IUBio

Help and guide with possible neurological problems

et_al at my-deja.com et_al at my-deja.com
Tue Oct 23 22:46:28 EST 2001


On Sun, 21 Oct 2001 00:02:02 -0400, "Carletted" <carletted at hotmail.com>
wrote:


Carlette, I feel that your symptoms are probably due to a worsening of
your anxiety disorder following the birth of your baby, not a rare
event.

Light-headedness is a common symptom of most of these disorders,
sometimes accompanied by dizziness and/or feeling faint.  Anxiety can
also trigger derealisation, visual/perceptual distortions of the body
and also your surrounding. Together, these can create the feeling of
being unbalanced, or that the floor and walls are no longer level and
straight. etc.

Paraesthesia (tingling), is another very common symptom,  though it most
commonly is mainly felt in the extremities, the  fingers and toes.

Assuming all the tests come back negative, and I hope you've also had
all the usual blood tests (thyroid, liver function etc), then I think
you need to consider getting treatment for the anxiety. 

Basically, you have two choices, medication and therapy. Antidepressants
are fairly safe when it comes to breast feeding and even during
pregnancy. Benzodiazepines (Valium etc) may be a bit more problematic.
You would need to consult a pediatrician about that. 

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, (CBT) is about as effective as medication,
but may take longer to have an effect and requires some effort and
dedication.  You can find more info about CBT at
www.cognitivetherapy.com

I suggest you subscribe to the newsgroup alt.support.anxiety-panic. They
will be able to provide you with a lot of information.

Best wishes

Ian

>Hello,  and before I begin, I apologize if I am posting at the wrong site,
>if so please feel free to direct me to the appropriate news group according
>to my question and problem.
>
>My name is Carlette and I am 28 years old. Four months ago, shortly after
>the birth of my son, I began experiencing occasional episodes of
>lightheadedness. With all the new responsibilities of being a mother, I felt
>my symptoms were related to these such stresses. The frequency of these
>episodes were every couple of weeks. Also, occasionally and for only seconds
>long, I would experience a tingling in the left side of my face, sort of
>like the feeling one would get if their foot fell asleep, however these
>occurrence's are very rare and only come to my mind because of my concern
>about feeling lightheaded.
>
>In the last month, I started to get the feeling that my ears were very full
>and clogged. I decided to go to my regular MD to have this checked out. He
>assumed that my problems were related to clogged ears, and cleaned them out.
>In fact when he injected the water into my ears, I felt lightheaded as I did
>during earlier episodes. He said this feeling was normal because he was
>inserting water in my ear drum. The doctor found no infection, but cleaned a
>large amount of wax out of my ears. My right ear feels much better, but the
>left ear still feels heavy and bothersome. Occasionally I get very quick,
>but strong pains in the front and left side of my head.  My left ear feels
>full and clogged 95% of the time, occasionally I will get a pop feeling that
>relieves the pressure and then in a matter of minutes the feeling is back
>again.  Following my visit to the doctor to have my ears cleaned, my
>lightheadedness has increased, I feel lightheaded almost all the time, and
>if I make certain movements my balance is thrown off. In addition, I noticed
>that I feel most balanced when lying on my right side. I also get a tingling
>feeling in the left side of my face and in my legs, I can't tell if this
>part is related to anxiety since I am such a wreck over feeling lightheaded,
>etc.  This seems to happen most often when I am nervous.  Other related
>experiences I have been having are, feeling unbalanced when sitting on a
>stool that is a little wobbly, and feeling unbalanced when someone sits on
>my bed while I am lying on it. I did however notice that the lightheadedness
>subsides quite a bit when I am doing vigorous exercise.
>
>I have a general anxiety disorder for as long as I can remember, so I put my
>body through a good amount of stress. I have considered taking anxiety meds,
>but haven't done so. Currently I am breast-feeding my son, so my options are
>limited.
>
>I visited with a neurologist who did a full examination, including several
>strength, balance, and reflex tests on my hands, arms, legs, and feet.  At
>that time he felt that my symptoms were not the result of MS.  I expressed a
>worry about this condition because my sister has it, and my symptoms seemed
>to fit those of MS.  Since I was so worried, the neurologist prescribed a
>MRI, which came back negative.  I also visited with a ENT doctor who found
>my ears to be ok, checked for water, infection in the visible part of the
>ear.  I still wait to undergo a hearing test and a ENG test, to test ear
>balance.  I also had a Lyme disease test, and B vitamin deficiency test,
>both came back negative.
>
>At this point, I intend on continuing to dig deeper into this with the
>neurologist, but I was hoping that someone here might have some information
>that could point me into the right direction to find a diagnosis.
>
>Thank you,
>
>Carlette
>
>
>
>
>
>




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