Drs. think its anxiety...and i know its not.

[raymond24]

About 6 weeks ago my wife started having some kind of attack. She said her whole body was numb and started tingling. within a few minutes her whole body cramped up. she was literally paralyzed, she couldnt move and was in great pain. we called an ambulance and got her to the emergancy room and they gave her muscle relaxers and did a ct scan and bloodwork. everything came back normal. they said it was hyperventilation syndrome. 2 weeks later we were back in the emergency room for the same thing except this time her breathing was more normal and they said its anxiety. so we went to her family doctor and they scheduled her for an EEG. that came back normal. then last week we were in the ER again, same thing happened, whole body cramped up extreme pain except this time she said she felt the left side of her face and body go numb first then the other side followed. she has had some memory loss as to what happens,  but the Drs. still insist its anxiety. she had another attack yesterday and we stayed at home through it instead of the hospital and her breathing was completly normal but her body was completly paralyzed/cramped up, and she felt numb and tingly all over. they say its anxiety but her anxiety doesnt go up until she cramps up and goes all tingly. we have no idea what to do. someone please help!!

[ggreg]

Raymond,
When you saw the doc a few days ago, did he draw some blood to check her vitamin and mineral levels, specifically D3?  I would be pretty upset if he didn't redo the bloodwork on her.  But if he didn't, the neurologist should know about this, but please mention it to him.  If you can video her when she has a seizure, take it with you to the neuro, altho the photo you posted here will work just as well for the neurologist.  Let us know how things go next week.
GG

[raymond24]

Seen the doc today and still nothing. Neurologist next Tuesday tho so hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. They are still telling her its panick or anxiety attacks. Which I think she is starting to build up alot of anxiety now from all this. She is not sleeping well at night, very sick feeling all the time. Not good at all!

[ggreg]

Ray, advice is go ahead with visiting her family doc, which you said was scheduled in the next day or so.  He can do bloodwork to determine her D3 level and a few other investigations.  He can also give medicines to help with her resulting seizures, be it from D3 deficiency or from abnormal brain activity.  That will tide you over until you can get in to see the neurologist, who can confirm or further investigate what's going on with your wife.  You will not be in control for a while with this, so just hang in and let the docs do their work.  I know, the ER hasn't been too helpful, but they always expect you will do followup with your doc, which you have scheduled for your wife this week, according to another post you made.

[raymond24]

yes we will definitly ask the doctor about her D3 levels and her serum 25. the doctors arent liking me very much because i keep telling them what to do but so be it. if it gets all the test ran. as to her having the whole body paralysis, that only happens in the car. when she wakes up she is feeling shaky, as if she was in the cold winter night for a long time. just a continous shake. shell start goin through the day with out any meds, shaking, feeling tingly on her left side of her head, and feeling nauseated. for some reason the symptoms get worse when we are usually in the car. i am at a complete loss as to what to do . any advise helps.

[ggreg]

Ray, when she goes to her family doc, she should ask for blood tests to determine how her D3 and Calcium are doing, this is a MUST, since CareGiver knows about this deficiency causing spasms.  Her family doc should do what CareGiver said, reread what she said about treatment in an earlier post.  

And your wife is not so much withdrawing from Xanax, rather the calming effects wear off after a few hours, that's all, especially since she hasn't taken it for very long.  

You say she only has these spasms in a car, but you said she woke up with this one morning, so it's not the car; rather it's the disorder she has, whether it's a deficiency or seizure activity.  Since it takes so long to get in to see a neuro, which I had thought would happen, in the meantime her family doc can work the problem, and if it's a deficiency, great, problem solved; and if it's seizures, there are MANY medications out there to help with that and he can try a few of those, and some are not particularly addictive.  GG

[caregiver222]

I posted an image of one of Trousseau's signs. Armand Trousseau first identified the disorder in 1861. The ninety-degree position of the hands and carpopedal spasm are definitive. The most commohjn cause is systemic underutilization of calcium, unkown etiology. It may be calcium deficiency, but it can be low or non-existant levels of D3. Such patients are brought into the ER flat on their backs. Attacks may come in a restaurant and the patient ends up on the floor. Xanax is not the answer, although it will work. It has nothing to do with the disorder.

[raymond24]

Thank you for your post. We did get a referrel to a nerologist but it takes a while to get in there. She goes back to see the family doctor in a couple days. But the weird thing about this is that she has only had these attacks when she is in a car so far. It does seem like a seizure activity but why only in a car. She feels like crap all the time, but only has the spasms or siezures in a car. Today she is shaky, does not have an appitite.She has a tingly feeling in her head.  She stopped taking the xanax because she said if it is anxiety that is causing all this, she does not want to be medicated for it. Because medication only makes it worse in the long run. She has been taking the xanax for a week now and today is the first day she has stopped taking it. So she could be withdrawling? When she did take a xanax, 3 hours later she would be shaking and seemed like withdrawling. Let me know what you think. Thank you again

[ggreg]

Not to hijack CareGiver's advice, but Raymond, the test for Vitamin D3 is not done as part of the glandular tests she just had done.  As for her first ER visit where they did bloodwork, could be they did not do a Serum 25, which will detect the levels of her D3 vit situation.  

But I really also wanted to say, Raymond, that DO NOT just treat her with herbs...I only mentioned it as a source of relief until she can get in to see a neurologist!  You cannot take something as abnormal as what your wife has and treat it with natural stuff!  It won't work in the long-term, and I almost didn't mention it for this very reason, that you might go that route to resolve her issues, when it is an inadequate way to deal with it.  Same goes for getting the proper levels of Vitamin D3 going, a supplement won't work, she will need the special stuff CareGiver pointed out.  

She needs to get an emergency squeeze-in appointment with her regular doc, or if she doesn't have one, she should go straight down to your county health department as a walk-in and go to the lab division and get that special D3 Serum 25 test done forthwith.  I'm just offering supportive advice now as to CareGiver's expert advice on D3.  And if it turns out her D3 is okay, then she MUST go to a neurologist.  Again, do NOT use herbs to permanently treat her, nor will vit/min supplements help with the D3.

And as for her not wanting to take something that she'll get addicted to, Raymond, that is the LEAST of you all's worries, imagine if this happens to her in a car whilst driving, and besides, most of the treatments for whatEVER is wrong with her will not involve addictive sorts of things.  People who have epilepsy, for example, take medicines FOR LIFE and they sure aren't on the streets all strung out.  Most people take a pill of some kind, this is not unusual.

Please keep us advised as to how things progress.  GG

[raymond24]

thank you for your post. in a way it gave her a little peace of mind but also frightened her. but we ended up in the er room again today because she woke up from a full nights sleep and instantly felt her body shaking. as if you were standing in the cold for awhile. the zanax they perscribed her shes been taking for almost a week isnt having an affect on her other than making her feel sick and not have an appetite. in less than a week (while being on the zanax) she has lost alomst 10 pounds. she doesnt want medication shell get addicted to so herbal and all natural would probably be best for her. as to your ? about her taking any other meds, no. no tranqs, or anything else. only smoking marijuana which she has done for yrs. more blood work was done today and again, it came back normal. they said they checked everything from kidneys to liver to thyroid. everything is in normal range.

[caregiver222]

The position of your wife's hands are classical "trousseaus's" sign (there are two), which is a hallmark of hypocalcemia, usually secondary to vitamin D3 insufficiency.  A definitive test is to use a blood pressure cuff and pump up 20 mm above the higher number and hold it for three minutes. The hands will develop the same characteristics shown in the photo. The progression of cramps develop until a person is literally on the floor unable to move. They will affect the abdoman and often the feet causing the abnormal flexure also shown in the image. This has nothing to do with anxiety. Quinine sulfate is usually prescribed to relieve the cramps. Muscle relaxants will also work.  While there is a possibility of a seizure and a neurological componant, I would not be so quick to assume seizure. I am willing to guess that if she has a D3 level test it will be abnormal. D3 is necessary to utilize the calcium.

[ggreg]

I'm no expert in this, but it sounds and looks to me like she's having seizure activity.  This needs to be controlled by medication.  The doctor she needs to see is a neurologist, of course, and he will be able to determine what type of seizures she's having (there are dozens and dozens), why she has them, and will give her treatment to get this thing under control.  While an EEG was run and a scan and bloodwork was done, this is not all the tests to be done to determine if it's seizures, which is why seeing a neuro specialist is what you and your wife need to be doing.

Sometimes it takes a while to get in to see one, your general doc should give you a referral if you need one for insurance.  In the meantime, if the muscle relaxers are helping, then get some more from the doc.  Also, you can do a little searching on the internet for how to deal with seizures "naturally," so you can find perhaps some herb teas and stuff like that from the health food store, but always be careful in self-treatment, but I mention this because I don't like it that your wife is in pain.  Also, when you finally see a neuro, tell him any herbs or meds you may have tried in the interim to help your wife's symptoms when she has an attack.  I do know that Vitamin B is good for the nerves, which many are in grains, you can look up other foods that are good for nerves, as well as foods that help relax a person's muscles.  However, that's just treating symptoms; seizures are a brain activity, despite the normal EEG, which in some cases, unless a person is having a seizure, it may not always show an abnormality.  

And if you are wondering how in the world this could have happened, I'll tell you this.  I met someone when I was in college who pretty much stayed an acquaintance, and one day I saw him in the grocery store, he was in his very early 20s, and he wound up with epilepsy out of the blue, he was quite concerned and looked wiped out, so reason I tell you this is some people DO develop seizures out of the blue.  But there IS one other item to consider, and that's that SOME medications can have a side effect of muscles drawing up tightly, especially in the neck and jaw, anti-psychotic tranquilizers can do this (not minor tranqs), so if your wife has begun taking ANYthing recently, she should review side effects.  Also, if you two recently moved to a new home, you could ask someone at a university to come over and do a few tests for levels of toxic stuff in your house.  Also look around for any poison traps that people will put in bottom kitchen cabinets, in basements, and other oddball spots, and carefully dispose of those (cats work much better).  

Hope this sort of pulls you thru and gets you guys going in the right direction.  There ARE people on here who really know their stuff as relates to seizures, I'm just giving you a layman's primer.