Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Symptoms of something - need advise

Hi all. Since Monday morning I've been having these symptoms which led me to Emergency:

1. Shortness of breath
2. Dizziness
3. Sometimes I get contractions in my neck and I feel almost like I'm going to faint. I toggle my throat and it seems to help and it goes away after a minute.
4. When I lie on my left side at night I sometimes get rapid muscle contractions in my chest (last only a few seconds) and have to sit up very quickly. No fainting side effect with this. Hopefully just the chest muscles.

Hospital results:

1. CT scan showed no lung clots
2. Blood tests show an elevated D-Dimer test.
3. Blood pressure fine
4. Heart doing seemingly ok, Even did a 4 minute treadmill test yesterday and it seem ok.
5. There was an other blood test for the heart (I can't remember the name) that was highish (31-h?) but after 6 hours they did it again and it had not changed so the doctor thought it was not too relevant.
6. Low creatine levels (58), high potassium (5.3) and high RDW (14.8)
7. Blood saturation was high (97) so that's good.

I feel more grounded than before but can definitely feel something is still there as I feel "fat headed" and not quite clear yet.

I know these are vague and general sort of symptoms but maybe someone has had the same issues?

Any help or ideas would be great because this is the place to ask!

Thanks.

Hi Timo, that all sounds pretty scary, glad you are OK.

The only thought I have is to get a heart monitor, one of those ones that monitors you over a period of time. My husband has had that when he's had vague "heart symptoms". It can catch anything "occasional".

Hope you feel better soon.

Hey Timo,

I would have gone to ER as well.. but sorry I cannot help you.

Hopefully can find some answers, did ER have any thoughts would could be causing it? what medications are you taking?

Hang in there,

Tim

Your symptoms could be thyroid related? I had a multi nodule goiter that caused similar symptoms, especially the throat toggle.

Timo - possibly summat going on with the cervicals. Get an MRI, Sagittal, coronal etc etc of the full throat, neck, cervicals, down to T1/T2. Sounds like the stuff I go through an it is cervical related. Ensure you lie sitting propped up...I use multitude of pillows. Keeps osteophytes out of the way of compressing on esophagus.

Hope you can resolve soonest -

So sorry to hear that!!

What you are describing reminds me of a friend of mine would experience as she had a horrible reaction to peanuts. She ended up dying from an asthma attack related to ingesting peanut oil at a restaurant they would go to every year for Thanksgiving (and were always very very careful to work with the chef, but this one year there was slip up somewhere). Anyhow, I know some food allergies can create a reaction similar to what you have described. This would include shortness of breath, dizziness, throat closing up.

Only thing I can personally think of to suggest. Did you add any new foods to your diet this week? Or possibly your body is no longer tolerating a food you have been eating fine before. Though it may be something else entirely different than a reaction to food, just tossing this out there, just in case.

Wish you all the best!
-Andrea

Hi There,

I have thought and thought about this and haven't come up with much. Have you had any change or increase in medication ? Did they look into your ears ? Maybe fluid in the hears, would explain some symptoms but not all. DO you sweat at all with these attacks ?


If it persists go back to the ER.

Janet

Andrea, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. That is so terrible! Thank you for helping Timo with your friend's experience.

Timo, I'm so sorry you are going through this! What the heck? If it is not one thing, it is another, right? >_<
The frustrating thing is, maybe no easy answers. Do you think your blood sugar may be lowering quickly? If you get monitored if may show normal levels, but an extended glucose test may show that the drops are pretty swift, and when that happens adrenaline etc gets released and that can cause symptoms of palpitations, dizziness, clouded thinking, fainting etc. This is what happens to me. Sometimes it is worse than others. It has been referred to as hypoglycemia or reactive hypoglycemia. I have to eat complex carbs and protein right before bed and again at about 3am. and then have breakfast very quickly upon rising in the morning. If you think this may be what is going on with you, please don't hesitate to let me know and we can talk about it.
Whatever is going on, I hope it goes away really fast, maybe it was a weird viral thing going around and now you are better??
((hugs))

I went on doctor's orders actually and it was a good call, whew.