ITS NOT ANXIETY!!!!

[cassiefromlondon]

I'm going to write all the symptoms I've been suffering with daily for over a year now. I've had bloods done about three months ago and I was low on folic acid which I'm now nearly finished a course of 5mg tabs a day. I had an echocardiogram last December which came back fine. I can't cope with this anymore. It's actually scaring me now. I'm calling the doctor again tomorrow and will probably be fobbed off again. I just want to feel normal again. I'm trying to look after my severely autistic son full time and I'm finding it hard because I feel so unwell

Completely spaced out.. not with it at all
Face keeps going numb
Throbbing head
Blurred vision/even with glasses
Thumping heart beat
Feeling faint
Feeling very weak
Inside body tremors
Slurring my speech
Dribbling when trying to talk.
No energy at all
Extreme tiredness
Can hear whooshing in my ears
Dizziness severe
Can’t focus/memory loss
Breathless
Legs giving way (no strength)
No Appetite recently
Stomach cramps/dioraha
NOT ANXIETY!!!!!!!!!

What sort of vitamin D strength are you on? I recently overdid it on the vitamin D and it gave me heart palpitations (never had that in my life) and some other weird throat/chest feeling-never touching the high strength stuff again! It did sort my aches and pains out tho.

There are enough neurological symptoms there to merit a brain scan. Doctors shouldn’t just assume it’s anxiety when they haven’t ruled out other causes. Yes, stress can cause physical symptoms but I think the medical profession is too quick to jump on that as a ‘diagnosis’. It sounds horrendous, hope you get well soon OP.

I had slurred speech etc, it was my thyroid. I only really felt better when I moved abroad and my endo was happy with a TSH of 1. If you get it checked out and you have a thyroid problem make sure your dosage actually works for you. On iron the UK will tolerate a ridiculously low ferritin level for women, my endo suggests a minimum of 50 ferritin for women.

Why do you believe it's not anxiety related please? Did you already suffer?
To me at least 2 thirds of your list are common anxiety and stress / exhaustion symptoms.
Some of these are fibromyalgea, thyroid and intolerance responses... I.e. auto immune and hormonal. Have you asked for estrogen level tests and what is your cycle like now? You have to ignore the hot month.

Oh gosh. I haven't had any negative symptoms like that thank goodness. What strength was it? I'm only on 4000iu daily currently. I'm stubbornly chronically low but they don't give me anything stronger. I had a level of 11 nmol/L when they first checked me in (I think) 2022. Took over a year to get to 72. Then they put me on a maintenance dose and my level dropped to 24. My level in June this year was 37. The winter is going to be fun.

This was how I felt when I was severely anemic...I know you had blood work done, but ask about iron too.

They are almost identical to my symptoms when I was diagnosed with Graves Disease and Hyperthyroidism

I was also going to suggest ruling POTS in/out. It doesn't explain all your symptoms but it's so easy to diagnose (though not quick as a tilt table test is required for a formal diagnosis and waiting times tend to be long) that it's worth looking at. Read up on the poor man's tilt test and try it yourself to get an idea of whether it's worth speaking to your GP about.

Can you change your life so that it is less stressed.
Can you arrange someone to phone you first thing, like a friendly alarm call, each morning to check your ok. Any possibility of more support with DC so you get some time to yourself?

I had many of these symptoms and my B12 was very low. I had injections at the GP. Do some research as the thresholds in the UK for B12 and VitD are lower than when a lot of people need treatment. B12 deficiency often has neurological symptoms.

Everyone is suggesting thyroid but that would show up on bloods.

The head related stuff could be some type of migraine but I'm inclined to suspect you might have fibromyalgia. The symptoms are ridiculously widespread and a lot of them appear to be neurological. It also causes strange sensitivities to foods and smells. Do a google search and read up on Fibro and its associated conditions.

I feel almost exactly the same with palpitations. Since Covid. Watching this thread with interest.

I had this done too, was on the low side but not low enough to signal an actual diagnosis.
OP have you had covid?

I’m so sorry, this sounds like a living nightmare. About fearing you’ll die in your sleep and nobody will know - could you ask a parent support group or relative or friend to check in every morning and contact social services if you don’t reply? Does your son have a social worker? Whatever your diagnosis you both need help now. X

OP, missing the point of the thread, but if you are a lone adult with health issues and a non-verbal child, you need to figure out an emergency plan in any case.

In the last decade, I’ve read of two young children who were locked inside a house when a lone parent died. It didn’t end well.

is your dc capable of getting a drink and a snack? And it would be extremely sensible if you arrange for someone to check in with you once a day, and raise an alarm if you don’t reply within 12 hours. I had a friend who did this with me, she would send me her Wordl score every morning so I would know she was up and about!

Sorry I can't help with the medical side, op but do you have anyone who could check in daily with you to ease that worry? I don't think you're going to die and not wake up, but if someone is checking in daily, you are at least secure in the knowledge that if something were to happen, someone would be there for your son

I was taking a 4000iu tablet plus 800iu in a multivitamin daily. I can't be sure it was the vitamin D but the weird palpitations started a couple weeks after I started on the high strength ones. Also had to run to the loo A LOT all of a sudden. I didn't take it with magnesium tho which I now know you're supposed to. Apparently a lot of people get anxiety type symptoms from high strength vitamin D-maybe just oversensitive to it. I get anxiety anyway so I was just glad I managed to stave off a panic attack the whole time lol.

I'm dreading the Winter too, especially since I didn't get much sun all summer. I didn't realise it could take so long to get levels up as well, you must've felt awful when you first got checked?

If it's not medical, eg thyroid, could it be severe burnout?

Have they checked your ferritin? My daughter has similar issues, started when her first period wouldn’t stop and she ended up with a blood transfusion. Since then she’s had all kind of things low, vitamin B12, ferritin, folate, and more. She’s always low on energy, dizzy at times. It’s much worse when her ferritin is very low. It’s not part of the full blood count and needs to be requested. This week she needs repeat bloods for thyroid - that was off last time.

To add to your list if things to investigate. A lot of symptoms sound similar to Lyme disease. Have you ever had a tick bite and bullseye rash? You don't always notice the tick and do not always get a rash so maybe ask for a test anyway. I've got chronic Lyme disease and have most of your symptoms. Although, the symptoms over lap on a lot if other possible issues.

Only if the dr did that blood test it's not in fbc

Do you have a birth control implant of any kind? Sensitivity to metals such as nickel or copper can trigger autoimmune issues

Some vertigo symptoms.

Have you had Covid?

If she had stated these symptoms to GP they would have included TSH on the bloods.