Head pressure, numb face, persistent disorientation

R

Randall P

New member
Greetings. About two months ago I endured an odd moment where I suddenly felt dizzy for about half a minute. Similar to what you'd get if you spun in a chair for a while. After that episode, I began to feel noticeable pressure in my forehead. I had another, milder dizzy spell about a week ago, and after that, I've had a numb face (identical in feeling to having purposefully hyperventilated), the pressure in my head has steadily increased, and I've been somewhat disoriented, as though the pressure has been affecting my inner ears somehow. Overall, my head feels foggy, and while I would not say it has precisely reduced my ability to process thought, it certainly often feels that way. I have also in recent days started to detect an occasional numbness along the left side of my back, next to the spine, although I would readily attribute this to unrelated physiological consequences of the sort of job I have.

The net effect of these phenomena are enough to destroy my enjoyment of life in general, and make days at work as torturous as if I were being forced to work with a fever.

I need to point out a few things. First, the numbness in my face is not limited to one side or the other; it seems to be evenly distributed to both sides. Second, activity in my colon reliably increases the pressure in my head: First I feel colon activity, and roughly five seconds later the head pressure increases. During those times, the overall template of symptoms, particularly the lingering disorientation, is at its worst. Third, there is no actual pain (headaches or whatever) associated with the had pressure, although as the intensity of the pressure increases day by day, I get the sense that it will ultimately begin to lead to headaches. There is no pain in my ears.

My weight, while not perfect, is not bad. Certainly I wouldn't call it overweight. My diet is, in my opinion, great (lots of broccoli, essentially no saturated or trans fats, whole grain carbs) and has been for most of the year. Very, very little sugar, either. I take the following pills daily: an Equate multivitamin, three grams of fish oil, and one Spring Valley green tea extract, and have done so for over a year. I have probably the best health in my family.

I have not been to a doctor, owing to the lack of means, but I'll start with one tomorrow. I strongly suspect that there will be no easy fix.. perhaps no fix at all, and possibly not even a solid guess as to what's going on. But I thought I'd throw around for ideas in this forum.

Any guesses? Thanks.
 
I have many of the same symptoms you have (please check my thread in this subforum entitled "strange symptoms.. any ideas?" it may be on the 2nd page by now).

There's a lot of head pressure (that was my FIRST SYMPTOM), but no classic headache, and head pain is uncommon. Sometimes there is neck pain on the left side of my neck that gets pretty rough, but it's "tied in" with the pressure.

This whole thing seems to be connected to my digestive system, also like you. Eating makes the pressure unnoticeable for 10-20 minutes and then it comes back worse than before. A bowel movement makes my symptoms of the condition--ALL symptoms--a *lot* worse, and that "worsening" lasts for 2 days before it starts to improve again.

You may have the same thing, or something similar, to what I have.

The thing is, though.... I have lot of other symptoms. This whole thing has been progressive for me, getting worse each year.

I would ask you to post this on the "brain and nervous system disorder" subforum as there might be more useful information over there. That is my "home" on this forum.
 
I'm back. Just wanted to give a progress report. The first doctor I had visited had found nothing abnormal in my sinuses, ears, throat etc, nor in my blood. Those results were what led me down a speculative path because I could not afford a CT scan, which he was recommending as the next step.

I managed to secure enough spare cash for the scan, but took my business to a second doctor so I could enhance my data spectrum. This doctor did the same checks, and then had me go through the CT scan (which I got both with and without contrast).

When we got back together with the results, he announced that I had a rather nasty sinus infection as well as severely cerumin-filled ears. He said that he was able to determine these abnormalities upon inspection, but used the CT scans to back up his observations, as well as a just-in-case for anything that might have been wrong with my brain.

Both he and I found it alarming that the first doctor had failed either to notice or to mention the sinus and ear problems, which I was assured were easy to spot if one's inspections weren't merely for show.

I would suggest that you find a new doctor and ask them to have a look. A CT scan can be beyond the means of folks - I surely understand, as I am in some dire financial straits over my own ordeal. My lesson is to never trust the word of only one doctor.

This is not to say that I personally am cured, incidentally. Some of my symptoms aren't really a good match for the abnormalities which were discovered. But I do recognize that many do match, so I am cautiously optimistic. Good luck!
 
I was under the impression that a severe sinus infection should present with obvious symptoms (head cold, runny nose, post nasal drip)...?

I don't think I have any obvious symptoms, other than the pressure sensation...
 
For what it's worth, I had none of those symptoms. But I definitely had the sinus infection. If nothing else, the CT scan proved it, in black and white. There is, therefore, a high degree of variability with this particular abnormality.
 
For treatment, I was given a ten day supply of caphalexin, an antibiotic. I was also instructed to take an antihistamine for six weeks (likely to prevent a relapse), and for that I've been taking Wal-itin. Results have been fairly swift. After two days, I no longer really felt unfit for work. Now, after six days, I feel essentially cured. There is some minor lingering head pressure but I do expect it to go away.
 
Back
Top