Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Medical mystery - detectives please!

and if the pain is severe enough, it can give physical symptoms that feel like those one would get with anxiety, even when one does not feel anxious. it was the oddest thing. My heart would pound, my stomach would be doing flip flops, my bowels stopped digesting their food. But my mind did not feel anxious; it was almost like an out of body experience because of that. the pain became unbearable when i sat (when my ribs and shoulder blade were colliding into each other (eventually determined by my chiro) and better when I stood up, and all the symptoms came when i sat and dissipated when i stood. all physical. and yet, they are the kinds of symptoms one describes for a panic attack / anxiety, yet no panic attack. it was weird for sure.

Hi there.
I don't really have time to comment now. Have to take kids to training but I follow this with great interest. Many of your symptoms are very similar to mine with only slight differences. Oh and the fact I was never in the army.
Will post again.
Hope you get some answers.

I am just leaving for a coffee meeting with a friend but I am prepared to give you my 'diagnosis' right now. Were you ever at any point examined for ticks? Or where there any around your field location?

I am betting you have Lyme as every single thing you speak of is a symptom of Lyme's.

Janet

I know how the tricyclic can cause dry-mouthedness. In fact it has for me. But the dryness I have been complaining about is far above and beyond the "normal dryness" I have always had on that medicine through all these years. And at a heavier bodyweight than I was inityally started on the medicine on, and at a third of the dosage I was using for the first year. When I say dry, I mean so dry the inside of my nose feels like the cracked and sore Psoriasis heels of mine. And bleeding. It's just...well something else alltogether.

Sue

I second and third that! -I do not have the pounding heart, but other symptoms mimic anxiety somewhat...but normally it doesnt even make me anxious (lately I have been an anxious wreck, due to working myself into the ground and the whole stomach bleeds episode) but normally: It feels like my anxiety about it gets less and less or virtually nonexistant, but the symptoms get stronger, if that makes any sence.

With anxiety, at least in theory, stronger symptoms should yeild even higher anxiety and so forth...but it's more like I relax more and more about what used to be terrifying, while the symptoms stand out stronger and clearer and become more familiar and (sick) safe for me.

Magician

Yeah, Lyme could be it. The sad thing is that several things could be it, and with the level of acknowledgement Lyme's has here, the only real option is cashing out a huge amount of money and go to Germany for diagnosis and treatment through repeated week long visits over a year with intravenous antibiotic cures. That would be ok if I could be absolutely certain that Lyme is it. I both would and could afford to do that if it meant getting well. But the chance that it could actually be something else means I cannot take that chance, I can not afford something like that more than once.

About the ticks: Yep, there are indeed ticks where we were stationed in the army, and yes I think I remember one stuck on me that I disgustedly removed, but I cant remember if the bite was red or sore afterwards or anything more.






Here's a short recap of today, maybe it'll help clarify what's going on:

I was at work today for the first time in 5-6 weeks. It was going just fine, but right before I left for home, something felt like it loosened in my ears or head. Instantly I start having pain in my ears, deep deep inside them, the right more but certainly both. Then the mucus production kicks off, and I feel mucus coming into the back of my throat, and the throat itself actually feels sore and gets painful to swallow. My eyes begin to water up (remember; I usually cant cry if you threw a bucket of water in them) and I get pain at the excact top of my head. Dead center top of my head. Then I get some balance issues, it felt like my head is being pulled upward and my body downward...I know it sounds strange. At this point it feels like something is going to explode at the back of my throat. And to top it off; gradually setting on; it feels like my nerves are more susceptible to warmth/cold/motion. With the mucus when I blow my nose; really green goo and red blood. Loking at the back of my throat in a mirror: The soreness is not imagined, It's really red/inflamed.

All of it together is pretty uncomfortable, but easily withing manageable, I've seen it all before and know very well it's not going to do anything but let me feel uncomfortable. It's fairly tiring, I'll admit that.

Thx for all the good answers so far, it helps me a lot to sort out what this can be!

Need to know what 'recent' examinations you have had. Let's start with the obvious first.

1. Blood testing specifically the B12, B6, Iron levels and the results of each of them, please. Do NOT include tests completed a year or two ago. Looking for recent results, please. One of your levels could be a contributing factor to your symptoms.

2. At any point were your Ear Rocks disturbed and did you have to see a doctor to have them put back into place? If not, it certainly is a good consideration.

3. Depression can REALLY mess with a person's sense of well-being. I just failed myself out of a paid college diploma. Stress levels and depression stomped all over me.

4. You have had MRI and CT yes? And what was the exact wording for the results found on them?

This is where the analyzing really begins.

I still think Lyme.

Thank you for allowing me to discuss your mystery diagnosis over with you.

Magic

Sorry to bug in as I have no ideas but wanted to tell Magician I am sorry to hear her news.

I'll send you a PM, Pea. Thank you for inquiring.

Sorry about the late reply, I've been kept too busy to answer before.

1. I've only had B12, general iron levels and Vitamin D tested. The practise with doctors here is to not really give you the numbers from results, but just tell you in a letter if they are ok or too low. From what my GP told me Iron and B12 specifically is within normal. I already have Vitamin D defficiency, and I am on supplements for that already.

2. If by ear rocks, you mean the crystals that form in you ear balance organs, then yes. I have actually managed to trigger dizzyness myself by attempting the manouver used for crystal sickness. (because sometimes it helps me with the dizzyness, and sometimes it actually makes it worse.) The problem is, I wont get the usual dizzyness where you feel like the whole room rotates as regular menieres attack for example. Instead, mine will be vertigo/feeling drunk or on a ship/dropattacks. With dropattacks I mean where it literally feels like my body collapses like a sack of potatoes right down to the floor.

3. Yes it can. But I think it's fairly important (and even more so for a doctor) to manage to separate actual physical conditions that can resemble psychological ones, from pure psychological problems. Almost every doctor I ever knew has a tendency to write off the most amazing (psychologically speaking) symptoms as "just anxiety" or "depression-related". They forget the single most important factor in initial psychological treatment:
Any......any at all...physical problem that plays a part in a psychological stress, can actually be the easiest entryway to better psychological health.

4. As for MRI's and CT's:

I have had:

Lower spine MRI, wich concluded with "large L5/S1 herniated disc, that presses on the nerveroots on the left side and touches on the rights side ones, smaller herniations in two more joints."

Neck MRI that only showed a "small herniated disc"

Jaw MRI: Right side jaw joint shows bone marrow edema and the joint surface shows suture-like changes and flattening of joint surface, as in arthritis. No fluid in joint.

Other that that I had a CT of the sinuses 1.5 years ago, nothing showed then, but my ears, sinuses (or middle back, or head or spinal nerves), or those channels from the ear to the nose have never been imaged by MRI.



Go ahead, pick it apart I really need the extra brain-power