Brain Fog?

[Bothrops]

Hi Lectus,
I hope you dont mind me asking, If you cant work how you paying the bills. I have not worked fo six months. I am in construction, very demanding on your physical being. I would not have problem doing desk job. Since I did not have insurance my boss was nice enough to lay me off, in my circumstance it is illeagel. I have about 2 months left and then I am up a creek. Here latly I am trying as hard as posible to get my life back. I quit smoking/dipping 11 days ago.

It sounds like you have been through alot. I would not say my eyes are effected
that much. I feel like it is part of the fog. My probs are in my head, literlly. My last diagnosis was anxiety. BS! He thinks I am hyperventilating. I guess that means I have been hyperventilating for six months nonstop.

Did you ever look into the spider bite, see a Doc about it. A brown recluse bite will rot you from inside out. Slowly. It is easily treated with antibiotics. If you get any nasty sores you need to see a doc. All spiders are venomous and will leave a nasty mark. The black widow and recluse are the only dangerous spiders. The widow will effect you soon after bite, reluse can take weeks. Dont worry, few people die mostly young and old.

Here is my symptom.


Symptoms since 6/24/03

Head Vertigo Off and on through out July 2003
Dizziness From June to August 2003
Lightheaded From August to present
Foggy, spaced out Through out, 24/7
Head aches at temples Off and on from June to September
Neck aches at base of skull Always with headaches

Eyes Slow to react Through out, 24/7
Slow to focus Through out, 24/7
Light sensitive Several years

Ears Full feeling Through out, 24/7
E-tubes crackle, open and close Off and on, through out

Nose Stuffed but dry Through out, 24/7
Popping at bridge of nose Off and on, through out

Sinuses Under eye hurts when clearing nose Off and on, through out

Jaw Pops and hurts during chewing Off and on, through out
Glands under jaw swell and hurt Always with headaches

Nervous Tingling sensations in arms, legs,
system back and shoulders Through out, 24/7
Icy hot feelings in back From August to present
night sweats Off and on, through out
Hot and cold sensitive, chills Off and on, through out

Digestive Acid Reflux Several years
System Heartburn January 2003 to June 2003
Frequent urination Off and on, through out

Other Leg pain, knees & ankles Several years
Anxiety SAD since the age of 12
Fatigue Off and on, through out
Sleeping problems Off and on, through out
Unexplained flu-like symptoms 4-5 times a year several years
Palms of hand crack and peel Several years, off and on
Small pus blisters on palms Several years, off and on
Red blisters/peeling top of hands Several years, off and on
Thick yellow nails(5 toe, 1 thumb) Several years, off and on

[Bothrops]

That did not work well. I copied my symptoms from word.
Sorry hope you can read the jumbled mess.

[Lectus]

I live with my parents right now, while I look for a job. I know it sounds really bad being that I'm 22, but I've had this weird sort of panic disorder that's driven me spontaneously away from every job I've had. So I have a pretty crappy history of leaving without warning that makes it almost pointless to even try and look for a job. I know that's not a good excuse, but there you have it. I guess I'm paying for it now with all of these health problems and no way to pay for them. Everyone in my family thinks i'm a hypochondriac, so there's no help there. I really should've gotten moving earlier on in this condition, but I was discouraged by how foggy I felt. I didn't think I'd be able to learn a new job, and if I did I'd find a way to embarrass myself. I should've known that things wouldn't get better.

I actually considered that the bite might be from a brown recluse earlier on, but didn't really pursue it. The flu symptoms weren't bad enough to really come to that conclusion. Plus the fact that the symptoms were spread over a long period of time. I'm not sure if the poison wouldn't have left my system by now. I dropped that theory in favor of lyme disease. I guess I did that because of the hope for complete remission of symptoms.

Those are alot of symptoms to try and make sense of. I guess the problem with us is that we can't really separate one series of symptoms from another and that confuses things. For instance, we can't be sure if one thing leads to another (acid reflux to chronic sinusitis, to nuerological problems), if they're part of one disease, or if they're each part of an isolated condition. Oh, and I just love it when doctors diagnose you with a SYMPTOM and pass it off as a disease in itself (I realise that some people do have clinical depression/anxiety due to a chemical imbalance that makes them depressed or anxious beyond reason.). I think it's important for doctors to make sure that it isn't the condition that's making a person feel lousy before passing on the diagnosis of depression or anxiety. They tend to disregard everything else you've told them when they've given up and decided on a cop-out diagnosis (again, not to offend those who truly suffer from clinical, psychiatric disorders).

You seem to have a few of the symptoms of lyme disease. If you can afford it, I would suggest seeing a lyme literate doctor and getting tested. Any other doctor would be a waste of time when it comes to lyme disease. It'd be good at any rate to rule that out (Even though there are false negatives and positives, no test is 100% reliable). Even so, you have alot of other symptoms that don't seem related to lyme disease, so it's hard to make the call. I dunno, it's up to you.

I've also had cracking in the bridge of my nose, sinuses and ears. That's mostly when I'm blowing while holding my nose. Otherwise I get the cracking in the morning. Probably because I had been lying down all night. I dunno.

[chigs489]

There might be several things going on here.

The frequent urination could be related to either

1. Benign prostate enlargement (virtually every guy goes through this, but often later in life). There are drugs to treat it. The drugs are called "beta blockers", one is called Flomax.
2. Chronic Prostatitis: an inflammation of the prostate and urethra. No one knows what causes it. Some think bacteria -but I disagree. This can also be treated with Flomax, but you can take supplements as well. I take Algonot Plus, and Prosta-Q. I've had really good luck with these.
3. Interstitial Cystitis: this is an inflammation of the bladder region. Some think this is the same disorder as CP, and I agree. It is most likely an auto-immune disorder, that creates problems in the Mast cells. This is what I suffer from (and it mostly affects women -my sister has it).

Talk to you General Practitioner about this. Also, quit caffeine and cut down on the alcohol -they just make it worse. I haven't had caffeine in a year.

I have many of the same head issues that you do. I'm going to see a ENT on Monday. I suspect that fluid is draining from my nose into the Eustachan tubes of my ears, causing lightheadedness and fogginess. I have the excessive ear cracking, and even jaw cracking.

Viruses can cause chills, night sweats, etc. You may have a viral sinus infection.

I do have one question for you. When this all started, did you develop puffiness in the eyes. Black circles underneath? I did.

[DucatiPro]

Hi Guys, some of your symptoms are very similar to what i have been experiencing for the last few months, ( since October 2003).

I started out with what appeared to be a flu.

Went to the emergency (because of chills and blue lips and fingers) and they said that what I had may be something viral. They gave me sudafed.

I have already been told by my allergist that I have an extreme allergy to dust. However, I am not taking any medicine.

However, now I feel like my ears are super stuffed all the time. They crackle and pop. I have no mucus coming out of my noise but if I hack or try to cough hard. I can spit out really super thick mucus.

The worse thing is that I feel like I am groggy the whole day and I have passed out a few times when I felt like a high a pitched noise vibrated in my left ear.

Anybody ever pass because of their allergies?

I have had an MRI that came back normal and I go torrorow for another one.

My Ear Nose Doc said that while my sinuses where swollen that everything was fine. He came to this conclussion after his 4 minute look at me. After I spent about a month and a half trying to get referred to him.

If anybody has any info for me that would be excellent.