I have the doctors stumped. I am only posting here because of some of the symptoms but I haven't been diagnosed with anything.
I am a 24 year old female. Since late 2010, I have been experiencing dizzy episodes and if I haven't eaten for a couple of hours I always begin to feel very faint and weak. Then when I eat, I feel ridiculously drowsy, as if I have just eaten a 3 course meal, when in fact I've only had a sandwich/crisps/piece of fruit or something. This now happens every day and is more noticeable after lunch (maybe because I have to continue working afterwards). Sometimes I can barely keep my eyes open. I also get like a 'foggy'/spaced out feeling in my head.
Then in June this year, I started to lose the sensation in some parts of my skin and lose spots of my near-central vision. Most of the skin sensation has now returned but my vision has only deteriorated since then and I'm absolutely terrified. The missing spots are particularly noticeable when looking at text or anything with patterns but I'm always aware of it. My corrected vision has also got worse, both for distance and close up and I have snowy vision. The symptoms are in both eyes but worse in the left.
I have also developed more and more little veins in the white part of my eyes, which don't go away. A while back I also developed a lot of thread veins on my right thigh. The doctor said this could be due to the pill (I came off that about 12 months ago but the veins have never decreased).
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I have had an MRI and LOADS of eye examinations but they can't see anything (although at one time they thought I had some bleeding at the back of my eye).
Do you know what your blood sugars are before and after you eat? You can get a free meter and cheap test strips at Walmart (relion brand) and test before and 2 hours after. This will let you know if there is something off with your blood sugar. As for the rest, sorry, but I have no clue.
I have no explanation for many of the symptoms, but if you have easy access to a home blood pressure monitor, I'd suggest checking your blood pressure when you are actually having a dizzy spell. If my systolic BP gets down to 105 or less, a level many doctors feel is a terrific number, I often become dizzy. You didn't say when the dizzy spells occur. For me, eating (and especially eating carbs) not only raises my blood sugar, it lowers my blood pressure often by 20 or 30 points within half an hour or so. Sometimes that is enough to make me dizzy. This symptom is more likely to occur with the elderly than with someone as young as you, but if the dizziness did prove to be due to low blood pressure, it might give the doctors one more clue. Waiting to check your blood pressure until later could give false reassurance, as blood pressure can change rapidly. Mine can go back up by 20 points in a minute or two just by walking across the room or by reading about some grisly murder on the web news.
Thanks for your reply. I was admitted to hospital back in July and while I was there they said I had low blood pressure quite a few times but whenever I've had it tested while attending an appointment since then, they have said it's fine. I do also have heart palpitations sometimes, which I forgot to mention.
As you said, I don't think this could account for the other symptoms but maybe it is another symptom of something else, not a cause. But thanks.
Do you know what your blood sugars are before and after you eat? You can get a free meter and cheap test strips at Walmart (relion brand) and test before and 2 hours after. This will let you know if there is something off with your blood sugar. As for the rest, sorry, but I have no clue.
Best of luck.
Thanks for the reply. My dad has type 2 diabetes and I have tested my blood a few times but it has never appeared abnormal from that. I don't really know what it should be for a non-diabetic though, tbh.
