Mysterious Health (Mental Health?) Issues

[Fino]

The main reason I haven't been here for a while is because I've been struggling with various issues for a few months now. It's difficult to even explain exactly what has been going on because some of the symptoms include things like memory loss, confusion, and black-outs.

From what I can remember, it started several months ago when for no reason that I could identify, I lost the ability to sleep. I didn't sleep a single moment, as far as I was aware, for two nights in a row. By the third night, I was hallucinating and rather delirious and took medication that could possibly help me sleep. When it granted me just an hour of sleep, I got excited about sleeping at all and took more. I repeated this a few times and was not aware of the total amount I took. When I took my usual medication the next morning, I became severely confused, feverish, had a terrible headache, and other symptoms I can't recall.

By evening, I had become less confused but still felt strange, uncomfortable, and in a great deal of pain. I went to urgent care, and they sent me to the ER. My tests returned normal, but they gave me fluids and drugged me because I had become unbearably anxious by that point.

From there, the insomnia continued, and I stayed awake for three days without a moment of sleep. Hallucinating and delirium returned, and I went back to the hospital. They drugged me and sent me off. I got a few hours of sleep.

Since then I've had almost constant anxiety, on or off medication. I can't tell what makes anxiety worse or better, but I can't sleep without a significant amount of medication. I still have occasional blackouts with no cause that I can identify. I've gone to the hospital four times and gotten nowhere. I'm currently awaiting test results from more tests. My medication gets switched around, but it doesn't seem to help much, if it doesn't make it worse. I had another bout of three days without sleep at some point. I've had weeks on end of very asocial, apathetic behavior.

Overall, I'm taking less medication than I have in about a decade. Taking more or less medication is just more problematic. In the past, I've always been able to analyze my symptoms and come up with solutions, but now I have no clue what's going on. I can't tell what reliably makes it worse or better. I couldn't even explain all of this properly. Who knows what I missed.

I never have any motivation to do anything. I manage to go to work as needed, but in my free time, I have little to no desire to do anything. I don't necessarily feel particularly depressed, there just isn't any motivation.

I have no clue what's going on and can't identify any major changes in my life or medication that could have prompted this or that maintains it. Medical tests so far reveal no abnormalities, and I'm told to continue taking my medication as prescribed. I've tried dietary changes, amino acids, supplements, more exercise, more water, taking time off from work--nothing makes a noticeable difference. I've looked into serotonin syndrome, histamine intolerance, excess gaba, excess norepinephrine, excess glutamate, excess cortisol. I might as well know nothin bout nothing for all the good its done so far.

Fix me, y'all!!

 

[Progster]

You say you had medical tests. Did these include CAT scans and MRI scans?

 

[Outdated]

Hi @Fino good to hear from you, it's been a while. I'm sorry you're doing it so tough at the moment.

I had a similar thing happen to me at age 35. I was also having blackouts, even broke a few bones when I collapsed a few times. Doctors could find nothing wrong with me and some even told me I was making up stories.

In the end I had to work it out for myself, and that took me years. The blackouts are Anxiety Attacks. Social anxiety.

What completely confused me was the suddenness of the change in me. I had been highly productive, holding a managerial position and I was highly social as well with a very active life, then almost overnight my whole world changed. Even my metabolism changed and I dramatically gained weight as well.

It was like a switch flipped inside my head, ever since I have been much more prone to social stress.

I don't know if medication is of any help to you or not. I won't speak out against it but personally I have had no luck with it. These days all I do is smoke a bit of weed, and occasionally I might have a beer.

 

[Atrapa Almas]

I wish you to recover soon. What a terrible experience.

 

[Richelle-H]

I feel for you Fino. I have had problems with insomnia and anxiety in the past but never to the level you described. However, about the blackouts, I am wondering if those come with mental confusion when you wake up, not knowing where you are immediately, or feeling fuzzy around the edges to the point of not being able to connect a word in your brain to your vocal cords when trying to say something. If so, I might know what you are experiencing for I have had it happen to me more than once a few years ago and I have been on medication since to, so far, stop it from happening again.

It turned out to be, in my case, seizures. It can be a problem for some of us on the spectrum so I am wondering if one of the tests they have run on you is a sleep EEG. I knew mine were seizures but oddly enough the two hour sleep test I took showed no abnormalities to any of the stimuli that was used including the flashing lights through closed eyelids. Even so, I take my medication religiously and here I am three years later without a single recurrence (doesn't help with my sleep patterns though).

Thinking about it, this is probably of no help because your doctors must have thought of that possibility already. I hope you find relief and peace.

 

[Rodafina]

Hi @Fino,
I’m sad to hear this is why you have been gone. It sounds absolutely exasperating.

I don’t have any very sound advice or thoughts, but a couple of ideas circling around my head based on what you’ve described.

I believe you said there’s been several changes to your medication recently. Is there any chance some of your symptoms could be explained by medication withdrawal? Sometimes sleep problems related to withdrawal from something can last quite a long time.

Another idea is to keep a diligent journal about blackout episodes, sleeping patterns, and diet and energy expenditure. I’m inclined to think there must be some discernible patterns in there somewhere, just hidden because of the multiple changes, and all of the confusion and anxiety.

It sounds like you do not fall asleep at all, but if one of the problems is waking up promptly after falling asleep, could there be a sleep apnea issue?

So many of your symptoms can be explained by lack of sleep, so I’m going with the notion that is really the core issue here. I would imagine that if you could get six hours of sleep every night, much of your anxiety, confusion, and even the blackouts would clear up. That’s what I’m imagining, anyway.

 

[Alexej]

HI @Fino
Good to hear from you again and sorry to hear of your trouble sleeping.

I hope you get that sorted and feel better soon.

 

[Fino]

It's a little confusing to quote everyone, so I'll just answer.

@Progster The only tests they've done included urine and blood. After that, they blamed everything on sleep deprivation. Medication has been allowing me to get enough sleep, so I haven't been sleep deprived in a while, yet the problems persist. But I haven't returned to the doctor since then, because I got tired of waiting for hours just to be drugged and sent home. Should I go back now that I know it's not sleep deprivation?

I do have a history of seizures, and one of my medications is an anticonvulsant that I've been taking for years. We recently lowered the dose, so I suppose that is one possible explanation. After the blackouts, I am typically rather confused and disoriented.

As for your EEG showing no abnormalities @Richelle-H, a doctor once explained to me, when I had a second EEG, that an EEG only measures activity happening while the EEG is being done. If you happen to not display abnormalities during that short time-frame, that doesn't necessarily mean you never have abnormalities. My first EEG showed abnormalities, but my second didn't, and that was when the doctor explained that.

@Rodafina I like your idea about a journal. I should be documenting everything before I see a doctor again.

What's strange is that medications no longer have the same effects that they used to. I used to take higher doses of Gabapentin for acute anxiety, but gabapentin now increases anxiety. I was taking Tiagabine for anxiety and insomnia, but now it causes a spike in anxiety. I used to take Clonazepam for anxiety, but now it makes me more anxious and makes me depressed. I used to take stimulants for mood, focus, and motivation, but now they make me anxious and do nothing for focus or motivation. The only thing worse than taking my medication is not taking it.

@Outdated I do have a long history of social anxiety, but I never even knew that could cause blackouts.

Also, I used to take Wellbutrin, but I've been trying to stop whatever medications I can, so I stopped that one a while ago. I was told to start it again and very soon after, I had a blackout, so I stopped taking it again and haven't had one since then. But that was just last week. And Wellbutrin increases risk of seizure, just saying.

If seizures were the cause of the blackouts, would that have anything to do with the anxiety, insomnia, headaches, etc. or would that mean there is more than one problem present? I speak to my psychiatrist again Thursday, but I don't know really know what to tell him.

 

[Progster]

Should I go back now that I know it's not sleep deprivation?

I think you should try and get to the bottom of what might be causing the blackouts, perhaps give you further tests to rule out a heart condition for example, but I'm not a doctor. You need to ask your doctor about that (obviously).

 

[Rodafina]

I do have a history of seizures, and one of my medications is an anticonvulsant that I've been taking for years. We recently lowered the dose, so I suppose that is one possible explanation. After the blackouts, I am typically rather confused and disoriented.

This sounds plausible. Probably worth mentioning to the psychiatrist.

Spoiler: From healthline.com

What causes a blackout?​

There are two types of blackouts: partial and complete.

If you experience a partial blackout, visual or verbal cues may help you remember forgotten events.

If you have a complete blackout, memory loss is permanent. Even with cues, you’re unlikely to remember what happened during this time.

The nature of blackouts makes it difficult for researchers to examine the correlation between memory recall and blackout type.

Blackouts are often associated with alcohol consumption. For many people, drinking too much alcohol too quickly, or on an empty stomach, can cause a blackout.

A blackout can also be caused by:

• epileptic seizures
• fainting
• low blood pressure
• psychogenic seizures
• low blood sugar
• certain medications
• oxygen restriction

A 2006 studyTrusted Source found that temporary memory loss caused by a fall in blood pressure (syncope) is a more likely cause of nonalcoholic-induced blackouts.

 

[Fino]

This sounds plausible. Probably worth mentioning to the psychiatrist.

Spoiler: From healthline.com

What causes a blackout?​

There are two types of blackouts: partial and complete.

If you experience a partial blackout, visual or verbal cues may help you remember forgotten events.

If you have a complete blackout, memory loss is permanent. Even with cues, you’re unlikely to remember what happened during this time.

The nature of blackouts makes it difficult for researchers to examine the correlation between memory recall and blackout type.

Blackouts are often associated with alcohol consumption. For many people, drinking too much alcohol too quickly, or on an empty stomach, can cause a blackout.

A blackout can also be caused by:

• epileptic seizures
• fainting
• low blood pressure
• psychogenic seizures
• low blood sugar
• certain medications
• oxygen restriction

A 2006 studyTrusted Source found that temporary memory loss caused by a fall in blood pressure (syncope) is a more likely cause of nonalcoholic-induced blackouts.

I tried researching blackouts but didn't come across this information, only the bit about syncopes. It sounds like most or all of my blackouts have been partial blackouts, because I typically found out about them by somebody giving me a sort of clue by accident then I vaguely remember bits from what happened.

 

[Outdated]

When I blacked out I mean I lost consciousness. Passed out. Fainted. My comatose body would drop to the ground like a felled tree and I broke a few bones that way over the years.

 

[Fino]

Oh, I mean it the same way that I meant it back when I used to drink until I blacked out. I mean that I continue living and functioning but have no memory of some period of time, like how people with multiple personality disorder would talk about. But I typically behave very oddly, going aimlessly to various places, picking up random things, doing random things, confused, like an Alzheimer's patient.

 

[Outdated]

I was doing exactly like Tony in The Sopranos. I never suffered the memory loss, no matter how drunk or drugged. Except one time when I was driving home from work I forgot what city I was in and couldn't remember where I was or where I was supposed to be going. Drove out of my way for 20 minutes before I saw recognisable landmarks and memory returned. That was a bit scary.