HELP!!

[sheepfarmer]

hi im 24 year old male 6'2" 250. That night i started feeling ill, kinda lighhead dizzy, nausea, so i went right to bed to sleep. woke up the next morning white as a ghost as sick as i have ever felt. Dizzy lightheaded nausea extreme fatigue.went to the doc, she said inner ear infection cause there were a few more people like me.So she says wait a week or too and it will pass.two weeks of absolute brutal hell,i had diareha, a couple black coloured ones, i lost 30 pounds couldnt eat,was in bed all the time. no better. I really thought i was gunna die.went back blood work good, ultra sound good ekg good.so she thinks an unknown viral infection, so she says give it time and see.I feel a little better than those first two weeks, but not good still. headaches on and off, in temples and forehead.ears plugged, slight rigging. had to go to the ER 8 to 10 times, my pulse would rise, shaky, tigling i thought i was gunna die.nothing, anxiety they say.Went to cardioligist, heart is fine.I also found a lump on my testicle, which freaked me out more. doc says a cyst should clear up. now i have one on the other one, plus varocle veins on one side.So finally she thinks anxiety, put me on antidepessents. been on them for 4 months now some improvement, but im not my self yet.evrything i do seems twice as hard as it used to.

i was trying to think of things i did before i got sick, i went to the dentist 4 days before for a big filling, all i can think of. I have 4 wisdom teeth that are bad that have to be removed, next month. could they have something to do with it?i dont know, everything just kinda came all at once, one problem after another, really putt me down, scared me, im still kinda scared.

[sheepfarmer]

dibren,jaybay, thanks for ur help,

I just cant belive that one day it just hit me. you know, outa know where. I thought it would have happened when i had my first kid, two years ago. It was an accident, i was scared to death, but nothing like i am now. had another kid in the spring, planned one, and i love it now. i dont know do u think everthing just caught up with me or what? And why does Anxiety make u lightheaded, I cant stand it. im gunna freak out.

[Jaybay]

Yikes!  You really have been through the mill, haven't you?  I think dibren is on the right track with advice.  Anxiety may originate in the brain, but it can really make a mess of a person's physical health.  As dibren said, the body can only tolerate so much adrenaline.  At some point it just says "Enough!" and you crash and burn.

Your doc is doing right by trying to get the anxiety under control, however, antidepressants are not all created equally - just like people aren't.  Many patients have to try a dozen different medications before finding one that works.  It appears as though whatever AD med you're taking isn't the right one for you.  Generally you'll know within a month with a new AD med.  I was lucky.  Lexapro worked the same day I took the first pill and I've been on it for 4 years and doing great.  My husband?  Not so lucky.  Lexapro helped a bit, and he worked himself into a state thinking that because lexapro didn't get him back to where he wanted to be, that no other medication would either.  As a consequence, his anxiety got worse and worse.  It took him 2 years (with me getting on his back all the time) to finally speak to his doctor.  Duh!  The doc changed him to zoloft and it's been like a miracle.  I've got my old husband back.  :-)

That's my long-winded way of saying, "Tell your doctor you need to try something else."  You can't give up in despair with anti-depressant meds.  There are plenty of others to try, but you have to communicate with your doctor find the right medication.

Much of what you describe sounds like panic attacks - the increased pulse, shaking, even the diarrhea.  Given enough time dealing with all that, of course you're going to lose weight and your immune system becomes compromised making it more likely to get viral infections.  You'll have to keep on working with your doctor to get the anxiety issues resolved - maybe even a little valium to help stop a full-blown panic attack.  It would probably help to talk to a therapist for a few sessions as well.  A psychologist can help you learn some mental gymnastics to better cope with these things.  Try not look at psycho therapy as a bad, or shameful thing.  The shame is that so many people still attach a stigma to it.  If you can find a therapist you click with, I suspect your life will get a whole lot better, and a whole lot faster.

[dibren102]

So sorry to hear you are having such a bad time of it all.  I would have thought after 4 months on medication that you should be seeing a better result.  The problem is with the medication is that is changes the way the brain functions and after trying two different one would prefer to do without, at the moment I always feel so zonked out and if you read a lot of these forums you will see mornings are always the hardest.  We seem to normalize at night, take the med, hopefully sleep and then the whole thing starts again the next day.  Its very hard to put your finger on when it started, I know for sure with mine, but let me tell you I sure didnt see it coming and absoultely hate being this way, its like you life has gone done the shute (and thats being polite).  Fear is a natural part of anxiety and the fear and symptons feed on each other to keep us stuck, anything you can do to stop this cycle will be helpful especially since you should be more stablised on the meds.  I do relaxation exercises, breathing techniques, keep a journal of my days and somewhere in amongst all the garbage I find something to be grateful for and thanks the Blessings in my life.  Through this I have learnt that I have always been an anxious person and a control freak who couldnt relax and certainly had sleep problems.  All of this at certain points in your life just take hold and its  your bodies way of saying hang on a minute I cant live think this anymore.  Now that we have the problem, we are saying to our brain, I cant live this way either!!  You will find lots of  helpful stuff on this forum and only take on board what you need to help you.  Because I am in Australia I rarely to get to communicate directly online with anyone because of the time difference.  But even so I appreciate its existance.  I think you find find dealing with your wisdom teeth removal will be helpful in your overall health and it would certainly be something to be anxious about.  But when you think of all the other stuff you have been through at least with this you know what your dealing with and that sure got to be a plus.  God Bless you in your journey back to good health, Let me know how you're doing.