Hi there. My mom had a serious health problem last night and we are all very scared. There are several issues that I will post before I describe what happened last night.

1: She has trigeminal neuralgia

2: She deals with an intense amount of stress. More then anyone I have ever met.

3: She is not depressed, nor does she suffer anxiety attacks. She is very strong emotionally.

4: She is very low in iron.

5: She has been taking LOADS of tylonol 3 with codine for years due to her trigeminal neuralgia.

6: She is 45 years old.

Now that I have said that, I will describe what happened....

She had not had much sleep for 3 days straight. She was going through ANOTHER break up with my father. We had been out all day driving around looking for him. At about 6:30 pm, she was driving (Me and my husband were in the car) up a road, and suddenly pulled over. She was breathing weird, and staring forward. She was saying she thought she was about to die. Her heart was racing, but not misbeating or anything. She said what it felt like was that her brain was shutting down, if you can understand that. She was NOT dizzy, or nausious, just that her brain was shutting down, and she had no control over it. She could not get control of it. She was shaking badly, and said she was in shock. She was very scared of what was happening. She also had a temporary memory loss as to where we were, what time it was etc... It has never happened before. Once the big episode of that was over, she had minor ones where she felt like the big one was starting over, but it never got as bad. The next day (today) she is still having small ones, and is very weak and still shakey. She is trying to get some sleep, but she knows it is not just from lack of sleep that this is happening. We are all very worried.

Our medical system is HORRIBLE and in order to get any CAT scans or anything you need to be on a LONG waiting list. So does anyone know what this COULD be, or has anyone had a similar incidence of this? She also had tremors in her left and right hands awhile ago.

Also, another big symptom, is her head feels like it is going to explode in the sense that it has serious pressure inside, and her head is hurting today. Not like a headache, but she says it feels like her brain is aching or something.

Please, if you now what this could be, please tell me. As I said, our doctors don't care much, they only care about their paycheck, and are not willing to help us figure this out.

Thank you for any information you can give us at this time.

Sadie and family

Hi,

What you wrote sounds like your mom had a anxiety attack. I know you mentioned she doesn't get them but there's a first time for everything. Your mom sounds like she's trying to endure way too much. Your body can only tolerate so much stress before it breaks down and it sneaks up on you. In other words, they litterally come out of no where. For years you can be fine and feel mentally strong then POW! I know, I've been there. On the other had the part where she lost sense of where she was and the time doesn't exactly fit in with the panic/anxiety. But, you never know everyone is different. I've heard some really weird and I mean weird stuff that has happened to people that get these attacks. They can make you feel like your going to die. She may have got so frightened of what was happening that it caused her to lose mental focus for that time. She should at least see her family doctor and explain what happened.

When I first started getting panic attacks the following things occured...

Feeling like I couldn't catch my breath
Heart started pounding and or skipping beats
Feeling like my head had pressure in it
Feeling like things around me weren't real

These symptoms are just a few that I experience myself. I've had these attacks for 6 yrs. now but can deal with the symptoms much better and I'm on xanax which is a relaxant. I only take the xanax if the attack gets really bad because they can be addictive.
There are a host of other symptoms that people experience when they're overloaded with stress. Please encourage her to see the doctor and if needed get some meds. to help calm her if anxiety is what the doctor diagnoses. Good Luck!

[This message has been edited by suv4me (edited 02-01-2003).]

I agree with the anxiety attack diagnosis. I have had many, many of these and every one is excrutiating until you know how to deal with them. My psychiatrist told me that people who appear to deal with life and stress well are the ones who end up breaking down in other ways (physically through the body). He told me that people with anxiety can go blind temporarily until they get on some medication to set the chemicals right in your brain. When you have an anxiety attack, you feel like you are going to die -- I've had similar experiences with trembling, numbness all over and the feeling like my brain is shutting down or like I'm going to pass out.

I'm getting better through weekly massages, nightly relaxing baths, weekly visits to a psychiatrist who has put me on paxil as well as a counselor to help me work through my issues. It has taken almost a month or more to begin to feel remotely normal and I venture to guess it's another month or more longer to endure. In the meantime, your Mom should go talk to a psychiatrist and try to get on something for anxiety. Be patient with the medication and tell her that she will not die from an anxiety attack which is what this truly sounds like. She just needs to tell herself that she's okay and wait until it passes. Breathing excercises will help too. I think it's all stress related, really.

Good luck and God be with you as you find a solution. I truly hope the best and will keep her in my prayers.

Yvonne

anxiety seems to be a valid theory. However play it safe, order some scans. But NOT a CAT scan.

CAT scans only show structure, not function. The best scans would probably be PET or FMRI (not regular MRI). These scans are not done too often and there probably won't be a waiting list to have it done.

At the age of 45 has anyone checked your mothers gynecological situation?
I've had similar feelings. I get Xanax for anxiety and
a lot of other problems too, so it can help other medications I take work better.
Including my heart meds which eventually I needed.
We found that a metabolic endocrine disorder was a part of a whole cascade of symptoms.
If I would have been satisfied with the anxiety
diagnosis I would have probably slipped into a break down coma when my blood sugar was rapidly dropping and I was feeling panicked about life.
Well, panick is a funny thing.
Some of us have panick attacks due to who knows what.
Me included.
But sometimes, some of us also have panick attacks and find our selves preoccupied with matters of life and death and feeling terribly afraid only to find out 13 doctors later that one is experiencing dangerous signals from the body that something is going terribly wrong.
I would suggest a consult with a Reproductive Endocrinologist.
Worked wonders for me.
Now that we have addressed some important physical issues, I am moving on to another specialty my surgeon has suggested to sort out other problems that still linger.
Good Luck and I hope you find some good diagnostic doctors to help.
kat

[This message has been edited by kat721 (edited 03-05-2003).]