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Stress related physical symptoms?

My BF who is 59y.o. has been having a lot of stress due to his job.(as restaurant manager)  ... Yesterday he became dizzy, light-headed,  passed out, & fell, & has been having chest pain, too. Then threw-up and He was/is still having these symptoms even though he's been off work for 3 days. His doc gave him 0.5mg Clonipin but it doesn't seem to be working very well. He was diagnosed as having "Anxiety Attacks" and has never had them before. Even with the Clonipin today, he is dizzy & light-headed so he can't go to work...again. He hasn't missed but 4 days of work over the last 10 years.
Does anyone have a clue what all this could mean? Yes, he'd go to his doc but he just went to him  before this crap started and his co-pay is like $40 !
CLUE??? Anyone??
3 Responses
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973741 tn?1342342773
Hi there.  I must agree with paxiled.   His symptoms do warrant a doctor's appointment.  No one can guess what is going on and while stress certainly can play a role, he needs to be fully evaluated.  I know 40 dollars is a lot but it will be worth it hon.  He needs to be seen by a doctor, have a thorough evaluation and go from there.  It really could be anxiety from stress but other things have to be ruled out.  I'm sorry this has happened to him (and you).  Sounds frustrating and scary.  Wishing you the best and if he goes to the doctor, would you mind posting again to let us know the outcome?  peace
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Avatar universal
While the above posits many hypotheticals, there's no way to tell on the internet what's going on.  What is clear to both LightSeeker and myself is it doesn't sound like a panic attack and Klonopin isn't going to address it.  It could be a virus, it could be a bacterial infection, it could be blood sugar as mentioned above, it could be so many things.  He needs a doctor willing to do a thorough work-up and not just say, oh, it's anxiety to get him out of the office.  Which is what it sounds like happened.  There is no way to tell without testing that he's low in magnesium, and even if he were it wouldn't manifest this way.  It could also be vascular in nature, as a migraine is.  Stress isn't the same as anxiety -- everyone has stress in life.  Not everyone has anxiety.  
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1530171 tn?1448129593
Hi ChannahBracha.
My take is that his prolonged  and unaddressed stress has
brought about most of these symptoms.
It is very likely he had a serious hypoglycemic episode when he became dizzy, passed out and fell.
Stress depletes minerals which are essential for insulin regulation and insulin response.
Also,low levels of adrenal hormones  are unable to raise
blood sugar levels to meet the increased demands, caused by the chronically elevated stress.
I suggest you look into Adrenal Fatigue and learn as much as possible. Another common symptom in AF is anxiety, often experienced with panic attacks. Frequently, tissue magnesium is depleted, a vital mineral in over 300 bodily functions. One of them pertinent to your BF is the calming effect of magnesium on the entire body including the brain, being a natural sedative.
Magnesium  Glycinate is one of the best tolerated forms of supplemental oral magnesium.
Personally, I do transdermal magnesium oil treatments for maintenance and prevention.
Clonipin, a benzodiazepine drug, to my opinion, not only it will not do anything to correct his issues, but it will likely mess-up his life, in light of his suspected etiology and the long list of the drug's harmful side-effects.

He may benefit from taking daily pastured (not conventional)
bone broth, as he may have many macro and trace mineral deficiencies.
My other concern is that his digestive system may be compromised because of his high stress, thus becoming
deficient in many other nutrients and vitamins.
Fundamentally not much is going to make a significant difference, unless his stress and the adrenal fatigue (suspected) are properly addressed.
His doctor, being part of the prescription driven conventional system won't and can't help him with the above.
Best wishes,
Niko

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