# Chemical Imbalance?



## e-Fiona (Sep 5, 2000)

Hi there!I haven't posted in this section before. I don't even know if I'm in the right place, but I thought someone might be able to shed some light on things for me. I was a resident in the IBS-D forum about a year ago, but haven't been around in a while.I just came back from an ear, nose and throat specialist because my GP thought I might have vertigo or labrynthitis. Here's my story...I lost my mom to colon cancer in 1999. 1 year later I started having D. It lasted (but slowly improved) for a year. Finally got the nerve to have a colonoscopy - everything was fine. I started to feel better. My BMs aren't normal, but they're not bad now. While I had D though, I was always feeling tired - in my head. My body had energy but I always had a hazy feeling.I still have the hazy feeling... sort of lightheaded, not dizzy though. If I eat I want to sleep. Even if I have a cracker, I want to sleep. A peppermint... a bite of cheese... a bite of chicken, A PIECE OF GUM! Everything makes me sleepy... some of the time. Sometimes I can eat a full meal and be fine. The next day I'll eat the same meal and want to sleep. If I take a nap when I feel this way, I go into a really deep sleep or something because then I feel I can't wake up and I get really scared. Sometimes when I do wake up from this, I feel I'm shaking - not quickly, just to the sound of my heartbeat almost. My hands and feet sweat a lot when I'm going through this too. It's very strange!The ENT said my symptoms of lightheadedness mean that I have a chemical imbalance that causes me to take an extra breath... probably once a minute or so. He said there's nothing that can be done so I just have to live with it, but stress can bring it on. Has anyone ever heard of this??? I just don't know what kind of doctor to see next, but I can't live with this!Thanks!e-fiona


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## weener (Aug 15, 2000)

Fiona, when I first read your post I thought you might have a food sensitivity, but I'm not sure now. If I eat foods with msg in it, I get very sleepy and tired and I get a headache. When I'm having a bad bout with fm, I have all of the symptoms except for the extra heartbeat (that I know of). There are times when I'm asleep and the pounding of my heartbeat wakes me up. I'd go back to your family doctor and see if he/she can refer you to someone else. What about an internist.


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## e-Fiona (Sep 5, 2000)

Hi Weener,Thanks for your reply. Yeah, at first I thought it was a food sensitivity too, but I can't be sensitive to everything! Sometimes nothing will make me sleepy, but other times everything will.What exactly is an internist? I've been to a gastroenterologist who said I "probably" have IBS but had no idea about my sleepy and lightheaded symptoms.It's just driving me nuts! I have been under a great deal of stress/anxiety during the last three years (just one thing after another) plus I'm a worrier to start with, but I'm generally a very happy person. I've been pondering seeing a psychiatrist, but I dunno... I don't want to open up an entirely new can of worms!I've even been to a naturopath. She said my liver and gallblader were "slow". She also said my adreneline level was very low, which could explain it. She put me on a few supplements, but my body doesn't like a lot of the ones I've tried and they've made me sick. I'm now taking a lactobacillus capsule and something called chanca-peidra which is for gallbladder/kidney (especially good if you have stones - although I don't). I can tolerate these two supplements, but that's about it for now. Fiona


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## alexandrajennings (Aug 15, 2002)

Hi Fiona, sorry to hear you've been having a rough time of it. Do you know, reading your note I could have been reading about myself. I suffer the same problem of dizziness, hazing feeling, real exhaustion for a lot of the time. Occassionally I'm ok and then sometimes I really struggle. Unfortunately I am at the same stage as you, trying to work out what on earth causes it. I'm cutting out foods at the moment, the current thing being wheat but i have to admit I've not felt particularly different so I guess I'll keep going eliminating things. I am a complete worrier so can completely see where you are coming from. I worry about a lot of things and lack confidence and suffer from my nerves a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a link there, knowing how exhausted being stressed out can make you. Have you tried combatting that side of things, to see if there is a link? I am currently seeing a lady near my home who is wonderful and teaches the Louise Hay school of thought, ie positive thinking etc. I am trying to learn to let go of worry etc and it will be interesting to see if that has an improved effect on the haziness, tiredness etc, I am fairly positive it will. Hope I am not repeating what you may have already heard. Its interesting I think to find people who are going through the same thing as you.Alex


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## weener (Aug 15, 2000)

Fiona, my hubby says the same thing about me. He says that I worry that I have nothing to worry about (lol). I had an excellent internist where I use to live (near Orangeville). He was compassionate and understanding. Because it was a smaller town we didn't have many specialist ie) rheumatologist, so he ended up being my specialist. I looked up internist on the internet and this is a quote:"An internist is a specialist physician. Internal medicine is the branch of medicine which typically deals with internal discorders ie) high blood pressure, heart, diabetes, lung, brain, kidney, gastrointestinal, allergies and other immune system abnormalities, stress related symptoms & depression". I always thought of it as the jack of all trades doctor. Just something for you to think about. I'm in one of those hazy days today. Woke up feeling like I'm in a fog. Do you have other symptoms besides what you've mentioned so far?


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## e-Fiona (Sep 5, 2000)

Hi AlexJ,Sounds like I'm not the only worrier here. Positive thinking is not my problem though -- I'm very optimistic and have good self-esteem - yes, I'm just GREAT. LOL! My problem is I worry about things I have no control over. Since I lost my mom, I worry about my dad (for no reason). We just found out my brotherinlaw has multiple myeloma (bone marrow cancer) and I'm worried about him, as well as my husband because it can affect siblings too. Before I lost my mom in 1999, life was great. Nobody was sick. Nothing terrible had happened to me before then. I think that was one of the main reasons why I'm sick now. Oh, and my mom was a bigger worrier than I am. I'm trying to get pregnant, and am worried that I waited too long (just turned 38). The list goes on and on. And of course I'm worried that even though the docs tell me that whatever I have isn't a "bad" thing, maybe they have overlooked something and it really is bad. I just want a real name for what I've got. I want to tell a doctor all my symptoms and have them say, "YES, you've definitely got xxx and here's what you have to do to get rid of it". I hope your positive thinking sessions work for you. I'd love to know if it helps clear up the symptoms! I really hope it does!!! Keep us posted!







Fiona


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## e-Fiona (Sep 5, 2000)

Hi Weener,I didn't realize you were in Ontario. I'm in Toronto.I hope your fog clears soon. I'm in the same boat. I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. Then I got hungry by about 10:00. I had to eat! I'm trying to avoid carbs, so I had some scrambled eggs... I'm sooooo sleepy now. zzzzzzzIt's funny... when I feel like this, my eyes get sticky too when I blink, as if they have guck in them (but they don't). thanks for the info on the internist. I'm going to speak to my GP about that.Other symptoms? Well, I do get earaches often, and when I do I get lots of phlegm built up in my throat which makes me extremely nauseous. I get sinus headaches too, for which I'm on flonase.I dont know if this is related, but I get terrible pain on my left shoulder. I think it's from sitting at the computer for 10 hours a day. I see a chiropractor for it every 2 weeks and it seems to help. I also joined a gym in April and I'm still going (which is a huge deal for me because I've never been the exercising type!). I go three times a week and it does make me feel better (my head, that is).The gym is Curves for Women and it's circuit trainnig - mostly strength training. IT's a 30 minute workout, so I go 3-4x/week. The strange thing is that on the days that I go (at 7am), when I come home, I feel really good. Even if I woke up in a fog or lightheaded. Sometimes the good feeling lasts all day, but usually it's gone by mid-afternoon. I can't figure out why!Oh, and when I am feeling in a fog or sleepy, if I lie down to take a nap, I get into a really weird deep sleep or something and feel like I can't wake up. It's really scary. I do wake up, but can't open my eyes. If I do open my eyes a little, I have to JUMP up or I feel like I'll never be able to. Sometimes when I wake up from a nap like this, I feel like I'm shaking - not trembling, but shaking more at the rhythm of my heartbeat.I dunno... the more I think about my symptoms, the more I think that maybe I'm just an alien who has taken over a human's body -- boy did I pick the wrong body to invade!From reading the symptoms in this group, I don't have all of them, and I have some that are not listed. I don't think I'm in the right place (and until I find out what I've got - to my satisfaction - I don't know where to go), but you guys are so nice that I'm going to stay here anyway!







Fiona


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