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Avatar universal

Light Headed Feeling and memory loss

-Tightness or restrictive pressure feeling in the middle of chest
-feeling sensation of a strap across my forehead sometimes
-constant Dizzy light headed feeling
very light headaches

33yrs-Male, non-drinking -non smoker- No known family history of heart problems, Mother and father with hi-blood and hypertension.
10 yrs of migraine headaches with avg of 2-4 attacks a year usually between the months of July and Nov, I used to have problems with my sinus.
High stress (job and two kids with SS-decease and relationship stress),ALSO NOTICABLE SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS OVER PAST 6 YEARS.
No loss of weight, extreme pain to ear during return air travel in early august 2003 while recovering from a flu, departure flight was ok (period before return was 2 weeks).

I've been feeling tired and dizzy, kinda drugged-light head feeling for the past 6 weeks. I sometimes feel the sensation of band across my forehead and would rub my head to rid the feeling.
Twice the dizziness got to the point where I felt out of control and or lose my balance (sitting and walking).
Recently in the 7 days I developed discomfort in my chest more like a restriction to breathing with the feeling of mild pain
and pressure that builds where a good cough seems to relieve it some. The sometimes dull and mild pain seems to move from center to upper chest between the nipple and center.



The two occasions When the dizziness became extreme, I had an EKG done, blood works, ENT exam and x-rays, the results were
good except for my cholesterol being a little high at 211 and the ENT where I was told I had a mild ear infection.
Still using the medication for the past 13 days and I'm not feeling any better.
  
Oh I almost forgot to mention I was in a car crash where I was knocked from the rear, I did  feel a little soar in the neck area a few hours after but after 3 to 4 days everything seem OK (just thought I should mention it!)

Medication List:

Claritine 10mg (one a day for 10 days-completed)
B-COMPLEX Capsules (one a day)
MAG-OX 400 TAB (one a day -30 TABS @ 5 X REFILLS)
AMOXICILLIN (AMOLIL) 500MG (ONE CAP THREE TIMES A DAY - FOR 10 DAYS)
AMITRIPTYLINE (APO) 10MG TAB (RU) - GENERIC FOR ELAVIL (ONE A DAY AT BED TIME)

SORRY FOR THE LENGTHY TEXT... JUST DON'T KNOW WHATS GOING ON....PLEASE HELP, THANKS
6 Responses
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Avatar universal
Do you snore??  Do you thrash at night?  You sound so much like my boyfriend when his sleep apnea was untreated!  Ask your wife if you snore and if you do, have a sleep test done ASAP!  His headaches and sleepiness have virtualy disappeared.  He was lightheaded all the time, sensitive to light, felt he had allergy symptoms because his head felt heavy and congested and tight all the time.  He was frequently confused and his short-term memory was shot.  He felt a band of tension across his head.  Consider sleep apnea, please.  Treatment for it has given Mike a large part of his life back.  It's something that very, very few neurologists consider when evaluating patients for these weird, seemingly unrelated symptoms.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
The late response is because I travelled to see an Internal Medicine Dr over the weekend. Iv'e not received the results from the blood work yet but everything checked out fine with the exception that my blood preasure is inconsistant and needs to be controlled. I had an ultrasoud done on the heart, which the results were good.

I started taking the Amitriptyline only about a week ago. The Dr. who perscribed it felt that much of what was going on could be stress or anxiety related.

The sysptoms are all still here, I really would like to know whats happening to me.

Thank you all for the help, you a all a pillow of support!

Bahama-Boy
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Your symptoms are very diffuse and difficult to localize to one particular region. It is possible that the majority of symptoms you are experiencing are related to migraine headaches. However given the symptoms of dizziness excluding abnormalities within the brain are important. Therefore, it would be reasonable to have a MRI of your brain. If these symptoms of dizziness began after the infection in August then a viral inner ear infection would need to be considered.

Cardiac causes for your chest pain should be discussed with your primary doctor. If you have not seen a neurologist it would be recommended. This will help to determine any testing which needs to be performed. Sorry I could not be more specific. Good luck
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi BB,
    I have also undergone bypass surgery, and know something of heart disease and its symptoms.
You are concerned about your chest symptoms and heart disease.
Angina can be distinguished from other chest pains, because the pain/fullness/tightness increases with exertion, and lessens or stops with rest. If your chest pain is independent of exertion, then it is not angina.
You have several risk factors for heart disease, and you might want to discuss statin or cholesterol lowering medication with your doctor.  I wish I had.
     I have suffered from depression, anxiety, and migraine. It sounds like you are experiencing anxiety attacks, tension headaches, and other symptoms that are stress related.
Basic mental health hygiene: get sufficient rest, exercise, proper diet.  Other areas that need work: relationshiip, the job, the kids.
Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hello, can I ask why you are taking Amitriptyline and how long you have been taking it for????????
Just a thought as you can get some strange side effects with the drug.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Elival doesn't always have strange effects.  When I first took it I was always sleepy for the better part of the morning and that's all.  Next time I took them, I was having anxiety so the effects were different and more scary.  So it depends on the phycological aspect.  I would say the lightheadedness and dizziness could be caused by the accident and it referring pain to your head.  I had and still have the same problems after I pulled muscles in my neck and back.  Try massage therapy with someone who knows about trigger points.  It helped me quite a bit.
Helpful - 0

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