Just looking at my calendar, I finished my antibiotics 6 days ago so it ties in with that (I thought it was a week before, I’m losing track) but not sure if that’s a coincidence!