ok i'll start back to April of this year.. virtigo (dizziness) for three months. went to E.R. two weeks into it and they didn't have an answer other than maybe wax in my ears was causing it. the majority of the dizziness went away after three months (not crawling to get around anymore). I walk like i'm drunk but can walk none the less. some days are better than others.

now here it is october and my legs started to have an all over tingling sensation like they were asleep, it moved to my belly and back and then my hands and fingers. the tingling turned into a "numbness". I'm having trouble typing as I try to do so anyway so please forgive any grammar flaws, i just don't want this anymore frustrating as it already is, i am trying to still make sure this is readable...lol

the areas i call numb feel now like a tight bandage is wrapped around them restricting my movement.

I finally got on some type of insurance the county provides and got a dr. appointment. and that was friday the 23rd.
this is what she said as soon as she came in, " it is a chemical imbalance."

now, i do agree, but seriously?? all of this dizziness and numbness is caused by depression??
has anyone else ever heard of this before?

she said all of these physical problems i have will go away after getting on anti depressants and anti anxiety meds.
she prescribed citalopram and hydroxyzine
and told me to see her again in a month.

meanwhile i'm still numb, dizzy and can barely move

so my question again is does this make sense? has anyone ever heard of this?

Hi Mybe4477, I'm glad that you went to a Dr. I know that depression and anxiety can cause many strange symptoms. Just because I've never heard of yours doesn't mean that others haven't experienced them. It certainly won't hurt you to try the medication route and see if your symptoms decrease.
Iowa

Mybe-

I'm certainly not qualified to offer a professional opinion, but somehow this has a resounding ring in my brain as being "neurological" as opposed to "psychological".

I offer this opinion only because I feel that it might be appropriate and timely to ask all these other docs from ER to county what their opinion is of this. I wouldn't rule out trying the meds that have been prescribed, as a matter of fact, my advice would be for the time being that you be med compliant. If the symptoms diminish/disappear, then the psychological may well be the cause. Even with this, IF IT WAS ME I'd seek out a good neurologist immediately as a backup plan.

Wishing you the best!

Deepster

This post has been edited by Deepster: Oct 29 2009, 09:15 PM

Thanks deepster,

when I went to the dr's it was to see a neurologist. but she was just so certain that it was this that she didn't want me to waste time and money on a bunch of tests. that and i guess she just had a collage student as a patient that had the same symptoms and this is what worked for her finally after a bunch of money and tests (MRI's) ect.
she said this chic was all better in 20 days, all the numbness and everything.
but yeah i'm not going to rule out the possibility of the neurological factor. it was MY first inclination too.
so i'll take the meds to see if it works. only been on them for a week. i think to early yet to expect to see a difference.

that and i guess she just had a collage student as a patient that had the same symptoms and this is what worked for her finally after a bunch of money and tests (MRI's) ect.
she said this chic was all better in 20 days, all the numbness and everything.

Good for you for having your own suspicions! Perceptive thinking! However, the above statement leads me to think that just one doc, with one presumably successful "cookie-cutter" case meant that from that point on she could just mass produce the same conclusion for every case she encountered. Sorry, but attitudes like that from med professionals just push all my buttons, and I go into "self advocacy/self empowerment over-drive".

Such a doc is surely going to be met with my own demands and rights of partnership in treatment. When presented in an appropriate manner, I have never had a doc toss me aside yet. I've been gifted with professionals who repsect my opinion, my research, my interest, and my being proactive in my own care. One who lacks such qualities regarding my wellbeing will move to my short list very quickly, and will likely be replaced in less than a week. I'd almost rather be "untreated" than "under/over treated" as the hands of one who perceives thier own importance as being more significant than my recovery.

Hope this makes some sense.

Deepster

This post has been edited by Deepster: Oct 29 2009, 10:16 PM

Hi Mybe4477,
I know how you feel on one level my anxiety and depression was preceeded by an onset of extreme lightheadedness with intermittent spells of dizziness. This has now been a year. With me 24/7. I was told the same thing. Chemical imbalance. I had a hard time believing that diagnosis, so I proceeded to have every test in the book. Ent exams with middle ear balance test. Negative. X-rays. Cat Scans. Mri's...Negative. So I was put on meds, Celexa at the present moment and was told that meds and time would help. I was also told after the battery of tests that they had no further direction to go in. Now this may not be the case for you, however your symptoms struck a note with me so I thought I'd reply. I hope you feel better and maybe you need to have them run some tests to be ok with what they say. Whichever way you go, I wish you wellness and blessings. Peace......................................POPI

Thanks POPI,

how long have you been on celexa and have you noticed it helping with the dizziness at all? is it even working for the depression or whatever? i've only been on celexa for a week and no noticeable change.

hi Deepster,

I do plan on making sure other routes are taken in assurance that it isn't something else more serious.
she will be getting the MRI info faxed to her from when i went to the ER for the dizziness and if they did any blood work. i don't remember if they took blood or not.
i'm sure my second appointment will have more answers for me. or at least i hope.

i know what you mean about dr's who just pawn things off. i was pretty set back by her way of just walking in and the first thing she says is "it is a chemical imbalance". first appointment and hadn't even talked to me yet.

i can't say that i disagree with her diagnosis. i knew i had severe depression and anxiety, it WAS something i was going to bring up to her. i just didn't expect her to know already. and i surely didn't think it was causing all these physical problems.

Bingo. I had the same thing for over three years and can help you.

Depression and anxiety can do some terrible things to us, in my case I experienced mild to eventually very irritating pain/numbness which lasted for over three and a half years. It begun with a drooping eyelid, generated into very irritating neck numbess which eventually took over my face, eyes, into my back and legs.

I went to three neurological tests and they found nothing.

Of course my doctor told me it was anxiety/depression and that he'd seen this thing case over and over again with many people. He refused to send me to a neurologist again.

This generated into symptoms like not being able to watch TV as it hurt my eyes, and not being able to move or speak. I was of course, able to do these things at some points. But few and far between (when I overcame depression or anxiety for a moment).

The symptoms went after a rough time switching meds. Feel free to ask anything, as you can see I had it for a prolonged period of time.

This post has been edited by kirkwuk: Oct 31 2009, 06:24 AM

Wow thank you for reading kirkwuk,

now I know that my speech slurring and eye pain might be caused by this too.
thank you so much for replying to this. it's nice to know i'm not alone. i was starting to think i was just weird..lol well...

anyway, i do not want this for no three darn years! so, what finally worked? how long did it take for your body to feel right again when you finally found the right meds? my dr. swears celexa is really good. i've never been on it before. i have been on paxil, that was like maybe 7 years ago and i remember that working for my depression and anxiety. i've been on celexa for 9 days and not feeling any better. and i swear the anti anxiety meds hydroxyzine is giving me more anxiety.

my body is hard to move. my legs are numb. yesterday taking a shower it felt like someone was in there with me and kept getting in my way but it was just me, i was getting in my own way. i just couldn't feel.
it feels like there is a tight bandage wrapped around my ribs that wont let me bend or sit up.
my fingers feel like there is something in between each finger. finger tips feel stiff. kind of like the sensation you get when you get super glue on them and can't feel with them.

trying to pluck my eye brows last night was next to impossible. not to mention i kept losing my balance and having to grab the wall to not fall.

this all really sucks, my boyfriend has been pretty patient but hes losing his patience. and now we have a baby over here that i have to pretty much take care of by myself for a couple weeks. and i'm afraid to pick him up and carry him in fear of falling with him.
i can't drive, that would be like driving drunk with the way i'm dizzy.

i do not ask for help cause when i do i don't get it. i don't talk about how bad i feel, people just tell me to do things anyway and tell me not to lay around all day. i get yelled at for not eating but yet no one will make anything for me. i have no appetite anyway so it doesn't bother me not to eat. its better than trying to fix something myself feeling this way. i'll eat easy things, microwavable things. i did cook dinner yesterday and it was sooo frustrating, i was getting food everywhere, i could'nt stir normal. i wanted to just throw everything and cry.

i was starting to feel helpless and hopeless. i found this forum in hopes to find some hope that this will go away eventually and find other's who have heard of this. so i'm glad to have met you!

Are you on any meds at the moment?

Well I had a lot of symptoms, and they aren't necessarily going to be exactly the same as yours, but the description you've given me says to me anxiety. Basically, I was suffering burning pains every day, could not string a sentence together, would over-think EVERYTHING, my brain was constantly all day overthinking and exhausting my brain. One of the doctors named it "adrenaline overload". This then causes hypertension in the muscles and that's probably some of the pain you're experiencing. My face, hands, arms would be red as they shook all day, I would be in a cold sweat. I found it hard to move and look around, could barely drive or play guitar. I once got told I looked like I had a tan, which is good in some ways I guess.

In my case it turned out the meds I was taking made me more anxious. I basically weened off the meds and I felt good again. Thinking I had my life back, two weeks later depression and anxiety came back ten fold, and whilst I had no burning pains or muscle tension I was short of breath, had horrific indigestion, insomnia, basically I had to get back on meds.

The pain did come back though, suggesting the symptoms were not side-effects which I had originally thought, but actually an anxiety thing. Some meds made the anxiety and pain even worse, I won't name-drop them, as they are different for everyone - but another SSRI made my neurological system feel like the nerves were being pulled from their sockets. I was in bed and a bath for a week, it was that bad.

What you need to do now is work with the doctors. Not all doctors are mega-helpful but just work with them, do what they say, try to be patient. They will throw anti-depressant meds at you basically, and the initial side-effects (if you get any) will make you want to try another... BIG MISTAKE. Stick with the med for as long as you can, they can take four weeks to work, but you WILL feel the anxiety symptoms go away.

Have you tried taking Xanax, or Diazepam? I suggest trying this and see if the pains go away. Do you feel the symptoms lessen?

she put me on celexa and vistaril. i've only been on them for 10 days. the only side effect that i noticed was that i was extremely tired and wanted to sleep all day but i think that is wearing off for the most part now. but i do NOT feel any better. and the vistaril for anxiety doesn't/hasn't helped in the least bit. i know the anti depressant will take awhile (weeks) to work. but she said the vistaril is a take as needed and that it's supposed to work right away.
and when i take it, i sometimes swear it makes the anxiety worse. i still continue to take it though.

Ask her for an alternative, there are lots of different "take as needed" anti-anxiety meds. So one will work for you. Celexa also works on anxiety but might take some time. You will need to be patient on the fact that you don't feel any better, like I said AD's can take four weeks to work minimum (I waited much longer before I found any benefit from other SSRI's but was so glad I did).

Try and distract yourself from thinking too much about the meds if you can. This is the best advice I can give for this stage. It's the hardest part of the cycle.

Ask her for an alternative, there are lots of different "take as needed" anti-anxiety meds. So one will work for you.
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i plan on it. or maybe at least up the dose.
thank you again for taking the time to tell me your story. greatly appreciated

i hope you are better now or getting there.
i'm on my way hopefully sooner than later

;-)