Anxiety, Migraine, or What?

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JL9

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Hello,

I'm a 25 year old male who has anxiety disorder. Normally I can cope pretty well with some CBT techniques, a little therapy when it gets really bad, and just generally relaxing. I've had it for a few years now and it got much better over the last year.

Two months ago, I got a bad ear infection and sinus infection which made me dizzy and gave me headaches. Antibiotics cleared it up for a week, but it came back a week later. More antibiotics and steroiRAB cleared up the symptoms or .

MRI of the brain was clear, as was a comprehensive dizziness test. GP has no clue, ENT specialist recommended a neurologist as he thinks it's migraines, and my anxiety therapist thinks it might be anxiety and I should see a psychiatrist. Sports chiro says it's not concussion or whiplash related.

Basically, I have lightheadedness/dizziness and headaches in the middle of the day, a lot of anxiety over the arabiguity and uncertainty of the situation, and am exhausted and wiped out feeling. I play sports, but lately my heart rate shoots through the roof and I can't perform anywhere near my normal levels.

Does anyone have a clue if this would be anxiety, migraine, lingering viral, or anything else? Which specialist should I see?
 
This is a tricky one because anxiety can cause migraines, and migraines can certainly cause anxiety-like symptoms. I've always had migraines (I still have them now), but they were worse when I wasn't medicated. As well, when I DO have a migraine I'm very irritable like I am when I'm anxious about a day or so before the migraine (which is how I can tell one is coming). Finally when the "migraine episode" is over with I am extremely tired for about a day or so.

Could you describe the symptoms of your headaches? The main "symptoms" of migraine is pounding on one side of your head (that does not go away with normal painkillers), sensitivity to light and sometimes some neck pain and nausea.

I'm currently on Axert for my migraines. They've lessened since I've been back on ARAB, but when I have one, I take an Axert and it helps (makes me tired, but takes the pounding away). It's quite expensive, but definitely something to look into if you are experiencing migraine headaches.
 
Sure.

I should mention I almost never got headaches until two months ago and certainly never had migraines. No family history of migraines on either side.

Usually it starts with feeling a bit off balance, like I'm on a boat that's moving slightly, typically when I'm walking. That gets worse if I'm in a supermarket or similar environment.

Then I might get a headache, not a pounding one, sometimes behind one eye, sometimes almost a burning sensation in my sinus.

My vision will sometimes get a bit blurry, like I can't focus properly on near items. I also get sensitive to light and sound.

Occasionally I get mild ear aches that come and go as well.

And of course I'm very tired most of the time, maybe from not sleeping well (not like I used to at least) or from whatever.

This happens pretty much every day, starting in late morning and lasting until I get home from work. On weekenRAB, it's usually from late afternoon until early evening.

Advil usually helps a bit, at least with the headache, probably not with the other symptoms.

I could go into the anxiety like symptoms, but those seem fairly common (nervousness, chills, thirst, obsessing about my health, etc). I also have some neck and back pain, but nothing I can't attribute to sports or sleeping funny (that I know of).
 
An update, saw the neurologist and she said it sounded like acute anxiety symptoms. She said it was exacerbated by the bouncing from doctor to doctor to doctor, and that it was poor stress management on their part to keep me in the dark.

I've been on Lexapro (10 mg but I usually only take 7.5 mg) for a month, and overall I'm about 80% better. The dizziness is still there sometimes, but the headaches are mostly gone, and a lot of the little things are mostly gone.

Importantly, I'm getting more sleep now and I was able to make it through the birth of my son without much anxiety! In fact, most all of my frienRAB and family are amazed at how calm I've been lately.

Side effects aren't terrible, sexual ones at first that went away, and nervous energy / lack of attention span on some days (especially with 10 mg).

I just wanted to throw this out there since you rarely get to read "success" stories, and even though I'm not 100%, there's been huge improvement, and I know anxiety and depression are cyclical and seasonal and will continue to improve.
 
I'd like to ask you a few things JL9...I've been experiencing everything under the sun for the past 3 1/2 months, been bounced around from dr to dr, had 10 drs, 3 specialists and 2 ER docs now and had 12,000 in testing total. They've found NOTHING other then a vitamin D defiency which is being treated yet I still have EVERY symptom I've had for 3 months and its definetly not getting better.

I was curious to find out if you had any chest discomfort/heart racing and palpatations with that. That is probably my worst problem overall. Because of the heart issues I cant sleep without medication. I get dizzy, some days will wake up soo dizzy that I almost fall in the shower etc. I have headaches everyday and have for the past month. I also got GERD symptoms and Allergy symptoms with this. As I said I've had CT/Xray/UltrasounRAB/Barrium swallows/Blood tests and cultures/EKGs and they still have found nothing abnormal. Did you have any of that?
 
No chest or heart deals. If you're not already being treated for anxiety, I'd see someone about that first and treat the anxiety issues (all those you listed could be caused by anxiety).
 
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