Apologies as this post will probably be quite long as I want to explain right from the start. Midway through July this year I came up in an unknown growth, some form of rapidly growing benign tumour on my face (still haven’t received results for what it was) that was surgically removed. Due to not knowing what it was, the doctors put me on a strong dose of antibiotics - 500mg of Flucloxacillin 4 times a day for 14 days. I was rushed to A&E as they suspected I had cellulitis spreading to my brain/optical nerves and that I was resistant to the antibiotics allowing the growth to become infected. Long story short, they decided it wasn’t infected but truthfully they had no idea what it was or why it happened so it’s still a possibility. They removed it and it is now healed but the entire experience (especially with me having a medical phobia) really terrified me.
The same week that I had it removed I went on a night out drinking, had a horrible time and just felt anxious and wanted to go home so I did. However, I experienced a 6 hour episode of something that felt like a heart attack or stroke - my left arm went completely weak and tingly, my eyesight went blurred and I felt extremely nauseous. I remember actively trying to fight falling out of consciousness and all of a sudden felt a horrendous electrical buzz down the back of my neck and skull that caused my whole body to feel like it was vibrating. It truly felt like I was going to have a seizure, I had a horrendous hot burning feeling through my scalp and thought I was going to lose my vision and consciousness.
Anyway, I assumed I had been spiked or something similar as I have never felt like this before. Doctor told me she thinks it was a form of panic attack and prescribed me beta blockers (Propranolol) to be taken once a day. I didn’t like the sound of being on medication for anxiety regularly so only took them when needed which seemed to work.
However, this week after beginning the take the beta blockers regularly I had a similar episode to the one mentioned, my left arm went tingly and numb and I suddenly felt very dizzy and my eyesight went strange, I could feel pressure in my head and was scared that I was going to have a seizure or pass out. This caused me to have a panic attack and I ended up in A&E, once again was told by my doctor that I’m suffering from severe physical panic attacks and to take more beta blockers.
All I know is that since taking the beta blockers I’ve felt absolutely horrendous, I’ve been exhausted and struggled with bad memory loss, I kept forgetting what I was doing or what I was saying. I also noticed that they caused me to feel extremely sick and dizzy, then after taking one the other night about an hour later I had another tingly episode. The entire right side of my skull, neck and face had pins and needles which turned to burning then complete numbness for 2 days. I called my doctor as I realised I’m reacting to the beta blockers and was told to no longer take them.
I’ve now not taken any for a couple of days and feel significantly better, I no longer feel sick and so exhausted but still feel really weird. I feel constantly detached from reality, almost like I’m in a video game and not my own body. My brain feels quite foggy although I am getting my memory back again, and I keep having waves where my eyesight will go very light sensitive and fizzy? It’s very hard to explain, I just notice my eyes feel very strange and abnormal, like they’re going fuzzy. I also keep feeling very disoriented, dizzy and can hear a very intense tinnitus noise in my ears.
The issue I’m having is that I’m very concerned that something more serious is going on, but as I’m only 20 years old the doctors keep telling me it’s just anxiety and that I’m just convincing myself that something worse is happening. I’m scared that the growth I had was something viral that has attacked my central nervous system, or maybe the antibiotics caused some form of nerve damage, or maybe they were right about the brain infection etc? I noticed the beta blockers definitely reacted with me, causing the nerves in my arms and face to go very tingly, then feel hot and burn and then go numb, causing my muscles to feel very weak for 48 hours. But since stopping them I’m still feeling waves of dizziness and detachment from reality, the nerves in my scalp still feel itchy and strange, there is pressure in the right side of my head and it’s really freaking me out.
I’m mainly worried because I’ve dealt with anxiety for years, I know I suffer from it but I know exactly how it feels when it happens. These feelings do not start with anxiety, they seem to come out of no where and in the end will cause me to have panic attacks because I’m convincing myself that I’m having a stroke or developing a serious illness like MS. Doctors just put it down to anxiety due to me panicking but I’m so convinced that something else is causing the symptoms which then causes me to panic.
I just feel increasingly awful. I’m mentally foggy, I’m exhausted, I’m sleeping 9 hours a night and in the morning feel that my brain didn’t sleep at all. I’m getting really frustrated and upset as it’s causing me to feel really unwell. I’m struggling to drive and go to work because my eyes feel so fuzzy and light sensitive, almost like when you’re about to get a migraine but I have it 24/7 and it gets worse at times. I feel dizzy, my head feels so heavy and I have weird sensations in my nerves. I’m hoping it is just the withdrawals from the beta blockers but really doubt it as these symptoms have all been happening since I was on those antibiotics and had the growth removed so I have a strong feeling that it’s linked. If it carries on for the rest of the week I intend on going back to the doctors, should I ask them to refer me to a neurologist? I’m really scared there is something serious wrong with me and that they are just dismissing it due to my anxiety :(