Hello everyone!
35 Year old Male, New member here. I recently posted this post as well over in the GERD forums. I just wanted to get some feedback from anyone who has many of the same symptoms as I do, to try and understand what may be the underlying cause of all my woes. I've gotten a little bit of feedback from the GERD forum but I am also curious as to what you all over here in the Anxiety forums think as well.
For the past two years, I have been experiencing many symptoms. Many of these symptoms can point to things such as Anxiety, GERD, or IBS. I just want to share my story, in hopes that somebody could relate. For anyone who does not want to read this entire post, you can skip to the end to see all of my symptoms, and maybe help me figure out what exactly what it is that I have, while I'm waiting on such long waiting lists to get some severely needed tests done.
So my story begins...
For as long as I can remember, I have not had the most healthy lifestyle. For the last 15 years, I've smoked a lot of ********* and drank a lot of soda's. One night, shortly after smoking while playing video games, I began experiencing trouble swallowing my saliva. I did not have cotton mouth, nor did I have problems drinking my soda, just when trying to swallow my saliva. It felt as if, my throat muscles were just not responding whatsoever. After having this happen a few times, I decided to just go to bed early. The next morning I seemed to have felt fine and continued on into work. about
half an hour after eating my normal hotlinks sandwich off the food truck, I suddenly became feint and lightheaded. Began to get very dizzy and had a shortness of breath. I squatted down regained my composure and focused on breathing. 60 seconds later it was gone. At the time I thought maybe it was just a head rush from standing up too quickly or something. After getting off work and returning home, I got back into my usual routine of smoking and playing video games. 15 minutes or so after smoking, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation that started from my forehead and moved to the back of my scalp on the right side of my head. Once again, I decided to call it an early night. For the next few days, these symptoms would seem to come and go. Over the next few weeks, I started developing palpitations and a thick sticky gel like mucus in my throat that I have never had before. I guess I would describe them as clear or dark green little tar balls. I also started occasionally feeling a sharp sudden jolt in my kidney areas that would literally paralyze me for ½ second. I would immediately stop and think "Whoa, *** was that!"
I decided it was time to see the Dr. After explaining all my symptoms to him, he immediately thought it was Anxiety, and wanted of the put me on Zoloft. I tried the Zoloft for a few days but it made everything 10 times worse. It's like I was emotionless except for a very severe fuzzy feeling, what I would imagine is what real anxiety feels like. After that, the heartburn began to set in. I also started to feel nauseous after eating. We decided it might be Gastro related. Antacids, then PPI's and the works, all gave me the same severe reactions. After a countless number of blood tests that all came back to normal, I finally convince the Dr. to schedule me a endoscopy and CT scan of my chest.
Previously to having all these tests done, my work told me to take a month off as "health is the most important thing." Three days after returning to work, I was brought into the general manager's office where they proceeded to lay me off because I was "Unreliable." Needless to say, this made me furious. They were the ones who suggested to take some time off in the first place. Rather than try to sue them, I decided it was probably for the best, as I really didn't like that place anyway. The only downside was, I lost my Health Insurance.
After losing my job my I had my endoscopy and it came back negative, but my CT scan showed early signs of emphysema from smoking cigarettes. Needless to say, this news was enough to make me quit cold turkey. For the next two years of being unemployed, the symptoms continued to come and go sometimes weeks and months at a time. Not only is the severity getting worse, but more and more symptoms are arising.
I've been to the emergency room three times, the only thing they can ever find is a high white blood cell count. I've continued to deal with these problems on my own for the last two years trying every suggestion under the moon. I cut out all trigger foods, sleep in an upright position, wait at least 3 hours before bedtime, quit smoking, quit drinking sodas ect.
Luckily, just recently my medi-cal kicked in, so now I can see the doc again. Three weeks prior to my last Gastro appointment, all my symptoms came back full force, this time including explosive bowel movements of everything that I had eaten in the last hour. I could not keep anything down. I am currently being scheduled for Mamometry tests. In the meantime I was given sucralfate, which am not responding well to either. I'm also currently waiting on stool sample results for parasites and such.
So my question to you all is, what does it sound like may be the underlying problem that is triggering the domino effect? Axiety, IBS, LES, GERD? It's really starting to feel like I'm trapped in my own body, all I want to do is go back to work and be normal again. But I don't see how I possibly can with all the symptoms happening every day.
I know none of you will be able to diagnose me over the Internet, I just felt like I had to get my story off my chest to some people who might understand where I'm coming from. After losing my job I had to move back in with my parents, and they seem to get tired of hearing about
all of my health problems and think it's just all in my head. I can assure you, it is not.
Anyhow, thanks for listening!
Here's a list of my current symptoms today in order of frequency.
-Heartburn. (Several times a day, even with only drinking water)
-Nausea/sweats. (Everyday, generally after eating but sometimes randomly)
-Thick Gel-like mucus balls in throat sometimes giving me a scratchy voice until cleared. (Everyday)
-Constant burping (Everyday)
-Feeling of Upper Esophageal Sphincter Spasms
that release's gas/air pressure beyond my control when lying down. (Almost Every night)
-Shortness of breath. (Few times a week)
-Weakness, lack of energy in legs (Few times a week)
-General feelings of uneasiness or slight nervousness. (Every other day)
-Sharp pains all around the chest area. (Few times a week)
-Sudden lightheadedness/verge of passing out. (Few times a week, most often on the computer)
-Fluctuating blood pressure. (Few times a week)
-Palpitations. (Few times a week, only when lying down)
-Slight numbness in limbs. (Few times a week)
-Tingling in scalp (Few times a week)
-Sensitivity to sudden sounds (As they occur)
-Stuffy head and ears / feeling fogyish. (Occasionally)
-Sharp jolts to the kidney areas. (Occasionally)
-Sudden arm or leg twitch that makes me jump up out of bed as I'm trying to fall asleep, (Occasionally)
-General digestive discomfort (Occasionally)
Post Edited By Moderator (Scaredy Cat) : 8/4/2014 3:34:47 PM (GMT-6)