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Just over two months ago I got myself a mysterious sickness, and it's puzzling doctors. I've been in bed most of the time, between visiting hospitals. I have c

Just over two months ago I got myself a mysterious sickness, and it's puzzling doctors. I've been in bed most of the time, between visiting hospitals. I have constant dizziness, borderline fainting (but never faint), weakness/fatigue, lots of gas (burping), ringing in my ears, dry skin, I'm losing weight despite moving very little, slow metabolism probably. I randomly get better when I can walk around for a few hours. I also get bad "attacks" when my mouth gets dry, heart races, I can't get up, and I generally feel like I'm dying, but it passes in ~10 minutes. I had multiple blood tests, which are nearly perfect, except glycated hemoglobin, which is slightly elevated, but not at the diabetes level. I had gastroscopy, X-rays, and head MRI, two EKGs, echocardiogram, all normal. I'm finishing some heavy antibiotic treatment, which seems to have done nothing. It's all very frustrating, my symptoms fall under so many diseases/conditions, it's extremely hard to pinpoint even with modern medicine. It can be anything from sleep deprivation, dehydration, panic attacks to more serious things like heart infection, arythmia, tumor, cancer, vestibular apparatus disorder, etc. Diagnostics is still very very hard.

Tehnix 9y ago
Moving will have very little affect on your weight loss compared to the amount of calories you are eating. Also, it’d be a high metabolism that’ll cause weight loss, not a slow/low one. Not that this helps, but it’s worth having the basics straight, on the off chance it helps in any way :)
shamaku 9y ago
Stress?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  We thought of stress, but my life is actually quite great by most metrics - I don't have to work, great family, I was doing sports, eating decently well.
  - reinhardt1053 9y ago
    I would suggest investigating more the "eating well" part, you might eating something that you believe it's good for you but it's actually killing you.
    - shamaku 9y ago
      Agreed. Many people overdo it when it comes to supplementation, or eating too much of some hype crazed antioxidant food.
  - shamaku 9y ago
    I've been through a rough patch (approx one year) with many similar symptoms. At the end it turned out to just be basically stress-induced Hypochondria. I was manifesting all of these myself, and what got me healthy again was to focus on other things, and basically letting go of those anxieties. Easier said than done, but that was all there was to it. Anyways all the best, hope you get it sorted! :)
manmal 9y ago
Did you have your spine (esp cervical) examined, for the possibility of Vagus nerve compression?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  No. But my PCP's theory is that the excess gas triggers the vagus nerve. Thanks for the idea, though. One more thing to eliminate by testing.
  - manmal 9y ago
    Yeah gas might worsen this.. gas might even be caused by dysfunctional vagus though because this would prevent proper peristalsis. Try massaging your neck and see if that does anything, for better or worse.. won‘t cure it of course, but might hint in a direction.
    - smhg 9y ago
      And/or book an appointment with a (highly rated) physiotherapist/manual therapist for neck/vagus nerve treatment. It might just do the trick.
      - bufferoverflow 9y ago
        Thanks for the ideas!
_pmf_ 9y ago
Random internet diagnosis: Lyme disease?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  No fever, no headaches, no joint/muscle pains, no swollen lymph nodes. So probably not.
- ransom1538 9y ago
  " dizziness, borderline fainting (but never faint)," Vertigo? Diabetes? What are your sugar levels? Can you get ahold of anti-antibiotics that would cross out 1/2 of all possible diseases.
  - bufferoverflow 9y ago
    Vertigo and dizziness are different things, as far as I understand, and I don't have vertigo. Diabetes is practically eliminated, that was one of the main suspects, we did all kinds of blood tests. My sugar and insulin levels are normal, glycated hemoglobin slightly elevated.
    - ransom1538 9y ago
      Mono? https://www.healthline.com/health/mononucleosis https://www.healthline.com/health/mononucleosis
haraldooo 9y ago
Sorry for the „internet diagnosis“, but I had a lot of the same symptoms in the last three months - maybe it helps: did they check your thyroid thoroughly? Best of luck to you!
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Don't be sorry, most of the ideas here match what we have explored or were about to explore.
piyush_soni 9y ago
Another unwanted random suggestion, but along with all the medical tests and treatments you're undergoing, you might want to try regular Meditation and Pranayama (Breathing exercises) on the side. Sometimes it has great effects, and it never harms anyone anyway.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Thanks. I don't know why you're getting downvoted so much. Meditation definitely won't hurt, I've been wanting to try it.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - wadkar 9y ago
    There are many meditation techniques and you should try different ones. If I may suggest a starting point, take a look at Vipassana. I am not sure if you’re up for a 10 day retreat but look at dhamma.org and check if there are any local chapters around you who might help you in this specific case. I have done two 10 day courses and served in one over the last four years and my first one almost 7 years ago. It was an experience of a lifetime. But be warned though, it is not for the casual lets-check-this-out minded. Do it if and when you’re serious about it.
  - piyush_soni 9y ago
    Though it's 'net upvotes' right now, I can understand people's apprehensions about this. A lot of people still think it's some sort of a quackery or just plain useless, but a considerable amount of actual research has gone into it by some of the top universities and most have found only benefits. This article is from a famous and long time Stanford Researcher on the same (who's also studying the effects of meditation on war veterans for quite some time along with other studies): https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201309/20-scientific-reasons-start-meditating-today https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201309/20-sc...
    - 9y ago
narrator 9y ago
Random Internet Guess: Heavy metal poisoning?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Thought of that too, but I don't have the main symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain. I'm not a doctor though, so who knows.
anjc 9y ago
Anxiety. You said that you have a stress free life and described how great it is, after writing a post containing sentences like "I generally feel like I'm dying". Come on, put two and two together. You have extreme anxiety. Stresses on your life don't have to be explicitly "stressy" to cause problems, such as arguments and poverty etc: staying up too late, drinking too much coffee, too much activity, can all be forms of stress. If you're even slightly over-weight then eat with a focus on regaining your normal weight. Stop drinking caffeine full stop. Walk as much as possible. Focus on some hobby which encourages you to stop paying attention to your heart beat. All of these symptoms will go away.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Sorry if I wasn't clear. I feel like I'm dying only during those 10-minute attacks. Other than this sickness my life is as stress free as it gets: enough money, live in a house, no neighbors to irritate me, beautiful area with a lake, great climate, I work on my own programming projects, I play with my kids. I'm also a very zen guy in general, almost nothing sets me off. Think Sam Harris level calm. I did stop drinking caffeine as soon as I got this sickness. I did have bad sleep patterns, but am fixing them now.
  - anjc 9y ago
    I suppose it's possible that you do have some illness that no doctor has been able to diagnose. I'm also a pretty calm guy and don't often get "stressed" in the typical sense, but also had similar symptoms to you which also couldn't be diagnosed or observed by doctors. Impression of me then: "I've stayed up late for months now, drinking coffee alone, working, and trying to figure out what could possibly be causing these anxiety-like problems. I've checked the symptoms for cancer, AIDS, Lyme disease, and general death repeatedly and nothing quite fits. What...could...be....causing 'attacks' of 'anxiety'....hmmm sips coffee" :) If you're sleeping well, a normal weight, not intaking alcohol and caffeine, it'll at least rule a few things out.
- DanBC 9y ago
  Which medical school did you attend?
throwaway1286 9y ago
Super random, not a doctor -- lyme disease is one test. Another is unidentified food allergy. Close friend had similar symptoms for almost a year. Thought he was dying. Turned out to be lactose intolerance :(
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Lyme doesn't fit the symptoms very well, though not completely out of the question. Lactose intolerance is a possibility too, it's on our long list of the things to eliminate. I'm going to quit milk based products today.
  - jakecodes 9y ago
    Lyme is very hard to diagnose, often misdiagnosed. "The difficulty in diagnosing Lyme disease is made even more challenging when you consider that the possible number of symptoms totals around 100."
b3lvedere 9y ago
It's horrible, but sadly it happens. The only stupid advice i can give you is: Do not give up. Ever. For my wife it took about 20 years to get her constant pain acknowledged. After that it took more than 10 gyneacologists to even get her diagnosed. We still needed a 2nd opinion to get a decent operation done. For more than half her life she believed the problem was 'in her head and she should shut up about it'. Her pain treshold is so high that i feel like a total wimp whenever i complain about pain.
- 0xcoffee 9y ago
  What was she diagnosed with?
  - b3lvedere 9y ago
    Endometriosis
    - bufferoverflow 9y ago
      Ouch. That's one of the most painful and hard to diagnose disorders, I remember watching an educational video on it.
      - b3lvedere 9y ago
        Indeed it is. Almost 50% of the women have it, but most of them don't even know it. It varies from painless to enormous pain. My wife described the recurring pain as stomach full of slow moving very sharp knives.
        defined 9y ago
        My daughter has this. And PCOS. It also took years for it to be diagnosed correctly. She even had doctors tell her to get psychotherapy because it was "all in your head"!
        9y ago
DanBC 9y ago
> panic attacks to more serious things Anxiety disorders are in the top ten when we look at years lost to disability. Many people (70%) who report attempting suicide have an anxiety disorder. Psychiatric illnesses are severe illnesses.
CuriousSkeptic 9y ago
If you have low levels of insulin you might have trouble getting that glucose where it needs to go. If there’s nothing wrong with the production of insulin as such it might be over suppressed. There’s a hormone responsible for suppressing insuline connected to the stomach, forgot what its called, but it’s known that gastric bypass patients can have trouble with this. There is thing called “dumping” which they experience, similar to an anxiety attack, connected to this. Might be an area to look into.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  The insulin levels are normal. Though tested only once. I wish there were cheap and easy tests that you could do at home for the most common things, it would be great to test myself during one of the attacks. Guess we'll have to wait till one of the lab-on-a-chip projects to take off. Is the hormone decretin or gherlin or limostatin?
  - jpindar 9y ago
    You can easily test your blood sugar, like diabetics do. I did this out of curiosity, and it was interesting to see it rise and fall after eating.
  - CuriousSkeptic 9y ago
    I believe I was thinking of GLP-1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29113813/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29113813/
friggingee 9y ago
Oh hey, I got almost the same issues here, except for being in bed and constantly dizzy. random dizziness - check borderline fainting - check lots of gas - check ringing in the ears - check "attacks" - check, including racing heart, death anxiety No results in any medical checks as well but for what it's worth I have a lot of the triggers figured out and can mostly avoid them but sometimes it all hits out of the blue and can tie me down to whereever I am for up to 2,5 hours. What helps me the most is to actually accept these symptoms and work through them when they occur. I have learned over the years that none of those are actually dangerous although it still is hard to use this knowledge when an attack hits. For me the most common triggers are sleep deprivation, alcohol, cigarettes, fat food and stress but, as I said, I can be on my best for a whole week, sleeping well, eating properly, not drinking or smoking and still get the symptoms randomly out of the blue while working or just walking around town. Anyhow, it was interesting to read about someone with a seemingly similar condition and all the best for your future!
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Yeah, my attacks are very random too, I got one during sleep even. That prevents me from doing some regular things like driving, which is extremely inconvenient for my family. You probably got told smoking is bad a billion times, but please, try and quit it.
  - halleym 9y ago
    I used to have horrible panic attacks, waking up out of a seemingly sound sleep. Turns out I have central sleep apnea. Took ~28 years to figure that out. Completely gone with SA treatment.
- matt_f 9y ago
  hi. see my above comment re. toxic mold exposure.
- defined 9y ago
  I was just reading about ME, which seems to fit your symptoms. IANAD and all that, but worth checking for if it hasn't already been ruled out.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
ipunchghosts 9y ago
POTS?
Gatsky 9y ago
Dizziness. Is that 'room spinning' or 'funny feeling in the head'?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  It ranges from lightheadedness to being completely unstable when I have to sit on the floor and crawl. I don't think it's vertigo, the room isn't spinning.
jakecodes 9y ago
Lot's of "I am not a doctor" suggestions. I do the same thing myself. My wife (surgeon), often points out that my diagnoses are missing basic things. Even though I studied with her and read all the flash cards. Just because a doctor hasn't solved your problem yet, doesn't mean you should give up. You don't want to take advice, and self diagnose with web advice. Now pretend I didn't say all that, and check out BPPV. If it is BPPV, then you can have someone do the Epley maneuver on you and you'll be fine. Dizziness is incredibly stressful, and the rest of your symptoms can be associated with stress. The fact that it comes in waves makes me think that it could be the crystals in your ears moving around. But seriously. Don't take medical advice from someone who isn't a doctor.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Actually we we're going to schedule the Epley maneuver, it was recommended to be done in a hospital setting in case there are blood pressure issues. So there's a chance your diagnosis is spot on.
  - jakecodes 9y ago
    Please let me know if it worked!
matt_f 9y ago
Hi. Please look into toxic mold exposure. It's a neurotoxin, it's virtually invisible, and has little mainstream awareness. I had a pretty serious bout with this over the past 2 years, and was similarly frustrated with the vagueness of the symptoms (and correspondingly useless diagnoses from doctors.) The symptoms are broad, systemic, varied, and hard to pin down, and most doctors aren't familiar with it, much less able to treat. My symptoms didn't exactly match up entirely to yours, but enough overlap to make me raise my eyebrows. Several of my friends who (same as me) spent time in China had the same. (It's a high-mold environment.) Please tweet/DM me @fieldse if this turns out to be helpful.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Interesting idea, will check
gubby 9y ago
Consider celiac, it covers basically everything you've described.
fgpwd 9y ago
I had a friend who lived next to me with similar conditions, he was about 15 years old. He had a lot of weakness, stomach problems. Bloating in his stomach would cause headache. He would have bad itching in his body and his head (probably from the dryness), his hair were falling, and whenever he tried to stand up for a moment he said his vision and hearing would go away and he would see stars in front of him. Then they would come back. And his stomach problems would cause him headaches. The doctor in the government hospital here in India (who provide free treatment) did some blood tests and gave him some antibiotics. When it didn't work he just scolded his parents and told them to go away and just feed him well. Free health care can be like this in my country - there are just too many patients. His parents could not afford private healthcare. So they decided to go to a local homeopathic doctor who used to charge half a dollar for a visit (compared to ten dollars for private doctors at that time which they couldn't afford). Amazingly, it worked. It made him feel like going to sleep and the next day he was feeling maybe 50% better. Then he gradually became normal. But placebo can be powerful. I have seen so many people cured by homeopathy - most of the times from problems that would need antibiotics or pain killers to cure, but sometimes other things too. Homeopathy is very popular in my country and there's a doctor or chemist selling homeopathy on every street. Now I am not saying that it would work in your case, specially if you consider it to be a placebo and then that you already know it's a placebo. But it might be worth trying out. You can do some research on the internet for the best homeopathic medicine for your symptoms. I just searched a bit for these symptoms and came across something called carbo veg. Maybe you can read about it and others, find one that you (and hopefully your subconscious mind) are convinced matches your symptoms and then take it. Order it in 30c, not even a single atom of the original substance is left at that point so what you chemically would have would be a drop of pure alcohol in water (hence it would not have any side effect). Ofcourse a homeopath would say that the water has magical properties , but all that doesn't have to matter. All you have to lose is maybe a few minutes of research to pick something that convinces your subconscious mind, and a couple of dollars for the medicine. Just a suggestion.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Sorry homeopathy is complete nonsense from my perspective, so I don't think I will even get a placebo effect. Thanks for your opinion though!

Tehnix 9y ago

Moving will have very little affect on your weight loss compared to the amount of calories you are eating. Also, it’d be a high metabolism that’ll cause weight loss, not a slow/low one. Not that this helps, but it’s worth having the basics straight, on the off chance it helps in any way :)

shamaku 9y ago

Stress?

bufferoverflow 9y ago
We thought of stress, but my life is actually quite great by most metrics - I don't have to work, great family, I was doing sports, eating decently well.
- reinhardt1053 9y ago
  I would suggest investigating more the "eating well" part, you might eating something that you believe it's good for you but it's actually killing you.
  - shamaku 9y ago
    Agreed. Many people overdo it when it comes to supplementation, or eating too much of some hype crazed antioxidant food.
- shamaku 9y ago
  I've been through a rough patch (approx one year) with many similar symptoms. At the end it turned out to just be basically stress-induced Hypochondria. I was manifesting all of these myself, and what got me healthy again was to focus on other things, and basically letting go of those anxieties. Easier said than done, but that was all there was to it. Anyways all the best, hope you get it sorted! :)

manmal 9y ago

Did you have your spine (esp cervical) examined, for the possibility of Vagus nerve compression?

bufferoverflow 9y ago
No. But my PCP's theory is that the excess gas triggers the vagus nerve. Thanks for the idea, though. One more thing to eliminate by testing.
- manmal 9y ago
  Yeah gas might worsen this.. gas might even be caused by dysfunctional vagus though because this would prevent proper peristalsis. Try massaging your neck and see if that does anything, for better or worse.. won‘t cure it of course, but might hint in a direction.
  - smhg 9y ago
    And/or book an appointment with a (highly rated) physiotherapist/manual therapist for neck/vagus nerve treatment. It might just do the trick.
    - bufferoverflow 9y ago
      Thanks for the ideas!

_pmf_ 9y ago

Random internet diagnosis: Lyme disease?

bufferoverflow 9y ago
No fever, no headaches, no joint/muscle pains, no swollen lymph nodes. So probably not.
ransom1538 9y ago
" dizziness, borderline fainting (but never faint)," Vertigo? Diabetes? What are your sugar levels? Can you get ahold of anti-antibiotics that would cross out 1/2 of all possible diseases.
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  Vertigo and dizziness are different things, as far as I understand, and I don't have vertigo. Diabetes is practically eliminated, that was one of the main suspects, we did all kinds of blood tests. My sugar and insulin levels are normal, glycated hemoglobin slightly elevated.
  - ransom1538 9y ago
    Mono? https://www.healthline.com/health/mononucleosis https://www.healthline.com/health/mononucleosis

haraldooo 9y ago

Sorry for the „internet diagnosis“, but I had a lot of the same symptoms in the last three months - maybe it helps: did they check your thyroid thoroughly? Best of luck to you!

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Don't be sorry, most of the ideas here match what we have explored or were about to explore.

piyush_soni 9y ago

Another unwanted random suggestion, but along with all the medical tests and treatments you're undergoing, you might want to try regular Meditation and Pranayama (Breathing exercises) on the side. Sometimes it has great effects, and it never harms anyone anyway.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Thanks. I don't know why you're getting downvoted so much. Meditation definitely won't hurt, I've been wanting to try it.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- wadkar 9y ago
  There are many meditation techniques and you should try different ones. If I may suggest a starting point, take a look at Vipassana. I am not sure if you’re up for a 10 day retreat but look at dhamma.org and check if there are any local chapters around you who might help you in this specific case. I have done two 10 day courses and served in one over the last four years and my first one almost 7 years ago. It was an experience of a lifetime. But be warned though, it is not for the casual lets-check-this-out minded. Do it if and when you’re serious about it.
- piyush_soni 9y ago
  Though it's 'net upvotes' right now, I can understand people's apprehensions about this. A lot of people still think it's some sort of a quackery or just plain useless, but a considerable amount of actual research has gone into it by some of the top universities and most have found only benefits. This article is from a famous and long time Stanford Researcher on the same (who's also studying the effects of meditation on war veterans for quite some time along with other studies): https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201309/20-scientific-reasons-start-meditating-today https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201309/20-sc...
  - 9y ago

narrator 9y ago

Random Internet Guess: Heavy metal poisoning?

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Thought of that too, but I don't have the main symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain. I'm not a doctor though, so who knows.

anjc 9y ago

Anxiety. You said that you have a stress free life and described how great it is, after writing a post containing sentences like "I generally feel like I'm dying". Come on, put two and two together. You have extreme anxiety. Stresses on your life don't have to be explicitly "stressy" to cause problems, such as arguments and poverty etc: staying up too late, drinking too much coffee, too much activity, can all be forms of stress. If you're even slightly over-weight then eat with a focus on regaining your normal weight. Stop drinking caffeine full stop. Walk as much as possible. Focus on some hobby which encourages you to stop paying attention to your heart beat. All of these symptoms will go away.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I feel like I'm dying only during those 10-minute attacks. Other than this sickness my life is as stress free as it gets: enough money, live in a house, no neighbors to irritate me, beautiful area with a lake, great climate, I work on my own programming projects, I play with my kids. I'm also a very zen guy in general, almost nothing sets me off. Think Sam Harris level calm. I did stop drinking caffeine as soon as I got this sickness. I did have bad sleep patterns, but am fixing them now.
- anjc 9y ago
  I suppose it's possible that you do have some illness that no doctor has been able to diagnose. I'm also a pretty calm guy and don't often get "stressed" in the typical sense, but also had similar symptoms to you which also couldn't be diagnosed or observed by doctors. Impression of me then: "I've stayed up late for months now, drinking coffee alone, working, and trying to figure out what could possibly be causing these anxiety-like problems. I've checked the symptoms for cancer, AIDS, Lyme disease, and general death repeatedly and nothing quite fits. What...could...be....causing 'attacks' of 'anxiety'....hmmm sips coffee" :) If you're sleeping well, a normal weight, not intaking alcohol and caffeine, it'll at least rule a few things out.
DanBC 9y ago
Which medical school did you attend?

throwaway1286 9y ago

Super random, not a doctor -- lyme disease is one test. Another is unidentified food allergy. Close friend had similar symptoms for almost a year. Thought he was dying. Turned out to be lactose intolerance :(

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Lyme doesn't fit the symptoms very well, though not completely out of the question. Lactose intolerance is a possibility too, it's on our long list of the things to eliminate. I'm going to quit milk based products today.
- jakecodes 9y ago
  Lyme is very hard to diagnose, often misdiagnosed. "The difficulty in diagnosing Lyme disease is made even more challenging when you consider that the possible number of symptoms totals around 100."

b3lvedere 9y ago

It's horrible, but sadly it happens. The only stupid advice i can give you is: Do not give up. Ever. For my wife it took about 20 years to get her constant pain acknowledged. After that it took more than 10 gyneacologists to even get her diagnosed. We still needed a 2nd opinion to get a decent operation done. For more than half her life she believed the problem was 'in her head and she should shut up about it'. Her pain treshold is so high that i feel like a total wimp whenever i complain about pain.

0xcoffee 9y ago
What was she diagnosed with?
- b3lvedere 9y ago
  Endometriosis
  - bufferoverflow 9y ago
    Ouch. That's one of the most painful and hard to diagnose disorders, I remember watching an educational video on it.
    - b3lvedere 9y ago
      Indeed it is. Almost 50% of the women have it, but most of them don't even know it. It varies from painless to enormous pain. My wife described the recurring pain as stomach full of slow moving very sharp knives.
      - defined 9y ago
        My daughter has this. And PCOS. It also took years for it to be diagnosed correctly. She even had doctors tell her to get psychotherapy because it was "all in your head"!
        9y ago

DanBC 9y ago

> panic attacks to more serious things Anxiety disorders are in the top ten when we look at years lost to disability. Many people (70%) who report attempting suicide have an anxiety disorder. Psychiatric illnesses are severe illnesses.

CuriousSkeptic 9y ago

If you have low levels of insulin you might have trouble getting that glucose where it needs to go. If there’s nothing wrong with the production of insulin as such it might be over suppressed. There’s a hormone responsible for suppressing insuline connected to the stomach, forgot what its called, but it’s known that gastric bypass patients can have trouble with this. There is thing called “dumping” which they experience, similar to an anxiety attack, connected to this. Might be an area to look into.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
The insulin levels are normal. Though tested only once. I wish there were cheap and easy tests that you could do at home for the most common things, it would be great to test myself during one of the attacks. Guess we'll have to wait till one of the lab-on-a-chip projects to take off. Is the hormone decretin or gherlin or limostatin?
- jpindar 9y ago
  You can easily test your blood sugar, like diabetics do. I did this out of curiosity, and it was interesting to see it rise and fall after eating.
- CuriousSkeptic 9y ago
  I believe I was thinking of GLP-1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29113813/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29113813/

friggingee 9y ago

Oh hey, I got almost the same issues here, except for being in bed and constantly dizzy. random dizziness - check borderline fainting - check lots of gas - check ringing in the ears - check "attacks" - check, including racing heart, death anxiety No results in any medical checks as well but for what it's worth I have a lot of the triggers figured out and can mostly avoid them but sometimes it all hits out of the blue and can tie me down to whereever I am for up to 2,5 hours. What helps me the most is to actually accept these symptoms and work through them when they occur. I have learned over the years that none of those are actually dangerous although it still is hard to use this knowledge when an attack hits. For me the most common triggers are sleep deprivation, alcohol, cigarettes, fat food and stress but, as I said, I can be on my best for a whole week, sleeping well, eating properly, not drinking or smoking and still get the symptoms randomly out of the blue while working or just walking around town. Anyhow, it was interesting to read about someone with a seemingly similar condition and all the best for your future!

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Yeah, my attacks are very random too, I got one during sleep even. That prevents me from doing some regular things like driving, which is extremely inconvenient for my family. You probably got told smoking is bad a billion times, but please, try and quit it.
- halleym 9y ago
  I used to have horrible panic attacks, waking up out of a seemingly sound sleep. Turns out I have central sleep apnea. Took ~28 years to figure that out. Completely gone with SA treatment.
matt_f 9y ago
hi. see my above comment re. toxic mold exposure.
defined 9y ago
I was just reading about ME, which seems to fit your symptoms. IANAD and all that, but worth checking for if it hasn't already been ruled out.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

ipunchghosts 9y ago

POTS?

Gatsky 9y ago

Dizziness. Is that 'room spinning' or 'funny feeling in the head'?

bufferoverflow 9y ago
It ranges from lightheadedness to being completely unstable when I have to sit on the floor and crawl. I don't think it's vertigo, the room isn't spinning.

jakecodes 9y ago

Lot's of "I am not a doctor" suggestions. I do the same thing myself. My wife (surgeon), often points out that my diagnoses are missing basic things. Even though I studied with her and read all the flash cards. Just because a doctor hasn't solved your problem yet, doesn't mean you should give up. You don't want to take advice, and self diagnose with web advice. Now pretend I didn't say all that, and check out BPPV. If it is BPPV, then you can have someone do the Epley maneuver on you and you'll be fine. Dizziness is incredibly stressful, and the rest of your symptoms can be associated with stress. The fact that it comes in waves makes me think that it could be the crystals in your ears moving around. But seriously. Don't take medical advice from someone who isn't a doctor.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Actually we we're going to schedule the Epley maneuver, it was recommended to be done in a hospital setting in case there are blood pressure issues. So there's a chance your diagnosis is spot on.
- jakecodes 9y ago
  Please let me know if it worked!

matt_f 9y ago

Hi. Please look into toxic mold exposure. It's a neurotoxin, it's virtually invisible, and has little mainstream awareness. I had a pretty serious bout with this over the past 2 years, and was similarly frustrated with the vagueness of the symptoms (and correspondingly useless diagnoses from doctors.) The symptoms are broad, systemic, varied, and hard to pin down, and most doctors aren't familiar with it, much less able to treat. My symptoms didn't exactly match up entirely to yours, but enough overlap to make me raise my eyebrows. Several of my friends who (same as me) spent time in China had the same. (It's a high-mold environment.) Please tweet/DM me @fieldse if this turns out to be helpful.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Interesting idea, will check

gubby 9y ago

Consider celiac, it covers basically everything you've described.

fgpwd 9y ago

I had a friend who lived next to me with similar conditions, he was about 15 years old. He had a lot of weakness, stomach problems. Bloating in his stomach would cause headache. He would have bad itching in his body and his head (probably from the dryness), his hair were falling, and whenever he tried to stand up for a moment he said his vision and hearing would go away and he would see stars in front of him. Then they would come back. And his stomach problems would cause him headaches. The doctor in the government hospital here in India (who provide free treatment) did some blood tests and gave him some antibiotics. When it didn't work he just scolded his parents and told them to go away and just feed him well. Free health care can be like this in my country - there are just too many patients. His parents could not afford private healthcare. So they decided to go to a local homeopathic doctor who used to charge half a dollar for a visit (compared to ten dollars for private doctors at that time which they couldn't afford). Amazingly, it worked. It made him feel like going to sleep and the next day he was feeling maybe 50% better. Then he gradually became normal. But placebo can be powerful. I have seen so many people cured by homeopathy - most of the times from problems that would need antibiotics or pain killers to cure, but sometimes other things too. Homeopathy is very popular in my country and there's a doctor or chemist selling homeopathy on every street. Now I am not saying that it would work in your case, specially if you consider it to be a placebo and then that you already know it's a placebo. But it might be worth trying out. You can do some research on the internet for the best homeopathic medicine for your symptoms. I just searched a bit for these symptoms and came across something called carbo veg. Maybe you can read about it and others, find one that you (and hopefully your subconscious mind) are convinced matches your symptoms and then take it. Order it in 30c, not even a single atom of the original substance is left at that point so what you chemically would have would be a drop of pure alcohol in water (hence it would not have any side effect). Ofcourse a homeopath would say that the water has magical properties , but all that doesn't have to matter. All you have to lose is maybe a few minutes of research to pick something that convinces your subconscious mind, and a couple of dollars for the medicine. Just a suggestion.

bufferoverflow 9y ago
Sorry homeopathy is complete nonsense from my perspective, so I don't think I will even get a placebo effect. Thanks for your opinion though!