Struggle Town
03-05-2012, 04:47 PM
Hi there......
Feels odd coming to a forum to ask for help on this. Feel let down a bit by the medical world with how ive been for the past 15 months or so. let me begin.
about 15 months ago i woke up after a big drinking session with a dry retching gagging cough. went to a festival that day and got pretty loose and it continued for days afterwards.
after that, i started getting tingles in my head and all the major sensations of panic attacks and anxiety. of course, i didnt know this at the time and really thought i was losing my mind and was going insane.
i was alone through all of this and trying to hide it and had major stress headaches, chest pain, arm pain, breathing difficulty, tingles in head, etc.. the works.
I went to my childhood chiropractor and he asked whether i was clenching my jaw and i realised i was, over a few weeks this alleviated some of my head feelings but i still was in a pretty constant state of generalised anxiety and stress. my breathing difficulty continued and i continued to have this dry retching gagging cough that i have had for about 15 months now.
the next 9 months or so were a bit of an up and down. a lot of anxiety constantly, mostly due to fear about my health with this debilitating cough that seemed to be worse after a night of drinking. i constantly feared i was dying because of my breathing difficulty and coughing. in this time i went to see a resipratory physiotherapist who said i wasnt breathing with my diaphram properly and i still struggle with this.
went to the doctors about 30 times last year with symptoms and had rounds of anti-biotics for my cough, did nothing.
had chest xrays twice, blood tests, nothing came up.
work was really starting to stress me out more and i developed more anxiety related headaches and stress headaches. my vision started to play up, expecially in my right eye.
i just wanted to get better. i started seeing a chiropractor / kinesiologist who started to address all the problems with my muscles in my upper chest, and adjusting my eosophagus which was contracting tightly.
i was starting to get a fair bit of stomach discomfort and acidy reflux. the dry reaching cough we managed to reduce a LITTLE BIT by doing some neck stretches to help stretch out my eosophagus.
i then went to a music festival and stupidly got pretty wasted on all sorts of things. i came back and felt ok for a couple of days and then i hit rock bottom with my symptoms.
i couldnt see properly, focus on anything,
all of the other sympttoms i had previously came back, it was horrible, i had a couple more panic attacks and had to take time off work.
this was around december 2011.
this year i have been doing my best to get better and its just not working. ive been working with my chiro/kinesiologist who has done a lot of adjustments within my body, cranials which actually have helped my vision, adjusting my diet to low GI to reduce the stress on my adrenals, working to adjust the stomach acid levels in my system, etc.
ive also had blood a couple times, only a tiny bit, in my lower mucous that ive been able to pull up. that scared me a fair bit so i had an ultrasound on my throat and nothing came up surprisingly. ive become a fair hyperchondriac because of how my insides feel and this cough. it feels like a volcano from my stomach up to my the back of my throat
i recently also had a CT scan of my sinuses because i had so much post nasal dripping and it could also have been the cause of the traces of blood i rarely had. came back that i have cysts or polyps in my sinuses for which i am now taking a nasal spray to see if that helps before i go back to the doctors to re-assess. i dont know how much that could contribute to the general volcano feeling and difficulty of breathing and the dry reaching cough ive had for so long... but im hoping its largely responsible because i know its fixable.
im sorry for rambling so much. its hard to get all this out in a manner that makes sense.
basically, as i sit here today, ive had chest xrays, blood tests, ultrasound on my throat and a CT scan, and all that has come out of that is that i have cysts/polyps in my sinuses.
i have stomach discomfort a fair bit, my valves i think are extremely fatigued between my stomach and eosophagus and also at the back of my throat.
i feel like my throat is blocked and i have a fair bit of difficulty breathing most of the time
i have a LOT of dripping down the back of my throat
my cough usually comes as a result of feeling like im gagging on something (hopefully its just because of the dripping down my throat, but i dont know how long that can really be there for)
i get muscle twitches sometimes that seem to come when im more stressed out. these are usually felt around the right eye and a couple other faces muscles
ive had tingling/numbness/crunching sensations in my fingers that seem to have now died down a fair bit but im pretty sure its anxiety related (i swore i had MS for a while but i know thats a common thought and my chiro assured me i dont. same with fibromyalgia)
i get pretty fatigued
my chiro said that my adrenals are pretty exhausted and that my body isnt using fats properly to power my aerobic muscles (the ones you dont control, they just do their thing)
i think i clench a fair bit in my sleep that contributes to the often weird head sensations that i get
i am just constantly in a world of fear about my health, and stuck with a high anxiety level constantly that i really really want to break.
it all stems from that feeling in my core - the cough and breathing difficulty. thats the first symptom i had and its the one that has remained constant the whole time.
i am very emotionally drained and fatigued and it makes me easily cry and im just totally fed up with feeling this way.
ive worked harder and harder to get better and its just not happening and its frustrating me like you wouldnt believe. i just want to be happy and healthy again and i know if i felt healthy that my stress/anxiety/depression would reduce so much, but if my symptoms are a lot based on feeling like that, then how do i get out of this catch 22 cycle?
i dont know what kind of responses im looking for.... i just dont know.
all i know is that im desperate for answers, or people who have gone through this same cough/throat/gagging/dripping/volcano feeling and can help me get out of it.
im only 28 and ive been assuered many times that theres nothing seriously wrong with me. as a hyperchondriac its hard to believe but im starting to accept it and i DO feel slightly better about my prognosis after having all these scans and tests and nothing SERIOUS being found.
please be gentle.
thankyou so much for reading and if i get any supporting responses, you dont know how much it means to me.
Feels odd coming to a forum to ask for help on this. Feel let down a bit by the medical world with how ive been for the past 15 months or so. let me begin.
about 15 months ago i woke up after a big drinking session with a dry retching gagging cough. went to a festival that day and got pretty loose and it continued for days afterwards.
after that, i started getting tingles in my head and all the major sensations of panic attacks and anxiety. of course, i didnt know this at the time and really thought i was losing my mind and was going insane.
i was alone through all of this and trying to hide it and had major stress headaches, chest pain, arm pain, breathing difficulty, tingles in head, etc.. the works.
I went to my childhood chiropractor and he asked whether i was clenching my jaw and i realised i was, over a few weeks this alleviated some of my head feelings but i still was in a pretty constant state of generalised anxiety and stress. my breathing difficulty continued and i continued to have this dry retching gagging cough that i have had for about 15 months now.
the next 9 months or so were a bit of an up and down. a lot of anxiety constantly, mostly due to fear about my health with this debilitating cough that seemed to be worse after a night of drinking. i constantly feared i was dying because of my breathing difficulty and coughing. in this time i went to see a resipratory physiotherapist who said i wasnt breathing with my diaphram properly and i still struggle with this.
went to the doctors about 30 times last year with symptoms and had rounds of anti-biotics for my cough, did nothing.
had chest xrays twice, blood tests, nothing came up.
work was really starting to stress me out more and i developed more anxiety related headaches and stress headaches. my vision started to play up, expecially in my right eye.
i just wanted to get better. i started seeing a chiropractor / kinesiologist who started to address all the problems with my muscles in my upper chest, and adjusting my eosophagus which was contracting tightly.
i was starting to get a fair bit of stomach discomfort and acidy reflux. the dry reaching cough we managed to reduce a LITTLE BIT by doing some neck stretches to help stretch out my eosophagus.
i then went to a music festival and stupidly got pretty wasted on all sorts of things. i came back and felt ok for a couple of days and then i hit rock bottom with my symptoms.
i couldnt see properly, focus on anything,
all of the other sympttoms i had previously came back, it was horrible, i had a couple more panic attacks and had to take time off work.
this was around december 2011.
this year i have been doing my best to get better and its just not working. ive been working with my chiro/kinesiologist who has done a lot of adjustments within my body, cranials which actually have helped my vision, adjusting my diet to low GI to reduce the stress on my adrenals, working to adjust the stomach acid levels in my system, etc.
ive also had blood a couple times, only a tiny bit, in my lower mucous that ive been able to pull up. that scared me a fair bit so i had an ultrasound on my throat and nothing came up surprisingly. ive become a fair hyperchondriac because of how my insides feel and this cough. it feels like a volcano from my stomach up to my the back of my throat
i recently also had a CT scan of my sinuses because i had so much post nasal dripping and it could also have been the cause of the traces of blood i rarely had. came back that i have cysts or polyps in my sinuses for which i am now taking a nasal spray to see if that helps before i go back to the doctors to re-assess. i dont know how much that could contribute to the general volcano feeling and difficulty of breathing and the dry reaching cough ive had for so long... but im hoping its largely responsible because i know its fixable.
im sorry for rambling so much. its hard to get all this out in a manner that makes sense.
basically, as i sit here today, ive had chest xrays, blood tests, ultrasound on my throat and a CT scan, and all that has come out of that is that i have cysts/polyps in my sinuses.
i have stomach discomfort a fair bit, my valves i think are extremely fatigued between my stomach and eosophagus and also at the back of my throat.
i feel like my throat is blocked and i have a fair bit of difficulty breathing most of the time
i have a LOT of dripping down the back of my throat
my cough usually comes as a result of feeling like im gagging on something (hopefully its just because of the dripping down my throat, but i dont know how long that can really be there for)
i get muscle twitches sometimes that seem to come when im more stressed out. these are usually felt around the right eye and a couple other faces muscles
ive had tingling/numbness/crunching sensations in my fingers that seem to have now died down a fair bit but im pretty sure its anxiety related (i swore i had MS for a while but i know thats a common thought and my chiro assured me i dont. same with fibromyalgia)
i get pretty fatigued
my chiro said that my adrenals are pretty exhausted and that my body isnt using fats properly to power my aerobic muscles (the ones you dont control, they just do their thing)
i think i clench a fair bit in my sleep that contributes to the often weird head sensations that i get
i am just constantly in a world of fear about my health, and stuck with a high anxiety level constantly that i really really want to break.
it all stems from that feeling in my core - the cough and breathing difficulty. thats the first symptom i had and its the one that has remained constant the whole time.
i am very emotionally drained and fatigued and it makes me easily cry and im just totally fed up with feeling this way.
ive worked harder and harder to get better and its just not happening and its frustrating me like you wouldnt believe. i just want to be happy and healthy again and i know if i felt healthy that my stress/anxiety/depression would reduce so much, but if my symptoms are a lot based on feeling like that, then how do i get out of this catch 22 cycle?
i dont know what kind of responses im looking for.... i just dont know.
all i know is that im desperate for answers, or people who have gone through this same cough/throat/gagging/dripping/volcano feeling and can help me get out of it.
im only 28 and ive been assuered many times that theres nothing seriously wrong with me. as a hyperchondriac its hard to believe but im starting to accept it and i DO feel slightly better about my prognosis after having all these scans and tests and nothing SERIOUS being found.
please be gentle.
thankyou so much for reading and if i get any supporting responses, you dont know how much it means to me.