Greetings,

For the last year plus I have had non-stop fogginess/dizziness. I have had PVCs that are driving me nuts. I feel like my IQ is about 30 or 40 points lower than it used to be. Having a conversation that requires thought makes my head spin. I have had an MRI (brain), an EKG, Echo, etc. Everything looks "good." My blood pressure is high (140s over 87-95) but other than that, okay I guess.

What has worked for you? I tried Celexa, but that had some unwanted side effects. I feel as if my life is never going to return to any kind of normalcy. All I want to do is watch TV and drink Merlot. LOL!

Has anything helped you?

Regards, Brenden.

Hi-

have you ever had your thyroid checked?? I'm 26, and for 3 years I had the worst anxiety of my life. It came out of no where. I tried zoloft, and 3 months later passed out on it. I then tried paxil,and for a week I could not get off the couch. I was then given xanax, and for 2 years i lived on xanax and lots of alcohol ( i was a bartender) to get me through the day.

Finally last year I ended up in the Er three times in 2 months with horrible symptoms, such as severe dizziness. Every test came back fine, so on the third visit the ER dr. asked me why i took xanax. I told him that i had anxiety, and he said that he wanted to test my thyroid. Well, what do you know, I had a thyroid problem the whole time. And you can rarely tolerate anti- depressants with an untreated thyroid problem.

Brain fog, high blood pressure, heart problems, and dizziness are all symptoms of thyroid problems. I suffered for 6 years- please rule this out. I had 4 ekg's, 2 cat scans, and blood work that came back fine everytime because they don't check your thyroid routinely.

Thanks for the reply. I have had the TSH test done twice. It was normal. Although, I understand that the TSH test is not the most accurate, but it is the most common and catches most thyroid problems. What kind of test did they give you?

Regards, Brenden.

to editor
do you snore heavily :confused:
you may have a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea, these cause cronic fatigue and exhaustion, sadly docs often dont think of them

hi brenden-
Yes, most dr.'s only test your TSH, but there are numerous cases every year where people have hypothyroid symptoms and have normal TSH's. You need to get a Tsh, free t3 and free t4 test. Also, you need to find out what exactly your TSH reading was. Lab ranges can go from (.5-5.5) because dr.'s use the old standards, but new data shows that a tsh should be below a 3.0, and some say a 2.0. For example- My tsh right now is a 4.238. My dr. says that it is normal, but I am very symptomatic still so I know that it is not normal.

My anxiety started when i graduated college in 2002, and i bought numerous anxiety books. All my books just stated how to treat anxiety with medication or self hypnosis techniques, but none stated the actual root to the problem. Finally this year, while spending hours searching for thyroid books, i found the book "Don't Panic. Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks" by R. Reid Wilson. This book actually states medical conditions that can mimic symptoms of anxiety. It would have been a life saver to me 4 years ago because I would have investigated actual medical conditions that could have been related to the cause of my sudden anxiety attacks. I wouldn't have accepted the " you have anxiety, so deal with it" diagnosis. But you never know- my brother has had anxiety for 10 years and he has no medical conditions, so everyone is different.

Hopes this helps!
ang

Snore? Moi? LOL! I can't sleep in bed with my wife! LOL! I thought about a sleep study, but am not sure what my out of pocket expense would be, insurance, etc.

My TSH level was optimal, as I recall. I believe it was like, 1.53 or 1.73, something like that. Either way, it's difficult because when you ask your doctor if they should check a certain something or other, they kind of act like you shouldn't be suggesting the test(s).

Regards, Brednen.

You might want to cut out the Merlot - alcohol always managed to lower my I.Q. a bunch.

Have you had your testosterone checked? Sounds like you've had everything looked at but just thought I'd ask.

I've been on Provigil and a small amount of Lexapro and it seems to help both my anxiety and my brain fog. It took awhile to get past some of the side effects of Provigil (hyperactivity, mind racing) but I finally have a dosage that seems to work. I take 50-100 mg first thing in the morning and 50-100 mg around 1:00 in the afternoon.

I take 2.5mg of Lexapro - not a typo. SSRI's give me brain fog but I need them to calm the anxiety.

Well sleep apnea and snoring are symptoms of a thyroid problem.

Your tsh is in the "normal" range, but people are symptomatic at a 1.53 or so. I had to order my own blood tests through healthcheck usa. It cost $106 for a TSH, free T3 and free T4 test. I am young and I now tell my dr. what tests he should test me for, because if I didn't, I would have died from this thyroid disease last summer. But yes, alot of dr.'s will get offeneded because they're the ones with the medical degree, not you.

May I ask what kind of anxiety are you experiencing? I'm just curious because with me it was a 24/7 nervousness, which then slowly turned into panic attacks, which then led to a subtle social anxiety/agoraphobic syndrome. Xanax took care of this, but ironically, I was a bartender, was voted most outgoing in high school and in college, and i have nothing really to be anxious about. So it all didn't make sense to anyone. I literally had to be drunk all the time or take xanax in order to lead a normal life because I could not take feeling anxious anymore. But since taking thyroid meds last september, I stopped taking xanax last september, and it was like someone turned the switch off on my anxiety problem. I still carry my xanax with me, but I'm just warning that I was taking only a tiny amount of xanax every other day and the withdrawals I experienced was horrific.

Greetings,

As for the Merlot, I don't swill all that much. Red wine always makes me tired. Beer and white wine always made me hyper. I never liked red wine before because of that, but now I like the relaxing effect. These symptoms came on before, during and after any imbibing.

As for my anxiety; I would say the physical symptoms of foggy headed, dizzy, palps...generally feeling overwhelmed and worn down by the simplist of responsibilities. I might ad that my mother has had panic, nervous breakdowns, depression, etc. Her mother was a depressed person, and her mother's father told her that he had had 3 breakdowns in his life. I sense a pattern...

Regards, Brenden.

I do sense a pattern. Don't you love all of the wonderful medical conditions that are passed down through generations?!

Maybe find out if your relatives took any medication for their anxiety /depression. My dr. told me that he sees a pattern in families where if one family memeber does well on a medication ( such as an anti depressant,) other families usually respond well to it. I'm not so sure if this is true or not.

Also, you might want to have your andrenal glands tested. Feeling worn down, overwhelmed, and anxious are symptoms of weak adrenals.

Hi Krazy, ("Krazy "AS" a what? by the way? :-))

Yeah, the "genes" that don't "wash out" are great! My sister has been an emotional basket case most of her life. She says Lexapro works well for her (well, as good as anything can for her....poor thing) maybe I'll give it a whirl. Valium was my mom's drug of choice. Took 20 mg a day for 23 years, then the bozo that prescribed them for her took her off cold turkey. REALLY MESSED HER UP! She got back on, but the damage was done. She is 75 and still kickin' (sort of).

I feel bad because I have 2 great kids and I feel as though I can't be a good enough Dad because of all this. My wife thinks I need to find a good med, but I still want to rule out physical problems before I go that route. I sometimes think I may be mildly bi-polar, since when I feel good (which isn't very often) I feel REAL good. Usually, I just play the part of engaging court jester, and suffer in silence.

Regards, Brenden.

HAHA! A.S. are my initials!! Since the age of 10 my friends have been calling me "crazy" because I was always fearless and reckless. That's why it was odd when I developed a sudden anxiety disorder.

Speaking from personal experience, I would recommend eliminating medical conditions as a cause of anxiety first. I had very unfavorable reactions to both zoloft and paxil, and a very bad time getting off xanax. Although, now that I look back, I think it was more of a mental thing because I became so dependent on the xanax.

I know a few people who are on medication for being bipolar, and they function well while they are on meds. I just know that their families are in crisis mode when they stop taking the meds.

My brother has stated that he feels "weaker" because he is a man and he needs to take paxil. He is close to thirty and he also suffered in silence. He finally got really drunk one night and admitted to me that he had an anxiety disorder that he hid for years and that he was on meds for it since he was 18. I think that you are a great father for being there with your children. My father left when I was 3, and i haven't spoke to him since 1999. He cut off all ties to my brother and I when it was time for him to pay his half of my college tution, leaving me with $80,000 in student loans to repay. This constitues not being a good enough father!!!