posted
Hey all. Perhaps I should introduce myself.
My name is Crystal, and since October 31st around 3 am, I have been in a constant struggle with problems ranging from clenching chest pains, heart palps, increased heartrate, head jitters/electrical vibrations/sensations through head and spine (like a painful electrical current that radiates up and down my spine), I have had my limbs go tingly, and even one time my right leg went numb and it kind of cocked up a little and went limp, so I was unable to move it...
I went to the ER numerous times, where they did a CT with contrast of the chest, thyroid tests, electrolyte blood test, etc.
I have also gone to Psychiatrists, Neurologists, Cardiologists, etc. The only real physical thing they could come up with was my Mitral Valve Prolapse, but said it was too minor to be causing any problems.
The doctors issued EEGS, another echo (I had one 2 years ago), EKGs and haltar monitors, ya name it. I have had bloodwork for my B-12 levels, thyroid tests I can't even count anymore, Lyme Titer, ANA Titer, etc...
They concluded possibly anxiety and panic attacks, but these problems are too PHYSICALLY severe to possibly be. Many doctors are still scratching their heads at me and don't know WHAT's GOING ON!!
I at first thought I was going INSANE when I had my first vibrating/electrical sensation. I thought for sure I was going insane, and I didn't know WHAT to expect. I thought for sure it would lead to a seizure, I would black-out, or something!!
I was initially told that I was suffering from Panic Disorder/Panic Attacks. since I at first was getting attacks related to the heart/chest region, namely heart palpitations, clenching chest wall pain, lightheadedness, and freaking out that I was going to die or have a heart attack.
So my doctor decided to try putting me on Zoloft, in the SSRI class of anti-depressants since she thought for sure it would do me wonders and eventually get rid of and eliminate my symptoms. My GP promptly wrote me a script for Zoloft at 25 MG, and told me, "take this, you will be fine and it will do you wonders!"
So I left, of course stupididly believing every word she said. I went and filled the prescription, and the next day popped my first pill...
About a few hours into taking it, I had the WORST feeling in my life (well, it only got WORSE from there). I felt severely woozy and lightheaded, and had to sit down to balance and keep myself together. It felt like the entire room was spinning, and my head just felt BLAH all together, like I was getting a head illness or something. I was in a store that day, since I assumed everything with the med. would be fine, and was getting ready to check out when it just HIT me like a ton of bricks. Now, I have had lightheaded spells TONS of times in the past as well as Panic Attacks and Chest Pains, and it was NOTHING like those I had experienced before!!
After that ONE day of taking the pill, I deviated away from taking it again! My symptoms improved, and I no longer had any more of those light headed spells after that one day..
However, as I was STILL suffering from the severe heart palps, chest pains and anxiety/panic attacks, my mother convinced me to give the med. another try, since my "sis was on an SSRI for her GAD and it was working her WONDERS." Still skeptical about taking the med., but DESPERATE to get rid of my other symptoms, I again popped the med...
Now, the first day I was fine, and this was on a Friday. I was back in the apartment with my fiancee, and it was late one Saturday night, and I was just lying in bed waiting for my man to finish getting ready for bed so I could follow up as well. I then all of a sudden felt this ELECTRICAL SURGE seem to VIBRATE throughout my head/brain, along with a ten-fold pins-and-needles feeling that surged through my head. I then felt the electrical surge feeling continue to surge through me, even going up and down my spinal cord. I PANICKED, of course, not knowing WHAT was happening to me. I started seeing blotches, and I PANICKED that I was going to pass out, have a seizure or SOMETHING!! I ran around the apartment, the feeling still going on through my head. I then tried sitting on the bed to calm myself down and regain myself, and it seemed like it started to pass. Then, I felt ANOTHER attack, worse than the first, which truly caused me to have blotchy vision and just go into utter chaos.
My fiancee drove me to the hospital in case by the time we got there my symptoms worsened or progressed. Eventually, the off-and-on symptoms DID pass, after about 45 min. to an hour of pure hell and off-and on VIBRATION FEELINGS and ELECTRICAL FEELINGS surging through my brain.
We just went back to the apartment, and I went to bed that night.
The next morning, I woke up, and probably a mix between me having the attack that night and due to the fact I didn't get much sleep, I felt completely SLOW and BLAH the entire day. I could barely bring myself to speak, I dragged myself slowly across the room, and I just overall felt like a complete pile of ****!!
I called the doctor-on-call (since it was a weekend) and told him about my horrific experience. You know what he did?? He "Poo-Pooed" me away and told me "Oh, it's not the medicine, just you. It was probably just a bad Panic Attack." I was SO mad....he also told me to "continue on the med." >
I continued taking the med., and that following week, on a Wednesday, I had ANOTHER milder, but more PROLONGED attack that lasted off-and-on for about 2 HOURS!! It kept me up until like 1:30 a.m., so needless to say I slept in late the next day...
The problems FINALLY seemed to dissipate, for about 2 weeks. However, after those 2 weeks were up (and I was still on the med.), I AGAIN began getting the weird head attacks!! Most were not as severe as the first, but they were still attacks nonetheless. Now, I have had Panic Attacks, and know what those were like, and sure these caused me to have Panic Attacks also, but moreso since I didn't know WHAT THE HELL was going on!!!
I was then getting head-related zings/buzzings/electrical sensation attacks EVERY DAY, sometimes mild and bearable and other times not.
I eventually STOPPED the med. after having it in my system for a month, but my stupid GP (she is a good doctor, but not for things like this) told me to QUIT IT COLD TURKEY. She said I should not experience too much side effects, if any.
Well, needless to say it made my head attacks TEN FOLD!! Sometimes they were mild and bearable, like before. And there were days I went without attacks. But when the bad ones struck, they left me PARALYZED in certain limbs, my head felt like it was going to go into CONVULSIONS or something, and it was just like PURE HELL!! I was completely conscious during these attacks, so you can imagine the FEAR I was under during this time.
I had an attack that was SO BAD once: I was just sitting on my computer, and then I all of a sudden felt this WEIRD sensation in my brain, particularly on my RIGHT side, and it felt like my brain/head was going to go HAYWIRE!! It physically felt like I was about to have a stroke, seizure or SOMETHING, even though I never did!! Well, of course I PANICKED, and I called the ambulance in fear it was in fact a TIA, stroke, or seizure about to happen!! I walked downstairs from my apartment, and as I stood on the stairwell by the doors to my apartment complex, I could feel my WHOLE RIGHT LEG BUCKLE UP, GO NUMB, and I COULD NOT EVEN MOVE IT!!! I was PETRIFIED!! What the HELL was going on with me?!?! The ambulance came, and before they came I could feel the feeling return in my right leg, it went "erect" again and I was able to regain control of it. I had to BALANCE myself by holding onto the railing of the stairs while it happened. Yet I remember every speck and detail of it perfectly...
After about a month 1/2 or so, and after starting on a mult-vitamin since I thought maybe I had some vitamin deficiencies that were attributing to my problems, my problems not only began to dissipate, but the head zings almost vanished COMPLETELY!! I still get the dizziness/lightheadedness and my head will feel quooky/odd still at times during some of my Panic Attacks, yet NOTHING like I had to endure before!! And sure, I still get heart palps and anxiety, but NOTHING like the torment and torture I had to go through getting ON and then OFF the Zoloft!!!
I am now seeing a Psychiatrist, who prescribed me with Lorazepam and also prescribed me with Lexapro, even though I TOLD him about my reaction to Zoloft. He was STILL convinced, however, that it was just Zoloft and that another SSRI should do the trick. Well guess what happened???
I took it on a Saturday, and for most of the day I was fine (aside from feeling a little tired). I thought maybe I was HOME-FREE and found a med. that would work GREAT!! I took it at NOON along with the Lorazepam, which I take 2-3 times daily. After 6 HOURS of the med. being in my system (Lexapro), I got ANOTHER head-related attack of the electrical vibrations, ten-fold pins and needles feeling, and getting sweaty and clammy, then cold. I immediately called my doctor, and STOPPED taking the med from there on out.
I am still taking another med., Lorazepam, for the panic attacks, but I still get the head zings and vibrations occassionally still (perhaps as a reaction to having the Lexapro in my sys. for that one day???).
I mean, my doctors assumed it was part of my Panic Attacks, but how could it make my LIMBS GO NUMB like that and UNABLE TO MOVE, let alone those painful electrical surge feelings I used to always get.
Anyone else have any advice/ideas as to what is going on with me?? Is this Lyme, and that is why my body responded weird to when I started the Zoloft and Lexapro, or is it just panic/anxiety disorder??
I did go on a trip to Naine last summer, and I think if I was bit it could have been there...I never go the typical rash/bullseye though. And I never found a tick. I just want to know if this could in fact be lyme disease and if it sounds typical for the disease??
There were times where it seemed like my attacks lessened, then times where it seemed like BOOM, the panic and all the other problems hit again, then it was back to square one. Please any help/advice is appreciated!!
Posts: 5 | From Maryland, USA | Registered: May 2007
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
SOunds like you need to be evaluated by an LLMD!! Could be Lyme or TBD!!!! Could be entirely unrelated!!!!!! Best wishes, Sarah
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Yes, I agree with California Lyme --
You should definitely make an appointment with a lyme literate doctor and be evaluated.
It is possible to get lyme disease without seeing a bulls-eye rash, or remembering a tick bite.
Only a lyme literate doctor can evaluate you for lyme properly.
The symptoms that you describe, such as panic/anxiety attacks and heart palpitations can be caused by tick-borne illnesses, lyme and co-infections.
Good luck and visit the "Looking for a Doctor" section. Most doctors do not know much about tick borne illnesses, and you will not get proper treatment unless seeing a lyme literate MD.
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
you basically described my situation completely last summer except i was taking 5-HTp and st johns wort and the same thing happened..
i thought it was the supps too...scared the heck outta me , im only 22 ..got the electrical surges and weird ice pick burning feeling in the back of my head..
too scary..
panic attacks and aniexty decreased when i started treated lyme.
i take lorazapam also for aniexty..and wellbutrin XL for depression, ADD, and low libido, quit smoking...n such
it was caused my lyme and coinfections.
i would get it checked out ASAP..it only gets worse and more frequently..
and if you do start antibotics, remember the HERX.. you might have some of those bad panic attacks during your HERXs ..i did. they will pass..
get some antibotics..and stephen bruhners book-healing lyme...
posted
This is my story EXACTLY before I was diagnosed. Panic attacks so severe I was in the ER 3x a week.
I recently started abx and my panic attacks had dissapated for about a year but they came back with a vengeance with treatment. The first week on Doxy I was in the ER 2X!
Now on minocin and last night had one of those stroke/seizure like episodes in bed. Very scary.
Get to an LLMD and get some tests. Mine are still negative by the way but I know I have an infection as I have Mycoplasma pneumoniae, CMV, EBV, and Cpn.
Get well and stay off the antidepressants. They don't work!!
Chris
Posts: 770 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Panic Attacks are not uncommon with Lyme. I had them when the first duck I saw put me on a high dose of Zoloft (cuz I was only depressed according to him). That kicked my butt and I nearly ended up in the ER.
Since you have been down all the other roads (test after test after test with no conclusion) why not do an Igenex western blot? Find out if it could be Lyme..
I honestly believe that once you get to this point, where you have had lots of tests with no answers, and you complain of symtoms that are aligned with Lyme, why not test for it? AND NOT A LYME TITER. For Pete's sake, LYME TITERS are worthless. It might be interesting to find out how many Lyme patients on this board had a negitive lyme titer, and a postitive western blot. I'm one!
Please see and LLMD.... and if you cant find one near you.. take control of your own healthcare and order a kit from Igenex. Get your own results and then find a doc if need be.
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
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djf2005
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11449
posted
my ONLY initial symptoms were panic and anxiety.
they were BAD and non stop.
as they subsided over 3 months on phys med i started to realize that i was feeling different, that something unusualy outside of the normal way you think, feel, percieve, or relate to things was taking place.
lyme encepalopathy (sp?)
i thought that ALL these crazy symptoms couldnt be from anxiety!! I never had a problem with it in the past. i was given a steroid for an "infection" and them BAM.
lyme went crazy, physc symptoms 1st, followed by all cns involvemet, multi system sabotage by this godforsaken disease.
anyway, i know this is not a happy story, but just keep in mind that if you do have lyme, and get treatment, you will get better.
your story is all to similar to so many people on here.
you are NOT crazy and do not let anyone else be the judge of what is happening to YOUR body.
be persistant, and go see an llmd.
best of luck to you
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
posted
Thanks everyone for your support. I just hope I am able to find a LLMD in my area, as I live near Laurel, MD.
Also, what is the best test for Lyme?? I have heard differing opinions on BOTH the Western Blot and ELISA test. Isn't the ELISA test more effective than even the western blot?? Also, how can I go about ordering my own kit from Igenex if I wish to do so, and what is the procedure?? Is it just a urine test??
Posts: 5 | From Maryland, USA | Registered: May 2007
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posted
I'm just a newbie so I may be wrong but from what I have read the ELISA is almost worthless.
Try reading the Newbie Help links...I'm still trudging through it all but I have learned 1 very important thing so far....I need a LLMD. I thought I could convince my Rheumatologist to treat me effectively but I tried and it failed.
I've seen a Psychiatrist just to PROVE that it is not all somatic. I think she's in my corner but I'll have to wait and see.
I've experienced everything you have described. I want to say that the tingling/electrical sensations you feel during periods of chest tightness and pain are probably autonomic responses to the "fight or flight" mode your body has gone into during a panic attack. However, that does not exclude Lyme as a possibilty. The description of myoclonus and involuntary movements are not consistent with GAD/ panic attacks.
SSRIs can either be extremely helpful or extremely detrimental to GAD/ panic attacks. Keep trying different meds if necessary. It takes days, not hours of the right med/right dose to work for GAD and additional medication adjustments may be needed.
Keep searching for the cause of the myoclonus and involuntary movements. Don't dismiss them as somatic complaints unless a Psychiatrist proves it to you by making them disappear with Psych meds but don't hold your breath, it probably won't happen.
Like I said, find a LLMD.
I am doing all that I can to afford to get into one. At least then I'll know that I have done all that I can to find the answer.
Good luck! Posts: 69 | From Wisconsin | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Thanks Tori. Yet perhaps you should have read more into my first long post.
The ELECTRICAL SURGES that I started feeling THROUGH MY BRAIN/HEAD AND UP AND DOWN MY SPINE as well as LEG TREMORS,NUMBNESS were totally SEPARATE and UNRELATED to the chest symptoms I experienced before. They happened IMMEDIATELY UPON STARTING THE SSRIs. And what I am wondering is if maybe the SSRI was in fact bringing out some UNDERLYING problem I have (Lyme or something ELSE), or if I just merely have a bad reaction to SSRI's, as was seen with both Zoloft and Lexapro. It has been a couple of months now since my last "chest related" attack. All the attacks I get now are head-related, and can sometimes involve a weird feeling or change in pulse, etc.
Any other advice/help is greatly appreciated! I have also been very moody lately, and I tend to cry over things that upset me too. I hate what all this has done to me...I just want to be calm, carefree and symptom free like I was before!!
~Crystal
Posts: 5 | From Maryland, USA | Registered: May 2007
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djf2005
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11449
posted
crystal-
get tested for lyme.
if what you have is lyme related, it most likely will not go away, and will only progress over time.
im not saying this to scare you, but to encourage you to get tested. use igenex or mdl and get it donw.
its well worth the money
i was diagnosed this february, started treatment asap, and have probably already spend 10k.
i am preparing for thousands more.
you cannot put a price on your health, especially when it comes to this disease.
im coming to the realization that lyme is one of the most difficult and horrific diseases currently available
best of luck to you.
if i can be of further assistance, pm me
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
Dear Crystal,
I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I lived through Hurricane Katrina (in my garage), lost my house, my job etc.
Never had a panic/anxiety attack ever.
About 8 months after the hurricane, while we were settled and doing okay,
I started with these panic attacks.
I would also get them at night. They would wake me up.
I called them my night terrors.
Horrible. However, I also had joint pain, shortness of breath and a whole list
of other symptoms associated with Lyme disease and co-infections.
I had a Western Blot done...and was diagnosed. (This after 3 months of trying to just find a doctor who would order the Lyme panel)
I would suggest in my humble opinion, that you find a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor.
The test of choice is the Western Blot. The lab of choice is Igenex...which only tests for tick borne diseases.
I had my husband, children, and mother tested via Igenex.
I've heard others say how sensitive the Elisa is, however it has a high percentage of false negatives.
It is not known for it's accuracy.
I thought it was a waste of money, and just went for the Western Blot for myself and the rest of my family.
Good luck to you. I know they gave me paxil (via ER visit) and xanax (doctor's visit prior to diagnosis)
Those drugs actually increased my night terrors and panic attacks.
I only took one of each once (not same day).
I flushed those down the toilet.
As I kept saying to my doctor(s).
I am anxious because I am sick....
I am NOT sick because I am anxious.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Vanilla
Unregistered
posted
I never had a panic attack until I went hiking and leaned against a tree in a meadow where deer sleep. Shortly after my hiking trip I started waking up in the middle of the night in the middle of complete panic attacks.
I even had a bulls eye rash or a red circle which I later told numerous shrinks and doctors about.
It took me 16 years to get a Igenex test and to get diagnosed by a LLMD. Do not wait that long.
Get tested and if your test comes back negative get tested again.
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