cjspurlock
22-08-12, 16:43
Hello all!
I know you've probably heard this same question a million times and the answer is usually "YES!" but I wanted to share my story in hopes that someone else has been through the same thing.
I'm a 23-year-old male currently living in the Midwest. Here's my long story:
**Feel free to skip to the end for an overview**
For the past eight months I've been battling a number of baffling symptoms that an army of docs haven't been able to diagnose. A little over a year ago I graduated college, moved from my home in the Midwest to take a job in New York City (a place I had never been before), and also left behind all of my family, friends, and a girlfriend of 3+ years. Talk about stressful.
About a month after moving, I paid a visit to the emergency room because I was experiencing chest pains. At the time, I was afraid I had some mystery heart condition. After a few days in the hospital and several tests (EKGs, x-ray, heart echo, blood tests, urine tests), the doctors assured me I was fine. They told me it was most likely stress-induced costochondritis and prescribed anti-inflammatories. Things got better after a few weeks, but the pain would come back any time I got really stressed.
Fast forward a few months. I had just spent three weeks back home for the holidays, and am now back in New York. About a week after I get back, I catch a cold. It's nothing serious, but it's the first time I've been sick and not had anyone around to take care of me, and it makes me anxious. After about a week, the flu symptoms fade, but I notice some new symptoms: sensitivity to light and sound, pain behind my eyes, persistent headaches centered in my cheeks, temples and forehead, ringing in my ears, dizziness, and popping of my ears when I swallow, burp, blow my nose, etc. As an semi-anxious person, this freaks me out a bit. I see my general physician, and she's not concerned. She runs some blood tests as a follow-up to my hospital stay for the chest pain, and finds nothing out of the ordinary except "high cholesterol" (Total cholesterol = 277, HDL = 78, LDL = 188, Triglycerides = 57). So, she gives me an antibiotic, thinking it's a sinus infection. This doesn't help. Next, she refers me to an ENT.
The ENT prescribes a different antibiotic and sends me home. He's also not concerned. This antibiotic doesn't help. I come back and he puts me on Prednisone, thinking my sinuses are swollen. He also schedules a CT scan of my sinuses. He's still not concerned.
The Prednisone doesn't help much, either. But, the CT scan results come back fairly normal. Some polyps on the inside of my sinuses, but nothing to write home about. The ENT diagnoses me with chronic sinusitis and refers me to an allergist just to make sure there's nothing going on there, but he's still not concerned.
The allergist runs some basic tests and finds I'm not allergic to anything. Big surprise. He blames everything on my sinuses, but can't explain the sensitivity to light/sound, or why I'm STILL dealing with symptoms after 6-8 weeks of this business. So, he refers me to a neurologist just to be safe. But, he's not concerned.
(By this point, I'm dealing with some major health anxiety. My roommate, a social work grad student, encourages me to see a therapist. I'm hesitant, but I decide to give it a shot until I move back to the Midwest in a few months.)
The neurologist runs a basic exam and says I look "normal." He suspects migraines (because of the light/sound sensitivity and persistent headaches) but says he needs to order an MRI just to be thorough. Of course, I freak out, thinking I have some sort of brain tumor. He tells me not to worry, that he's not concerned. He also wants me to see an opthamologist to have my eyes checked out in the mean time.
So, I head to the opthamologist, who says I look normal. I tell her I'm going to change my name to Normal if one more person tells me that. She's not concerned, either. Of course.
A week later, the MRI comes back clean. I should be breathing a sigh of relief, but I'm not...because I'm still in pain. The neurologist is convinced some migraine medication is the answer, and he prescribes Topamax. He tells me to be patient, that it might take 4-6 weeks to start working. After 10 days on the Topamax I'm experiencing severe nausea, loss of appetite, and lots of digestive irregularity (alternating diarrhea and constipation, stomach pain on the right side, back pain in the right flank, reflux, etc.). So, the doc takes me off the meds.
After a few weeks of stomach pain, my primary care doc suggests I get an ultrasound of my abdomen to check for gallstones, ulcers, etc. That scan, of course, comes back "normal" as well.
In the meantime, I see my dentist who orders a nighttime bit guard because he thinks I'm grinding. That seems to help the headaches and dizziness, but not the light or sound sensitivity.
A few weeks later, I move back to the Midwest as scheduled. I hope that leaving New York will help things, but no luck.
Next on my list of doctors: an appointment with a gastroenterologist. He performs an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy and finds nothing as well. A few weeks after that test, the digestive symptoms subside.
But, with the disappearance of one symptom comes another: the chest pain. Similar to what I was feeling in July, but more intense. Stabbing pain in my left side, tightness and pressure across my sternum, popping when I stretch, inability to take a full, deep breath, etc. So, I visit my new primary care doc (bringing with my an armload of paperwork from all the tests I've had done) and he does an EKG on the spot. Again, nothing. Just to be safe, he orders me to wear a 30-day heart monitor and does some blood work. He also prescribes Lexapro, as he's beginning to think this is all anxiety-related. Not wanting to bring any more symptoms into the mix due to the side effects, I elect not to take the Lexapro for awhile.
The blood work (including a thyroid test) comes back fine for the most part. Cholesterol is down, which is good (Total cholesterol = 208, HDL = 83, LDL = 114, Triglycerides = 53). But, he does notice my morning cortisol is a tad high (22.2), so he refers me to an endocrinologist to have that looked into.
The endocrinologist orders a more thorough 24-hour urine cortisol test, which comes back...wait for it...normal.
Around that time I get the heart monitor results back, and they show no irregular activity. My primary care doc suggests I follow up with a cardiologist to review the heart monitor results and see if any further testing is necessary.
The cardiologist reviews the results, does a treadmill stress test (which is normal) and orders a tilt table test to check for POTS. That tilt table test was this morning, and the preliminary results show nothing out of the ordinary. Ugh. :curse:
tl;dr
So, in summary, I've had the following tests done:
CT of the sinuses
MRI of the brain and orbits
Ultrasound of the abdomen
Colonoscopy and upper endoscopy
Several EKGs
30-day heart monitor
Heart echo
Treadmill stress test
24-hour urine cortisol test
Tilt-table test
Several blood tests
And, to date, I'm still battling the following symptoms:
Chronic sensitivity to light and sound
Brain fog that lasts all day
Headaches that last most of the day
Occasional dizziness and lightheadedness
Chest tightness and pressure
Painful popping of the sternum when I stretch
Inability to take a full, deep breath due to what feels like tightness in the chest and back
Shakiness and shortness of breath during exercise
Fatigue
Somewhat decreased appetite
General feeling of malaise all day, every day
Depression and health anxiety
Here are the remedies I've tried so far, with varying degrees of relief:
Acupuncture
Yoga
Chiropractic 3x per week for spinal misalignment
Herbal supplements and Chinese medicine
Strict heathy diet (no caffeine or soda, no processed food or grains, no gluten, minimal dairy, lots of fish, some chicken and beef, a whole garden of vegetables, some fruit)
At least 8 hours of sleep per night
Cognitive behavioral therapy once per week
At this point, I don't know what else to do. I don't want to take the Lexapro. I want to be able to fix this on my own, the natural way. But...I'm beginning to lose hope that I can do it. Some days I believe it's all anxiety-related, and other days I worry I have fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, a pulmonary issue, a hidden brain problem, etc. You guys know the drill with health anxiety. ;)
So...has anyone suffered similar symptoms? Do you all have any advice to offer? I'm getting desperate here!
Sorry for the long story!
Thanks!
I know you've probably heard this same question a million times and the answer is usually "YES!" but I wanted to share my story in hopes that someone else has been through the same thing.
I'm a 23-year-old male currently living in the Midwest. Here's my long story:
**Feel free to skip to the end for an overview**
For the past eight months I've been battling a number of baffling symptoms that an army of docs haven't been able to diagnose. A little over a year ago I graduated college, moved from my home in the Midwest to take a job in New York City (a place I had never been before), and also left behind all of my family, friends, and a girlfriend of 3+ years. Talk about stressful.
About a month after moving, I paid a visit to the emergency room because I was experiencing chest pains. At the time, I was afraid I had some mystery heart condition. After a few days in the hospital and several tests (EKGs, x-ray, heart echo, blood tests, urine tests), the doctors assured me I was fine. They told me it was most likely stress-induced costochondritis and prescribed anti-inflammatories. Things got better after a few weeks, but the pain would come back any time I got really stressed.
Fast forward a few months. I had just spent three weeks back home for the holidays, and am now back in New York. About a week after I get back, I catch a cold. It's nothing serious, but it's the first time I've been sick and not had anyone around to take care of me, and it makes me anxious. After about a week, the flu symptoms fade, but I notice some new symptoms: sensitivity to light and sound, pain behind my eyes, persistent headaches centered in my cheeks, temples and forehead, ringing in my ears, dizziness, and popping of my ears when I swallow, burp, blow my nose, etc. As an semi-anxious person, this freaks me out a bit. I see my general physician, and she's not concerned. She runs some blood tests as a follow-up to my hospital stay for the chest pain, and finds nothing out of the ordinary except "high cholesterol" (Total cholesterol = 277, HDL = 78, LDL = 188, Triglycerides = 57). So, she gives me an antibiotic, thinking it's a sinus infection. This doesn't help. Next, she refers me to an ENT.
The ENT prescribes a different antibiotic and sends me home. He's also not concerned. This antibiotic doesn't help. I come back and he puts me on Prednisone, thinking my sinuses are swollen. He also schedules a CT scan of my sinuses. He's still not concerned.
The Prednisone doesn't help much, either. But, the CT scan results come back fairly normal. Some polyps on the inside of my sinuses, but nothing to write home about. The ENT diagnoses me with chronic sinusitis and refers me to an allergist just to make sure there's nothing going on there, but he's still not concerned.
The allergist runs some basic tests and finds I'm not allergic to anything. Big surprise. He blames everything on my sinuses, but can't explain the sensitivity to light/sound, or why I'm STILL dealing with symptoms after 6-8 weeks of this business. So, he refers me to a neurologist just to be safe. But, he's not concerned.
(By this point, I'm dealing with some major health anxiety. My roommate, a social work grad student, encourages me to see a therapist. I'm hesitant, but I decide to give it a shot until I move back to the Midwest in a few months.)
The neurologist runs a basic exam and says I look "normal." He suspects migraines (because of the light/sound sensitivity and persistent headaches) but says he needs to order an MRI just to be thorough. Of course, I freak out, thinking I have some sort of brain tumor. He tells me not to worry, that he's not concerned. He also wants me to see an opthamologist to have my eyes checked out in the mean time.
So, I head to the opthamologist, who says I look normal. I tell her I'm going to change my name to Normal if one more person tells me that. She's not concerned, either. Of course.
A week later, the MRI comes back clean. I should be breathing a sigh of relief, but I'm not...because I'm still in pain. The neurologist is convinced some migraine medication is the answer, and he prescribes Topamax. He tells me to be patient, that it might take 4-6 weeks to start working. After 10 days on the Topamax I'm experiencing severe nausea, loss of appetite, and lots of digestive irregularity (alternating diarrhea and constipation, stomach pain on the right side, back pain in the right flank, reflux, etc.). So, the doc takes me off the meds.
After a few weeks of stomach pain, my primary care doc suggests I get an ultrasound of my abdomen to check for gallstones, ulcers, etc. That scan, of course, comes back "normal" as well.
In the meantime, I see my dentist who orders a nighttime bit guard because he thinks I'm grinding. That seems to help the headaches and dizziness, but not the light or sound sensitivity.
A few weeks later, I move back to the Midwest as scheduled. I hope that leaving New York will help things, but no luck.
Next on my list of doctors: an appointment with a gastroenterologist. He performs an upper endoscopy and colonoscopy and finds nothing as well. A few weeks after that test, the digestive symptoms subside.
But, with the disappearance of one symptom comes another: the chest pain. Similar to what I was feeling in July, but more intense. Stabbing pain in my left side, tightness and pressure across my sternum, popping when I stretch, inability to take a full, deep breath, etc. So, I visit my new primary care doc (bringing with my an armload of paperwork from all the tests I've had done) and he does an EKG on the spot. Again, nothing. Just to be safe, he orders me to wear a 30-day heart monitor and does some blood work. He also prescribes Lexapro, as he's beginning to think this is all anxiety-related. Not wanting to bring any more symptoms into the mix due to the side effects, I elect not to take the Lexapro for awhile.
The blood work (including a thyroid test) comes back fine for the most part. Cholesterol is down, which is good (Total cholesterol = 208, HDL = 83, LDL = 114, Triglycerides = 53). But, he does notice my morning cortisol is a tad high (22.2), so he refers me to an endocrinologist to have that looked into.
The endocrinologist orders a more thorough 24-hour urine cortisol test, which comes back...wait for it...normal.
Around that time I get the heart monitor results back, and they show no irregular activity. My primary care doc suggests I follow up with a cardiologist to review the heart monitor results and see if any further testing is necessary.
The cardiologist reviews the results, does a treadmill stress test (which is normal) and orders a tilt table test to check for POTS. That tilt table test was this morning, and the preliminary results show nothing out of the ordinary. Ugh. :curse:
tl;dr
So, in summary, I've had the following tests done:
CT of the sinuses
MRI of the brain and orbits
Ultrasound of the abdomen
Colonoscopy and upper endoscopy
Several EKGs
30-day heart monitor
Heart echo
Treadmill stress test
24-hour urine cortisol test
Tilt-table test
Several blood tests
And, to date, I'm still battling the following symptoms:
Chronic sensitivity to light and sound
Brain fog that lasts all day
Headaches that last most of the day
Occasional dizziness and lightheadedness
Chest tightness and pressure
Painful popping of the sternum when I stretch
Inability to take a full, deep breath due to what feels like tightness in the chest and back
Shakiness and shortness of breath during exercise
Fatigue
Somewhat decreased appetite
General feeling of malaise all day, every day
Depression and health anxiety
Here are the remedies I've tried so far, with varying degrees of relief:
Acupuncture
Yoga
Chiropractic 3x per week for spinal misalignment
Herbal supplements and Chinese medicine
Strict heathy diet (no caffeine or soda, no processed food or grains, no gluten, minimal dairy, lots of fish, some chicken and beef, a whole garden of vegetables, some fruit)
At least 8 hours of sleep per night
Cognitive behavioral therapy once per week
At this point, I don't know what else to do. I don't want to take the Lexapro. I want to be able to fix this on my own, the natural way. But...I'm beginning to lose hope that I can do it. Some days I believe it's all anxiety-related, and other days I worry I have fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, a pulmonary issue, a hidden brain problem, etc. You guys know the drill with health anxiety. ;)
So...has anyone suffered similar symptoms? Do you all have any advice to offer? I'm getting desperate here!
Sorry for the long story!
Thanks!