View Full Version : Terrified of temporal arteritis!
I've had loads of weird neurological symptoms on the left side of my head the past few days. An eye specialist looked at the back of my eye and said it looked fine, but then said 'sounds vascular' and didn't explain what exactly she meant. As you can imagine, I'm freaked. That was not the thing to say to a person with health anxiety.
So now I'm scared I have inflamed temporal arteries, which can cause blindness and stroke. I have a lot of the symptoms, but what's really worrying me is the artery is very prominent on that side, and I can't remember if it was always that way. The only thing stopping me from cracking up and running into hospital again is that it's apparently very uncommon in those under 50, and I'm 21.
Could I guess that you also have a lot of Anxiety symptoms as well? You said it yourself it's really rare in under 50's :)
Somebody has been talking to Dr. Google. I never even heard of such a thing!
Positive thoughts
I have heard of it because I thought I had it! My doc tested me for it its a simple blood test she basically laughed at me because it is extremely rare on people under 65. I had this left head too my doctor told me its stress.
I thought I had this too, I'm 22. Its ridiculously rare in people under 50, I was also laughed at.
countrygirl
10-01-14, 14:03
My friend has had this- weird neuro symptoms were not what she had at all and she was 70 yrs of age at the time.
Your Gp can do a simple blood ESR test that will tell them if you have severe inflammation that could indicate temporal arteritis so if you haven't seen your Gp maybe go and explain your fears and hopefully have this blood test.
Neck tension can cause awful sensations in your head on the affected side, does this sound like it might apply to you??
Thanks for the replies! Yeah countrygirl my neck is really sore on the left side, so I was wondering if it was neuralgia. My symptoms are really worrying - this particular patch of vision keeps disappearing in my left eye when I bend over or bear down, I'm getting tinnitus, dizziness, pain and tenderness on that side of my head. I'm incredibly worried about an unruptured aneurysm. The only 'benign' option is occipital neuralgia coming from my neck like you said, and I have quite a prominent burst blood vessel in my eye where I'm getting the vision loss. But I'm going to the doc's in an hour since it isn't going away and I feel like I'm either going to have soome sort of rupture or convince myself that I have.
Hi
thought I should contribute as I am having dizziness, headaches, aching neck AND my arteries (esp. on one side) are prominent. reading this post, I thought I had written it! I have been to docs, I am having an MRI tomorrow because I keep getting dizzy, BUT I am convinced I have temporal arteritis, but a different doc I saw (and wish I hadn't, but I had to go back cause I was googling too much!) he just laughed and said 'impossible' which made me feel completely stupid! I'm still concerned, - but just trying to not touch my temples and feel my forehead! take care Niky x PS - I'm 41 and I still got laughted at!
Hi niky257, best of luck, hopefully we both just have neuralgia!
I'm back from the docs and not feeling reassured. He didn't even know that unruptured aneurysms could cause symptoms; he thought people just turned up dead with them, which isn't always true. He gave me a letter to go back into a and e if my vision gets worse and thought I might be getting benign artery spasms. Now I'm home and the dog is acting really weird being all over me and sniffing at my head. Well guys, it's been nice knowing you.
Now I'm home and the dog is acting really weird being all over me and sniffing at my head.
Perhaps a shower would help? ;) Look, logically, based on your age, you don't have temporal arteritis or any other serious brain issue other than HA. And yes, typically, there are no symptoms nor warnings of a pending brain aneurysm. By the time you realized something was wrong it's lights out buh bye.... But also, the nature of HA is to respond exactly as you have to a medical professional's diagnosis....
Nice knowing you too... see ya tomorrow :)
Positive thoughts
Hi freaked, I notice that you've mentioned that you have had labyrinthitis - did you know that some of the neurological symptoms you've been having with your vision can also be part of balance problems?
Have you gotten any help or been given any advice about the labyrinthitis?
By any chance do you grind your teeth or clench your jaw a lot?
dizzydaisy
10-01-14, 22:25
My step mum has temperal arteritis, she is 65. Her main symptom was really nasty migraine typ headaches blurred vision and partial loss of sight in her left eye. She had blood tests which were inconclusive so had a biopsy of her arteries. She was put on high dose steroids even before the results as it is a very serious condition, if suspected the doctor will start steroids straight away. Gradually they have reduced her steroids to a dose that keeps her stable. Most people are taken off steroids after an year or so but sadly my step mums symptoms flare back up.
Thanks everyone; bloody vision thing still there.
HoneyLove, yeah unfortunately I'm allergic to the drug they use for vertigo. I'm hoping it could be all related to that kind of thing, but I've never gotten vision loss or anything with vertigo before.
The other unfortunate thing is that I have a condition called POTS that causes all kinds of crap, normally not serious but very disturbing. And docs have speculated before that I may have some kind of artery spasming disorder that effects my heart, but stuff affecting my head is more recent. Unfortunately no doctor seems to care very much, even though it can cause cause heart attacks, and none of them have suggested actually testing me (it's non-invasive). Basicall, I've been housebound with POTS for the last year with different scary things happening to me. Makes me practically lose my mind sometimes.
Yeah I know two people with POTS and it sounds scary, I feel for you having to deal with it. Have you no doctor who's helping you to manage it? Have you been given advice on it at all, like compression stockings and salt intake?
For the vertigo and balance issues, have you ever heard of Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy? It's a kind of physio that specialises in balance problems and it might really help you to look into it. They may even be able to help you with the POTS, I'm not sure. But certainly they should be able to give you some advice about the vertigo, learn what parts of your balance system are not working well and hopefully give you exercises that would help you out with it.
It can be very successful for people who've had labyrinthitis. The thing is, you'll only usually get labs once, but it may have damaged your balance system. The vertigo you're experiencing may be down to decompensation because of this damage. VRT can help you compensate much faster and can even reduce the amount of times it happens to you.
The drugs they use for vertigo don't actually solve the problem, they just stop the symptoms for a little while. But the VRT would help you learn a lot more about it and manage it better.
Oh and you never answered my question about the jaw clenching or chewing - it might explain some of what's happening to you!
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