Hello all!!

I just want to know if any of you feel extremely anxious at times or is it just me? I don't have a history of anxiety or panic attacks however, there have been frequent episodes in the last week that I have felt incredibly anxious and I cannot identify the cause. It seems to happen out of nowhere. I can be sitting down reading and this horrible feeling with come over me. While it is going on I feel as if I am going to die. My heartrate speeds up to around 140. I am not short of breath during it but sometimes I get numbness/tingling to fingers and toes and my extremities feel cold. I have been having right upper abdominal quadrant pain for 2 days made worse when I eat and it's right under my ribcage in the center and radiates to the right. I had my gallbladder removed in 2010 so it's not that. I am afraiD I might be getting pancreatitis. I am not running a fever and I am not jaundiced. I have a doctor appt. in am at 1000 and I have been trying to hold out all weekend to go to that instead of running up an ER bill. Any input regarding this would be appreciated. Also have any of you lost hearing temporarily in one ear or the other?

Thanks,
Beth

Hi Beth,
I have experienced nearly all of the above at some stage since I was re diagnosed in November.
The tingling and numbness will be down to the diamox that will take time for he body to get used to. The panic attacks I've only had two I remember at the start I think its just the whole condition just gets too much and could also be the medication as well. I get tinnitus and whooshing alot in my ears and my hearing will lower for a couple of seconds after this but will come back so no need to be panicking. This is a very strange condition and not everyone experiences all the effects of the condition or the side effects. Try not to let is freak you out, it will get easier in the next couple of weeks
Hope this helps
Elaine

I have also had anxiety. I will have episodes of my heart pounding, out of the blue. my anxiety gets worse if I do not effectively treat my sleep apnea. sleep apnea has been associated with IIH. some people with sleep apnea have an airway problem during the day as well, and I did until I had tongue surgery. I felt like I was suffocating all the time, and had episodes of shortness of breath and lightheadedness that would come on while eating or taking pills (swallowing). I think if your airway narrows slowly you may not realize you are feeling like you can't breath and you will just feel anxiety. any decrease in ventilation from this will raise intracranial pressure. sooo.... take a look in the mirror at your tongue. does it fit inside your dental arches or does it look large, are there scalloping marks around the edges? practice breathing normally and with your jaw jutted forwards; do you breathe a lot better with your jaw forwards? these might be clues as to whether your airway is an issue. I suspect that the forward head posture that develops in this scenario may lead to problems with CSF drainage. my DO says that this will narrow the jugular foramen, something shown to be associated with IIH.
also, any snoring at all is abnormal. any minor degree of sleep apnea will raise ICP because the hypoventilation that can be present even without snoring can increase cerebral blood flow and therefore the ICP. so any sleep issues at all in IIH and I would be wanting to rule out sleep apnea.
Deb

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the info!

Good luck w/ your appointment today! I'm glad you're getting checked out..a lot of your experiences can be related to IIH, but your meds can cause a lot of problems. Let us know how it works out!

I also have experienced most of what you are going through since being diagnosed in April. A lot of this I have found to be down to the Diamox. I was also on 1000mg daily my Consultant told me to space the tablets out one four times a day and this helped with the side effects. I did however suffer significant hearing loss in both ears which was constant. I have recently changed my tablet and am now on toprimate and within 3 days of stopping taking the Diamox my hearing was back to normal. The tablets are different for everyonevthough and the side effects do seem to lessen over time. Take care

Thank goodness changing the meds did the trick, Lizzie. Hope the topamax will help with your symptoms without giving you side effects.

How did the appointment go, Beth (thanks for including your name)? Good news, I hope!!