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View Full Version : Hello all...new here...my story



stargirl6878
27-07-08, 02:37
Well, first of all i will explain from when all of this started...

about 8 months ago (december) i got a sinus infection that finally went away but left me with a whooshing sound in my right ear that was at first pretty constant then it would come and go weekly (meaning the sound of the whooshing would be lower or not audible)...then it would come back and it was usually loudest at night...

I went to a walk-in clinic doc to find out what could be causing this and because i was having chest pain and palpitations again (something i had a year before and was in the hospital, they did stress tests and said i was fine and diagnosed me with GERD)...he said i had a secondary sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics...

i started a new job in january and was pretty stressed out but fine and able to deal with the new stress...i was still experiencing the ear whooshing...

when my insurance kicked in i went to a new GP doc to find out why my heart was palpitating (they did an ekg there and said my heart was fine)
he then prescribed me a betablocker (for the heart palpitations), a steriod nasal spray (for polyps in my nose from my sinus issues), wellbutrin (for antidepressant and to help me quit smoking), and a statin (for my high cholesterol)...i started taking the wellbutrin, started feeling really dizzy and lightheaded from it or the betablocker which the doc said could happen (made a mistake in googling it, found out about strokes and seizures from it) and found out all these crazy things about wellbutrin...i had an incident at work where my nose started bleeding out of nowhere...(i rarely if ever get a nose bleed)...turns out the nasal spray i was on could cause nose bleeds if too high a dose...

so i freaked out, i stopped taking the wellbutrin (i was taking it for like 1 week, even though the doc told me to keep taking it)...

then the next week started experiencing a tightness in my throat (like my throat was closing up, like a choking sensation)...so now i have the throat thing and the ear thing still...

so i went to an ENT doc to find out what the ear whooshing was and what the throat thing was...she did a bunch of tests on me...carotid ultrasound (normal), CT, MRI and a Swallow test...according to her everything was normal except the swallow test...even though reading through the test results a few weeks later i found that it did state on the ct scan or the mri (i dont know which one) that there was a mass at the base of my right skull...even though she never said anything about this...

the swallow test came back and that i had a muscle spasm in my throat and that some muscle (i think Crico-pharyngeal) was not relaxing like it should...so she told me i needed to go to a GI doc...

the GI doc will be doing an endoscopy on my on 7/29...hopefully he can fix the problem and finally diagnose the GERD appropriately...i now take 80 mg a day of Omeprazole for the acid reflux...but i dont think it helps all that much...since i still get the chest pain...

the night before i had my appt. with my new GP, i had a real scare where my heart was pounding, chest pain and left arm tingling, i just tried to ignore it even though i was really scared but i had felt the sensations before and every time my heart was fine...so i went the next day to the new GP and told her that i was anxious and that i had chest pain and tingling/numbness in my left arm...she did an ekg...everything was fine with my heart...she then prescribed me zoloft 50mg...i also asked her if she could prescribe me something that i could take when i was feeling anxious that would work right away like ativan and she said she did not like prescribing drugs like that...do you guys think maybe she wouldn't prescribe ativan or xanax to me because i was a new patient and possible just wanted the drugs to abuse? all she told me was to stick it out and wait until the zoloft started working which would be 2 - 4 wks...

so, i started taking the zoloft that night before bed...the next day at work i was dizzy, nauseous and i felt completely stoned...didn't know what was causing it...had to be the zoloft...called the doc and she said keep taking it because sometimes people experience those side effects at first...and if the side effects did not go away by monday to call and they can see about changing the prescription to something else...

i took the zoloft 5 times and still felt the same so i stopped taking it and called the doc, they changed the prescription the next day to venlafaxine (generic for effexor)...before i started taking the effexor, i was a mess at work...i couldn't focus, i kept getting heart palpitations, hot flashes, dizziness and nausea...does anyone think that could be from withdrawal from the zoloft? remember i only took it 5 times though...is that possible?

ok so as for the anxiety...i went to the ER this past week with once again tightness in my chest...like a burning tightness above my left breast area...and anxiety...because i was starting to feel very anxious from all of this...

the ER prescribed me 9 ativan 1.0 mg...and my new GP had prescribed the effexor so i hoped that would work...the doc there also was wondering if the heart palpitations i was experiencing could be from a thyroid problem...

yesterday i went to work and started feeling anxious, jittery, fearful and butterflies in my stomach and heart racing, i took the one ativan that i brought with me to work and it started working but i didnt feel completely relieved of the anixety...i went home on lunch and took another one...before that one started to work, i fell apart, i couldnt go back to work, i called work crying telling them i was not coming back in...they seem like they understand...i cant lose my job, if i lose my job i lose my insurance and then i am really screwed...

last night after the 2 ativan started working, i felt a little bit better so i took the effexor for the first time and then i fell asleep...when i woke up like 2 hours later, i swear it was like a flash back to when i used to trip on acid...everything was dancing around on the walls, the ceiling was swirling around, if i closed my eyes i saw a circus of colors and lights...i felt so high...and not in a good way...

so i think i am going to start taking the effexor as close to bed time as i can...so hopefully the trippyness goes away before i wake up...

oh and the ear whooshing has gotten extrememly lower lately...within the past 2 weeks or so...which is a good thing but has me worried that it progressed to something worse...

monday i have an appt. with my doc and will bring her the thyroid test results and hopefully we will see what is wrong with me...

i hate taking all these meds...i think that is part of the reason why i am getting anxious all the time...

well i said a mouthful...thanks for reading if you got all the way to the bottom... :)

any question or advice would be welcome...:wacko:

kellie
27-07-08, 13:44
Hiya Stargirl :welcome: to nmp its lovely to have you here. You will get lots of support/advice/reasurance and make some great friends along the way.
keep posting and we will help you as much as we can.

take care :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

kellie.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lindalou64
27-07-08, 14:39
Hello Stargirl,has Your Doctor Refered You To A Psychiatrist They Will Prescribe Your Meds, Could Be From All The Meds Is Why Ya Have That Trippy Feeling Im Not To Sure, But I Wish Ya Well With This, Linda

kendo59
27-07-08, 14:48
It's funny in a way, that people suffering anxiety/stress get so anxious & stressed out over the medication they are given to help reduce the anxiety/stress. I wonder how much of the panic/anxiety we sometimes feel when starting new medication, is not the actual meds, but more to do with our own anxieties.

It's not uncommon to suffer from side effects during the first week or so, and a lot of these medications don't actually start to really help until after taking them for 2 weeks... so it's recommended that you try to stick with with your prescription, and not just stop taking it cos you don't like the side-effects after a few days (as difficult as that can feel).

stargirl6878
27-07-08, 18:43
thank you to everyone... :)

i have not seen a psychiatrist but i plan on it...my GP is the one who prescribed me the medication (the zoloft and effexor)...

i am trying to deal with this as best as i can...but last night was the second time i took the effexor and i swear i was feeling fine before i took it and about an hour after i started getting really panicky...my heart felt like it was pounding and my left arm started going numb and tingly...i was scared but i said to myself i am gonna ride this out and if it is a heart attack then bring it on and take me already...i can't stand worrying about that all the time...

also despite the aniexty that it seems like the effexor is bringing on, i am going to try to wait it out until it starts working...hopefully it won't be too long...

thanks again for the welcome and support... :)

milly jones
27-07-08, 21:40
as has been said its so hard with all those changes of meds.

i do believe that u have to give meds a chance to work, and to get the dosage right for u hun, esp antidepressants

welcome to nmp

milly xxx

lorac
27-07-08, 22:10
Hello Stargirl

:welcome: to the site I am sure you will get lots of good advice and support on here

Take care

Carol

weeble40
28-07-08, 08:36
welcome to NMP hope to see you around sometime

Emma xxx

Lilith1980
28-07-08, 15:57
Hi Stargirl

Welcome to NMP :)

Jo xxxxx

Southern_Belle
28-07-08, 18:41
Hi Stargirl,

Welcome to the site. Many here will understand how you are feeling and you will get support. It took me many times to find the correct med for me and also a few weeks until it helped. My experience with wellbutrin was not a pleasant one but it might have just been me. Please keep in contact with your doctor during this time. I also have thyroid disease so it can cause anxiety too or make it worse. Good luck.

Take care,

Laura

tracey2225
28-07-08, 19:15
[quote=kendo59;365653]It's funny in a way, that people suffering anxiety/stress get so anxious & stressed out over the medication they are given to help reduce the anxiety/stress. I wonder how much of the panic/anxiety we sometimes feel when starting new medication, is not the actual meds, but more to do with our own anxieties.




couldnt make u more right kendo...happens to me every time!..i read the leaflet and promptly get all the side-affects!

nomorepanic
28-07-08, 23:27
Hi Stargirl

A warm :welcome: aboard and lovely to see you here.

Hope we can be of some help

geeo
09-05-09, 04:30
:)
Well, first of all i will explain from when all of this started...

about 8 months ago (december) i got a sinus infection that finally went away but left me with a whooshing sound in my right ear that was at first pretty constant then it would come and go weekly (meaning the sound of the whooshing would be lower or not audible)...then it would come back and it was usually loudest at night...

I went to a walk-in clinic doc to find out what could be causing this and because i was having chest pain and palpitations again (something i had a year before and was in the hospital, they did stress tests and said i was fine and diagnosed me with GERD)...he said i had a secondary sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics...

i started a new job in january and was pretty stressed out but fine and able to deal with the new stress...i was still experiencing the ear whooshing...

when my insurance kicked in i went to a new GP doc to find out why my heart was palpitating (they did an ekg there and said my heart was fine)
he then prescribed me a betablocker (for the heart palpitations), a steriod nasal spray (for polyps in my nose from my sinus issues), wellbutrin (for antidepressant and to help me quit smoking), and a statin (for my high cholesterol)...i started taking the wellbutrin, started feeling really dizzy and lightheaded from it or the betablocker which the doc said could happen (made a mistake in googling it, found out about strokes and seizures from it) and found out all these crazy things about wellbutrin...i had an incident at work where my nose started bleeding out of nowhere...(i rarely if ever get a nose bleed)...turns out the nasal spray i was on could cause nose bleeds if too high a dose...

so i freaked out, i stopped taking the wellbutrin (i was taking it for like 1 week, even though the doc told me to keep taking it)...

then the next week started experiencing a tightness in my throat (like my throat was closing up, like a choking sensation)...so now i have the throat thing and the ear thing still...

so i went to an ENT doc to find out what the ear whooshing was and what the throat thing was...she did a bunch of tests on me...carotid ultrasound (normal), CT, MRI and a Swallow test...according to her everything was normal except the swallow test...even though reading through the test results a few weeks later i found that it did state on the ct scan or the mri (i dont know which one) that there was a mass at the base of my right skull...even though she never said anything about this...

the swallow test came back and that i had a muscle spasm in my throat and that some muscle (i think Crico-pharyngeal) was not relaxing like it should...so she told me i needed to go to a GI doc...

the GI doc will be doing an endoscopy on my on 7/29...hopefully he can fix the problem and finally diagnose the GERD appropriately...i now take 80 mg a day of Omeprazole for the acid reflux...but i dont think it helps all that much...since i still get the chest pain...

the night before i had my appt. with my new GP, i had a real scare where my heart was pounding, chest pain and left arm tingling, i just tried to ignore it even though i was really scared but i had felt the sensations before and every time my heart was fine...so i went the next day to the new GP and told her that i was anxious and that i had chest pain and tingling/numbness in my left arm...she did an ekg...everything was fine with my heart...she then prescribed me zoloft 50mg...i also asked her if she could prescribe me something that i could take when i was feeling anxious that would work right away like ativan and she said she did not like prescribing drugs like that...do you guys think maybe she wouldn't prescribe ativan or xanax to me because i was a new patient and possible just wanted the drugs to abuse? all she told me was to stick it out and wait until the zoloft started working which would be 2 - 4 wks...

so, i started taking the zoloft that night before bed...the next day at work i was dizzy, nauseous and i felt completely stoned...didn't know what was causing it...had to be the zoloft...called the doc and she said keep taking it because sometimes people experience those side effects at first...and if the side effects did not go away by monday to call and they can see about changing the prescription to something else...

i took the zoloft 5 times and still felt the same so i stopped taking it and called the doc, they changed the prescription the next day to venlafaxine (generic for effexor)...before i started taking the effexor, i was a mess at work...i couldn't focus, i kept getting heart palpitations, hot flashes, dizziness and nausea...does anyone think that could be from withdrawal from the zoloft? remember i only took it 5 times though...is that possible?

ok so as for the anxiety...i went to the ER this past week with once again tightness in my chest...like a burning tightness above my left breast area...and anxiety...because i was starting to feel very anxious from all of this...

the ER prescribed me 9 ativan 1.0 mg...and my new GP had prescribed the effexor so i hoped that would work...the doc there also was wondering if the heart palpitations i was experiencing could be from a thyroid problem...

yesterday i went to work and started feeling anxious, jittery, fearful and butterflies in my stomach and heart racing, i took the one ativan that i brought with me to work and it started working but i didnt feel completely relieved of the anixety...i went home on lunch and took another one...before that one started to work, i fell apart, i couldnt go back to work, i called work crying telling them i was not coming back in...they seem like they understand...i cant lose my job, if i lose my job i lose my insurance and then i am really screwed...

last night after the 2 ativan started working, i felt a little bit better so i took the effexor for the first time and then i fell asleep...when i woke up like 2 hours later, i swear it was like a flash back to when i used to trip on acid...everything was dancing around on the walls, the ceiling was swirling around, if i closed my eyes i saw a circus of colors and lights...i felt so high...and not in a good way...

so i think i am going to start taking the effexor as close to bed time as i can...so hopefully the trippyness goes away before i wake up...

oh and the ear whooshing has gotten extrememly lower lately...within the past 2 weeks or so...which is a good thing but has me worried that it progressed to something worse...

monday i have an appt. with my doc and will bring her the thyroid test results and hopefully we will see what is wrong with me...

i hate taking all these meds...i think that is part of the reason why i am getting anxious all the time...

well i said a mouthful...thanks for reading if you got all the way to the bottom... :)

any question or advice would be welcome...:wacko:

geeo
09-05-09, 04:40
Hi stargirl!Boy!, I know exactly what you are going through. Jan 11,09 is when my symptoms started.Lorazapam saved my sanity just long enough to talk to alot of people who have been through this and have gotten over it !l realized that i was my own worst enemy. Staying active helps alot.