Hello Everyone,
I am a 28yo male. I am new to this forum, so bare with me. I was hoping that someone may offer any advice regarding my symptom profile and offer any incite into a diagnosis. I'll give a quick chronology of what has been occurring over the last couple years. In June of 2016, seemingly out of nowhere, I began to have severe anxiety. I had not had any anxiety at all up until this point. I would describe the anxiety as an all day panic explosion from the moment I woke up until I fell asleep. This lasted probably about a month or so before I began seeking medical help. A couple pcp visits and an ER visit later, I was prescribed valium and 20mg of paxil. With several days on the valium and a couple weeks with the paxil, the all day terror started to reduce to a manageable level. Unfortunately, after several weeks on the paxil i noticed that my hands started shaking if i tried holding something. This progressed into any movements causing pretty much any muscle to tremble ( jaw, feet, hands, etc). At times, it even feels like my heart is tremulous. Due to this anxiety inducing side effect, I tried nearly every ssri to see if any would control my anxiety with less side effects. I finally settled on 10mg of lexapro in May 2017 after trialing about 5 meds.
My feeling as if my nervous system was running like mad never really went away, nor did the tremors, but the lexapro allowed me to function ok. I graduated from college in June of 2017, and began to work quite a lot. I was also studying for the MCAT and applying to medical school. I felt like I was managing ok. I went on like this staying very busy for about 1.5 years. In February of 2019, I was lifting weights at the gym and started to feel like I was fatiguing quicker than normal. I brushed this off and went home. I went to bed that night feeling ok, just feeling a little more tired than normal. I woke up the next morning feeling like I was hit in the head by a bat. It didn't feel like I had any flu or anything, I just felt like my head was filled with cement. i remember feeling super foggy and just mentally horrible. As the day went on I started feeling gradually better. This trend continues to this day, I feel horrible when I wake up but much better by evening. I started having severe pressure headaches, which felt like my head was going to explode. I also started to have horrible insomnia. These symptoms waxed and wained for a couple weeks. I went to my doctor to see what was wrong. I had a brain MRI, blood tests, and urine analysis. No significant things were found. I was told to try another anti depressant, did nothing. Then told to get off everything, did nothing. I was hopeful that If I got off the antidepressants my tremors would go away, unfortunately they are still here nearly a year later. Around this same time I had been accepted to medical school. Since the initial onset in February of 2019, I have a litany of non specific symptoms that fit in many different disease profiles. I tried to start medical school, but only lasted a couple weeks before I had to take a medical leave. Pushing myself makes me so foggy, dazed, weak and usually increases the pressure sensation in my head. At this point, I am pretty much housebound. Due to there being so many moving pieces in my story, and seemingly no immunological onset, I don't really know how to fit the pieces together. Any doctor I see doesn't seem to know either. I have tried many different meds, supplements, therapy, the list goes on, but i cant seem get better. During all of this i still have enormous surges of adrenaline seemingly out of nowhere, but I can deal with it a little better when it first starting happening in 2017.
Some other random noteworthy symptoms are
1. periodic ice cold extremeities.
2. Conversely, I have periodic excess sweating in my hands.
3. Touching cold items are now very painful
4. somewhat violent shivering when cold
5. dont tolerate the heat great ( this has not been the case since the onset in early 2019, so Im curious if dysautnomia that i may present with could be from deconditioning. I have been barely doing anything for quite some time now.) {I used to go to the hot tub and sauna when first feeling sick.}
I have already been tested for lyme, 1st tests was inconclusive and 2nd was negative. I am aware of the fallibility of lyme tests, so it could still be a contender. I don't seem to have characteristic pots symptoms, no big blood pressure changes and no crazy big HR changes. I have a cervical MRI scheduled to see if CCI is a contender. I am trialing anti histamines to see if MCAS is potentially contributing. In my opinion cci, lyme, or hyperadrenergic pots seem like the most likely diagnoses (order of likelihood). Has anyone had similar onset of symptoms like this or have any diagnostic advice?
Thanks,
Johnny
I am a 28yo male. I am new to this forum, so bare with me. I was hoping that someone may offer any advice regarding my symptom profile and offer any incite into a diagnosis. I'll give a quick chronology of what has been occurring over the last couple years. In June of 2016, seemingly out of nowhere, I began to have severe anxiety. I had not had any anxiety at all up until this point. I would describe the anxiety as an all day panic explosion from the moment I woke up until I fell asleep. This lasted probably about a month or so before I began seeking medical help. A couple pcp visits and an ER visit later, I was prescribed valium and 20mg of paxil. With several days on the valium and a couple weeks with the paxil, the all day terror started to reduce to a manageable level. Unfortunately, after several weeks on the paxil i noticed that my hands started shaking if i tried holding something. This progressed into any movements causing pretty much any muscle to tremble ( jaw, feet, hands, etc). At times, it even feels like my heart is tremulous. Due to this anxiety inducing side effect, I tried nearly every ssri to see if any would control my anxiety with less side effects. I finally settled on 10mg of lexapro in May 2017 after trialing about 5 meds.
My feeling as if my nervous system was running like mad never really went away, nor did the tremors, but the lexapro allowed me to function ok. I graduated from college in June of 2017, and began to work quite a lot. I was also studying for the MCAT and applying to medical school. I felt like I was managing ok. I went on like this staying very busy for about 1.5 years. In February of 2019, I was lifting weights at the gym and started to feel like I was fatiguing quicker than normal. I brushed this off and went home. I went to bed that night feeling ok, just feeling a little more tired than normal. I woke up the next morning feeling like I was hit in the head by a bat. It didn't feel like I had any flu or anything, I just felt like my head was filled with cement. i remember feeling super foggy and just mentally horrible. As the day went on I started feeling gradually better. This trend continues to this day, I feel horrible when I wake up but much better by evening. I started having severe pressure headaches, which felt like my head was going to explode. I also started to have horrible insomnia. These symptoms waxed and wained for a couple weeks. I went to my doctor to see what was wrong. I had a brain MRI, blood tests, and urine analysis. No significant things were found. I was told to try another anti depressant, did nothing. Then told to get off everything, did nothing. I was hopeful that If I got off the antidepressants my tremors would go away, unfortunately they are still here nearly a year later. Around this same time I had been accepted to medical school. Since the initial onset in February of 2019, I have a litany of non specific symptoms that fit in many different disease profiles. I tried to start medical school, but only lasted a couple weeks before I had to take a medical leave. Pushing myself makes me so foggy, dazed, weak and usually increases the pressure sensation in my head. At this point, I am pretty much housebound. Due to there being so many moving pieces in my story, and seemingly no immunological onset, I don't really know how to fit the pieces together. Any doctor I see doesn't seem to know either. I have tried many different meds, supplements, therapy, the list goes on, but i cant seem get better. During all of this i still have enormous surges of adrenaline seemingly out of nowhere, but I can deal with it a little better when it first starting happening in 2017.
Some other random noteworthy symptoms are
1. periodic ice cold extremeities.
2. Conversely, I have periodic excess sweating in my hands.
3. Touching cold items are now very painful
4. somewhat violent shivering when cold
5. dont tolerate the heat great ( this has not been the case since the onset in early 2019, so Im curious if dysautnomia that i may present with could be from deconditioning. I have been barely doing anything for quite some time now.) {I used to go to the hot tub and sauna when first feeling sick.}
I have already been tested for lyme, 1st tests was inconclusive and 2nd was negative. I am aware of the fallibility of lyme tests, so it could still be a contender. I don't seem to have characteristic pots symptoms, no big blood pressure changes and no crazy big HR changes. I have a cervical MRI scheduled to see if CCI is a contender. I am trialing anti histamines to see if MCAS is potentially contributing. In my opinion cci, lyme, or hyperadrenergic pots seem like the most likely diagnoses (order of likelihood). Has anyone had similar onset of symptoms like this or have any diagnostic advice?
Thanks,
Johnny
![ME/CFS lecture | Dr Nancy Klimas | 2011 [Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / SEID / New Zealand] - YouTube](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
