Very scared, what’s wrong with me? Feeling confused and drowsy indoors but fine as soon as I go outside

[Noelle101]

Almost every day for a year now I get this horrible feeling, that I’m having trouble explaining. But I’ll try.

its like very reduced awareness and alertness. Like mental confusion, lethargic, disoriented, Drowsy. Like I am not really taking in what’s around me. I could be looking at screen and not really taking in what I’m seeing. Just like I been drugged I guess? Like I’m just sitting there staring into space not really taking in what’s around me. Very weak too.

i had extremely low blood pressure a couple times in my life and it’s kind of like this.

this feeling lasts hours and hours. I literally can not get anything done especially recently.

gp is saying it’s mental/anxiety

But the weird thing is I noticed this goes away as soon as I step outside. Like the second I step outside.

it’s also better if I spend all day not in the house and worse if I spend more time indoors

I also haven’t experienced this anywhere else outside my home.

But other 2 people living with me don’t experience this.

anyone know what this can be?

Have you got any new furniture recently? Or mattress?

We had our boiler serviced. Our corgi chap said off the shelf CO monitors don't beep until it's already at a level you 'could' be unconscious. He said you need one that detects very low levels of CO.

How to test for mold if can’t see any and carbon monoxide (if alarm doesn’t beep)?

what happens when other people visit? Do they feel poorly?

The simple test is do you get these symptoms anywhere else other than your home? Have you been on holiday, spent time indoors at a friend's house, could you go to a library for significant time or a coffee shop etc, when you say it goes away outdoors do you mean when you are out in the fresh air or just not in your house

Carbon monoxide or mould seem likely. The fact that the others who live with you also feel unwell is alarming. Assuming it's a rented house, you could ask the council's environmental health officer to visit and check your home over. They may or may not identify the cause, but it's worth a try and won't cost you anything. Also if there is anything serious which needs to be addressed, they will lean on your landlord to fix it urgently.

One of my tenants had a chronic unexplained health condition and she did this - I think her doctors suggested it to her. Nothing was found, but at least the common environmental problems were ruled out.

To be honest, given how badly your health is impacted, if I were you then ultimately I might simply move house if there's no obvious issue. That may be easier than finding and fixing a problem which is hard to track down.

ive been on holidays, long trips abroad, friends houses, my parents house, library, restaurant, coffee shop etc many indoor places.

im fine everywhere but home

this doesn’t happen anywhere else, only at home

I get this OP, better now Im on anti depressants. Defintely has been something creeping along with depression, which I didnt recognise, plus peri menopause and a bit of burn out from work

I feel suffocated, low and tired indoors. Struggled with dizziness until I went on HRT too.

You should do the relevant tests to check its not environmental but I completely identify with what you've said and mine is definitely my head!

Ring the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111999.

My CO detector recently went off in the early hours. I opened all my windows and sat outside in my car while I waited for them to turn up. (About an hour and 40 minutes). In our case it was a faulty detector rather than a faulty gas appliance...but i couldn't take any chances for the safety of my family.

Carbon monoxide monitors don't detect gas leaks.

Testing kits on Amazon for £15 x

Do you ever work anywhere but home? Could it be a specifically work related anxiety?

Reading about mold toxicity fatigue and anxiety, brain fog are markers. I recall one family moving into a beautiful completely renovated house and getting sick. Took a year before they sought advice. Black mould hidden behind panelling. The remedial work was extensive.

The testing I described in my post at 22.02 doesn't need anything to be visible. Also there are mould professionals who can look thoroughly at your house and test it

yes I do. It doesn’t happen anywhere else

no

Oh op I’m so sorry it will be this. I’m so sorry. Mould can do terrible things to humans/brains/health. I’d get out and stay with family/friends, while you look into the heath solutions and the building solutions too. Contact mould specialists - someone really good not someone who will sell you damp proof course, and get the problem properly fixed, hopefully through insurance, and sue the builders who covered it up to high heaven, if they have just covered it. Black mould is utterly woeful for health, the brain, etc etc.

It’s clear that it is something in your home environment making you unwell.

I’m leaning towards mould, so I would start by getting that checked alongside the boiler as a starting point

It sounds environmental, can you move out until the potential hidden mould/CO (carbon monoxide) testing has been done?
On the point posters have been making about the other people not being so obviously affected: I am a retired nurse, once in my career I spent a year working in a dialysis unit. I had a dry persistent cough the whole year I worked there, it didn't happen when I was off work. I thought it was related to the chemicals needed to clean the machines but this was dismissed by the others that worked there as I was the only one who coughed. Yet, I never had a (persistent, dry) cough before I started and when I was off it didn't occur, and once I left I never got it again.
(Of course I have had seasonal coughs before anyone says anything.)
So, I believe it is possible for you to be affected and for the others not to be, even if the mechanism (or process) is unclear.

VOCs?
Off-gases?
Pet allergy?
Dust mites?

Did he say where you get those from? We had a very sensitive one and it got swapped out for a less sensitive one by the engineer when our landlord had the boiler replaced 🙄

Carbon monoxide is CO, not C0.

'O' is the symbol for oxygen, not zero.

I was thinking these too, but one thing in OP's post jumps out... she said the symptoms disappear instantly when stepping outside.

Symptoms caused by VOCs and allergens would not resolve instantaneously on stepping outside.

Black mould is extremely dangerous. You can get people in who will test for mould and write a report if you need to get people to fix it. I’ve had this done.

Different people have different levels of sensitivity to mould and some people are outright allergic to it. But black mould is hazardous to anyone’s health and if it were me I’d get an expert in to assess.

It can be very expensive to fix black mould properly and is usually quite a process, so people can try to avoid addressing it properly.

This sounds similar to my early days of me/cfs.

It was weird that I experienced these sudden energy crashes when I was sat down.

I would joke that I am busy doing nothing and it's wearing me out, then I would go outside and I would feel fine.

I wasn't fine, but I felt fine. Pushing myself just led to a cumulative effect of post exertional malaise crashes that meant every other time I was at home and I sat down, or tried to focus whilst sat at a desk I couldn't concentrate and had the most intense brain fog.

I'd be yawning all the time, my eyes would be streaming, people could be talking to me but it would be in one ear and out the other, my brain was like a sieve, and I couldn't wait to just get back in bed. Eventually every day things like brushing hair, showering or rather the prospect of it, cleaning etc. all became too energy inefficient.

I used to love walking my son to school because the walk felt like it replenished my energy, but by pickup time I was scraping myself out of bed just to go.

I do think you need to do the environmental tests everybody has suggested but it's also something worth mentioning to your GP as it could be medical too.