Uncontrollable Health Problems - Not sure what to even do

Parents Social Lounge
1

Hey everyone. I got a suggestion that the Parents Forum might be a little more appropriate for this type of question.

As a preliminary disclaimer, I’m not looking for medical advice, but rather peer support.

If you have been following my threads for the past year, you’ll know that I have developed some strange health problems. At first it was panic attacks that soon transformed into panic disorder, but now I’m not so sure. Rather, I think it might actually be a seizure disorder. I’ve been to the doctor and they’re not sure what the problem is. If it’s anxiety, let me just say this… I’ve never seen this side of anxiety and never knew it existed, but when an attack hits, it SLAMS and I very much am convinced I’m going to faint, have a seizure and or die. During these, I start losing control over my body completely and my limbs start tingling fiercely as if they’re asleep and I can’t move them. I might have slightly labored breathing. I also experience this blanket feeling of “something’s wrong.” It’s not fear–but it feels like my brain and limbs suddenly have been zapped and now they’re numb and not responding like they should be. I might be looking at the word “Then” and it looks like plain gibberish or alien to me. I don’t know how to describe it other than a “something’s not right” feeling.

This happens on a daily basis unfortunately. I would try going to counseling but this issue seems too far gone to solve in time for the trials of the semester. Some of the doctors/nurses I’ve seen suggest things like SSRIs. I’m a little hesitant to try SSRIs. Rather, I’ve avoided psychiatric medications for quite a while since these health problems started shortly after starting them almost a year ago. I quit taking them after I had strange episodes like this. They continue all these months later.

To me it seems lazy, but I’m feeling like psychiatric medication is the ONLY way I can get this under control and continue this semester. But medications like SSRIs come with side effects and they may not resolve or the medication may not start working for a month or more. I guess what I’m afraid of at this point is starting medication and the side effects just make things worse or I just start failing my classes. I’m taking 18 hours right now. How many hours could I take while still having a manageable load while dealing with side effects? Twelve hours is minimum full time and the day to drop without academic penalty is coming up THIS week. What should I be doing to help have a safeguard in place for this semester? I’m already registered with the disability office. Taking a semester off (again) may not be the best idea since I’m on a timed scholarship and I’m not sure if my university would hold it for me.

As a bit of a side note, I went home for the labor day weekend. There, I had a massive 9/10 panic attack (or whatever these health episodes are). On average, the ones I get daily are about 5-8/10. I can make it through 70% of class most of the time, but occasionally I get the “something’s wrong” feeling during classes and I have to immediately step out. I can come back to class after a minute but I start getting flashes of fear and sometimes brain shocks after which nothing makes sense anymore–words don’t look like words, English sounds as foreign as Chinese. And my hands mercilessly shake. Again, I’ve gone to see several doctors or nurses, and they’re attempting to work me into their neurology department but I’m not sure they’re taking me seriously.

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Camera- take a deep breathe.

Big hug to you, it sounds as though you are dealing with a lot. Nobody can diagnose you over the internet but I want to make a suggestion- if you are starting to feel as though doctors and nurses are not taking you seriously it’s likely because you haven’t taken any of THEIR suggestions seriously. Which leads to notes in your chart like “patient non-compliant” or something like that. If a doctor has prescribed SSRI’s and you have decided not to take them- well you don’t if they are going to work if you haven’t tried, right?

You quit taking medication… which of course is your prerogative- but typically the decision to stop a medication is one made by the patient AND the physician, not the patient unilaterally. Doctors track side effects- if in fact you’ve experienced side effects, and not a symptom of an unrelated issue. The doctors can’t know what the triggers are for these things you are feeling if you’ve just stopped your meds without their help and counsel.

Big hug. I have no easy answers for you except that you need to trust your doctor and take his/her advice seriously. And you need to find out if you can withdraw- it is alarming to me that you would right “taking a semester off (again) may not be the best idea”. Do you even know if this is an option? Why are you making decisions like this unilaterally without discussing it with a Dean???

Don’t fall into a pattern of making these proclamations and decisions by yourself. That’s when authority figures stop taking you seriously. Make an appointment with someone at the university who knows how a medical withdrawal works (if that’s the course you need to take). Make an appointment with someone who knows how your scholarship works. Make an appointment with the doctor who prescribed your meds and don’t tell him or her “I would try going to counseling but…” This is yet another datapoint that you are non-compliant, if in fact, a physician referred you to counseling.

Hugs. I know you’re going through a lot but don’t try to second guess the psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, deans and heads of financial aid. GO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT and actually listen to the advice they are giving you without trying to sabotage their efforts to help you.

Why wouldn’t you try counseling btw? it’s non-invasive…

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18 hours is a lot of hours–you may want to drop something.
Go to a cardiologist and describe your symptoms to him/her.

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Those symptoms do sound like classic panic disorder to me. And stopping an ssri without a long taper can also cause some of those effects.

SSRIs are not the lazy way out. They just reduce symptoms so you can work on a real cure. You would be amazed at the way your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can be linked to cause these cascading episodes. I suggest you consider CBT therapy to help you break the cycle.

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^^^ Particularly pronounced with Paxil

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I have seen many a post on CC where a student has some issues, tries to do everything on their own, makes poor choices, fails the semester, gets put on academic probation and then is writing a letter to get reinstated.

SO TALK TO YOUR COLLEGE AND DOCTORS about how best to address your situation.

  1. IT IS Not lazy to take medications for medical issues! Would you say that diabetics are lazy? Their pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin. Your brain isn’t making enough of some chemical or too much. Go to your psychiatrist and listen to them!!!

  2. Talk to your Dean of Students/adviser about what to do this semester. They may suggest reducing a class or two, or taking a semester off, or continuing on as is. They can help you figure out what tools there are at the college to help you.

  3. Contact the disability services department and find out if you can get accommodations…like what if you have a panic attack, what can be done. You can also let your professors know that you have these attacks and will excuse yourself from the class and then come back in.

  4. Contact health services so they know about your condition and what to do if something happens.

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If you were my son I would recommend dropping his course load to the minimum required to remain a full-time student, and using that extra time to work on these health issues with the appropriate professionals. I would also have him keep a detailed food and activity diary to see if he could spot any patterns.

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What is more important to you–finding a solution to your medical issues, or just surviving an academic school year? You can’t do both effectively.

As you know, starting on medication can be a bumpy road, and it does take 4-6 weeks to adjust your body to a new med. And, if that new med doesn’t work well for you, you’ll need to taper off and start on a different med.

But trying to get through an entire school year, with daily episodes that leave you completely wasted, is not an efficient way to learn. Are you really learning anything, by the way, or just trying to get a diploma?

It sounds like maybe you are stressed out by the scholarship restrictions, and unsure if you can finish college if the scholarship time limit runs out.

Take the advice of other posters and TALK with the administrators at your college. Let them know of your daily episodes that are interfering with your academics. See if you can get a medical withdrawal AND preserve your scholarships.

I believe your mental/physical health is the most important priority in your life. Many threads here on cc tell of different paths to a college degree. Parents of students with mental health issues speak of success in college AFTER addressing their child’s health first.

Take care of yourself, and keep us updated on your progress. There are lots of people rooting for you!

9

Camera. I am assuming you are a female. Have you been seen by an endocrinologist and had all your levels checked including testosterone levels?

This is extremely important as improper hormone levels can present themselves as panic attacks and other “psychologically based” issues.

Please make sure you at least get this checked and ruled out.

My best to you.

10

Finding a good team of professionals that you trust is so important. If you don’t connect well with a counselor, try again with another one. It is important to find someone you click with. And for doctors, some will be more clinical and dismiss your symptoms with a prescription, but you want to find the doctor who will truly listen to you and follow your symptoms down all the possible paths.

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You may want to get some second opinions from medical doctors, as @sax and @powercropper say above. Sometimes medical issues can be missed and/or doctors dismiss symptoms. Good luck, and be tenacious in advocating for yourself.

12

I second that these sound like panic attacks and that meds are not “the lazy way out.” Listen to your doctors.

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I also agree that if your doctor’s are not finding a physical reason for your attacks you shoud, if you are not, talk to a psychiatrist. I also agree that 18 credits is alot to carry. If you sense something is “not right” it probably IS not right either mentally or physically. You don’t say anything about what you are doing for yourself either - are you eating correctly and at regular intervals? Are you working out or playing an intramural sport or doing anything for physical exercise? What is your living situation? Are you getting enough sleep? Do you have balance - class time vs. study time vs. “down time?” You don’t need to answer these questions but these are all things that contribute to mental and physical health and when my kids call all stressed out and panicky I ask them these very same questions.

14

In my experience with one of my kids, it’s not unusual for a med to need to be fine tuned a few weeks after starting it. Different folks have different reactions and sometimes you need to increase, decrease, add another med or switch entirely to a new one. And when you do change, the watch cycle starts again. In my kid’s case, working with a psychiatrist who specialized in the late hs/college age group was productive. Plus a psychiatrist can both prescribe and counsel.

You have to understand that in medicine, there isn’t always a direct route, nor a one-size-fits-all. In the midst of looking for resolution, one has to accept that their own judgment may not be as clear yet. So if something is prescribed, give it the fair shot (time period) the doc suggests, then report any issues.

As for college, if you do have a working relationship with the right sort of doc(s,) you and they can explain to the school that you are working on this. Don’t over-enroll, don’t set yourself up. Best wishes.

15

Well, I think it is healthy to remain skeptical of MD’s and other medical professionals, their diagnoses and their treatment plans. This may be a complex issue to investigate: do you have a parent involved who can help you negotiate the system?

if you are registered with the disablities office, one accommodation that should be offered is extension of your scholarship for extended time at the school due to reduced course loads or medical leaves. You should also be able to take, say, only 3 classes, as a “reduced course load”, as an accommodation. And other accommodations as needed such as postponed test/exams, extended time on assignments, excused absences.

These could be panic attacks, migraine episodes, or a seizure disorder (could be temporal lobe, which don’t show up on EED’s). Many people with temporal lobe seizures (complex or simple partial) seem as if they are having a psychiatric issue, such as “disassociative disorder.” This is why it is important to get to the right MD. Please see a neurologist, and a good one, and one who is familiar with temporal lobe syndromes.

SSRI’s can make anxiety or seizure activity worse in some cases, yes, and so can withdrawal (did you taper or just stop? it can sometimes take months to get off an SSRI). You don’t want medical advice but my suggestion would be to try a med like lamictal (start very slowly, very low dose and move up gradually). Lamictal is great for seizures and has an antidepressant effect so it is used in both neurology and psychiatry. Also, once on an adequate dose, you would have more of a chance of tolerating an SSRI. Neurontin is another possibility, and helps with anxiety, but Lamictal would be better.

The fact that you do not recognize English words and that they collapse into gibberish strongly suggests temporal lobe involvement to my (non-professional but experienced) mind. But I suppose panic might do something similar. You would have some sense of the difference.

Get an advocate, whether parent or someone else, and find a neurologist who will truly listen and try the right meds. I would not try school under these circumstances. Find out about your scholarship before the deadline. It SHOULD extend to cover extra time due to medical leaves according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. But take care of that later- a legal advocate can help with that. Clearly, these episodes are disabling and you cannot reliably get through a semester this way. Even if you did finish the semester the psychic cost would be huge, and school would leave little time to address the medical issue either.

PM me if you like :slight_smile:

16

Bless you, what and ordeal you are going through. I know you don’t want medical advice but please consider checking all food labels for Splenda or Sucralose. I started drinking a new coffee mate flavor and it contained this artificial sweetener. I stared getting panic attack feelings, numbness, crying, rapid heart rate, crazy and paranoid thoughts. I thought I was going insane for about 6 months. Then they discontinued the flavor, and I went back to my old flavor - symptoms gone. I found a few bottles at another store, symptoms back. That’s when I thought something in the coffee mate was messing me up. Long story short - Sucralose. Google it + panic attack.

Occasionally, I will accidentally eat it and the panic attack feelings begin. I know this sounds like crazy talk, but it’s true. Best wishes to you as you figure this out.