Firstly a little background information...
I'm now 24 but my symptoms first hit when I was 19-20. The first thing I began suffering with was chronic abdominal bloating/swelling/distention and my legs felt heavy, so heavy infact that I would move forward by sweeping my feet rather than lifting them. I felt like food was getting stuck and I had a massive amount of gas production 24/7. Soon after my right pupil enlarged compared to my left and has stayed this way to this day. It has brought on a host of visual symptoms. I see flashing lights, blurred vision, and my eyes are very light sensitive oh and not to forget as soon as the change in my pupil happened I began noticing a swarm of white blood cells swimming in my vision (read about it on the web).
Soon after I began having pounding and rapid heart beats whenever I changed posture or if I had to do some light activity. I would get family to touch my chest when I had these episodes and they were all surprised at how hard and fast my heart beat. It was uncomfortable but I managed with them. Eventually they worsened and I found myself becoming increasingly sensitive to any form of activity and found that the only thing that made me feel better was lying down. Whenever I took a lie down I felt like I was in heaven. I bought myself a device that monitors my heart and began testing. Whenever I changed posture or had to clean or do any kind of activity my heart rate which is usually around 55-65 at resting would jump to 120-140 beats and each and every time I'd get light headed, my vision would go, I felt weak and felt it difficult to breathe. I also noticed an excessive increase in yawning and fatigue. Whenever I went for lectures, I had friends and tutors always mention I look pale and exhausted and my most rude symptom to some was the yawning. I couldn't help it. Eventually all these symptoms became very taxing on me and I found myself needing a lot of bed rest aka naps so I dropped out. I also had a part time job over the weekend that I was no longer able to maintain. So I dropped that too.
I then began having body temperature regulation issues. My nails are very often blue and my hands are cold to the core, including my feet. Even when I exercise, my hands and feet continue to stay cold. Shortly after I began struggling with concentration and felt 'dumb'. I can no longer understand things as well as I used to and I'm always at a loss for the word I seek to finish of a sentence. I used to be excellent at math and now I'm exactly the opposite.
Occassionally I lose consciousness for a few seconds while seated. This can happen several times in an hour. I have very painful neck and shoulder pain which is only alleviated when I lie down.. I've fainted several times in the shower and once as a kid at school. There's a lot more symptoms but because I'm now at home most of the time I've noticed my symptoms improve. It seems whenever I try to lead a normal life that requires routine my symptoms exasberate and I always end up having to retreat back home.
I've seen a few specialists.
Opthalmologist's comments:
Abnormally large pupils but other then the symptoms the patient describes, the eyes are in perfect health. Possible over-stimulation of Sympathetic Nervous System...
Gastroenterologist:
Endoscopies, biopsies, celiac disease testing, bacterial overgrowth etc - All either negative or inconclusive and the doctor has yet to comment what he thinks might be going wrong. Although acknowledges huge increase in abdomen size.
Can't get seen by anyone else because my GP's believe it is all anxiety and stress related. They won't refer me anywhere else as they say I'm currently being seen by my Gastroenterologist and I should wait to see that what that doctor's verdict is.
Okay so now to the results of the PTTT!
I altered my test a little and forced myself to stand for 40 minutes as I heard the TTT can last that long.
So I took a lie down and waited 10 minutes to find my blood pressure and resting heart rate. I then got up and checked again.
110/56 Pulse 61 - 4:00pm - Lying down
128/68 Pulse 135 - 4:01pm I guess my body thinks I'm about to fight a lion?
(10 readings one for every minute)
120/69 Pulse 96 - 4:02pm
116/71 Pulse 89 - 4:03pm
114/69 Pulse 83 - 4:04pm
105/69 Pulse 87 - 4:05pm
110/70 Pulse 71 - 4:06pm
104/69 Pulse 85 - 4:07pm
105/68 Pulse 86 - 4:08pm
105/70 Pulse 105 - 4:09pm
115/73 Pulse 89 - 4:10pm
107/71 Pulse 70 - 4:11pm
Because I felt like my cuff was going to disfigure my arm after so many tries I began using my heart rate monitor watch with the chest belt. I will now only report heart rate from here on.
Pulse 86 - 4:12pm
Pulse 83 - 4:13pm
Pulse 95 - 4:14pm
Pulse 101 - 4:15pm
Pulse 75 - 4:16pm
Pulse 80 - 4:17pm
Pulse 82 - 4:18pm
Pulse 102 - 4:19pm
Pulse 93 - 4:20pm - From here my calves began to feel weird and my feet felt padded from the bottom
Pulse 96 - 4:21pm
Pulse 103 - 4:22pm
Pulse 101 - 4:23pm
Pulse 94 - 4:24pm
Pulse 90 - 4:25pm
Pulse 97 - 4:26pm
Pulse 95 - 4:27pm
Pulse 79 - 4:28pm
Pulse 93 - 4:29pm
Pulse 96 - 4:30pm
Pulse 106 - 4:31pm
Pulse 109 - 4:32pm
Pulse 105 - 4:33pm
Pulse 109 - 4:34pm
Pulse 103 - 4:35pm
Pulse 105 - 4:36pm
Pulse 111 - 4:37pm
I stopped here because I could barely feel my legs and the soles of my feet were extremely painful. I felt increasingly faint.
Quick mention: Is it normal for the heart rate to vary so greatly? My family member mentioned she was seeing sudden increases of 10-20bpm and sudden drops of 10-20bpm ever so often.
You'll notice closer to the end my heart rate began to sustain beats of 90+. You'll see at around the 4:20pm mark that I made mention of my calves giving off weird sensations and my feet feeling painfully numb and as if the soles of the feet had extra cushioning. I lifted my trousers up and had a family member take my socks off (so I wouldn't move)! To both our surprises my feet and legs were blue/purple. You see I never bothered to check my legs before because I can't actually comfortably stand in one place for longer than a minute so I'm always either swining my legs or walking in circles or lifting them up one by one so the the pain and discomfort never got bad enough to warrant a look.
I've uploaded pictures of my legs before and during the test. Apologies in advance for anyone put off by what they see. Oh by the way the white imprints you see on the pics were me touching that particular part. They were taking ages to fade so I just decided to include them in the picture.
What do you guys think? What should I be pursuing?
Thank you very much for your time
I'm now 24 but my symptoms first hit when I was 19-20. The first thing I began suffering with was chronic abdominal bloating/swelling/distention and my legs felt heavy, so heavy infact that I would move forward by sweeping my feet rather than lifting them. I felt like food was getting stuck and I had a massive amount of gas production 24/7. Soon after my right pupil enlarged compared to my left and has stayed this way to this day. It has brought on a host of visual symptoms. I see flashing lights, blurred vision, and my eyes are very light sensitive oh and not to forget as soon as the change in my pupil happened I began noticing a swarm of white blood cells swimming in my vision (read about it on the web).
Soon after I began having pounding and rapid heart beats whenever I changed posture or if I had to do some light activity. I would get family to touch my chest when I had these episodes and they were all surprised at how hard and fast my heart beat. It was uncomfortable but I managed with them. Eventually they worsened and I found myself becoming increasingly sensitive to any form of activity and found that the only thing that made me feel better was lying down. Whenever I took a lie down I felt like I was in heaven. I bought myself a device that monitors my heart and began testing. Whenever I changed posture or had to clean or do any kind of activity my heart rate which is usually around 55-65 at resting would jump to 120-140 beats and each and every time I'd get light headed, my vision would go, I felt weak and felt it difficult to breathe. I also noticed an excessive increase in yawning and fatigue. Whenever I went for lectures, I had friends and tutors always mention I look pale and exhausted and my most rude symptom to some was the yawning. I couldn't help it. Eventually all these symptoms became very taxing on me and I found myself needing a lot of bed rest aka naps so I dropped out. I also had a part time job over the weekend that I was no longer able to maintain. So I dropped that too.
I then began having body temperature regulation issues. My nails are very often blue and my hands are cold to the core, including my feet. Even when I exercise, my hands and feet continue to stay cold. Shortly after I began struggling with concentration and felt 'dumb'. I can no longer understand things as well as I used to and I'm always at a loss for the word I seek to finish of a sentence. I used to be excellent at math and now I'm exactly the opposite.
Occassionally I lose consciousness for a few seconds while seated. This can happen several times in an hour. I have very painful neck and shoulder pain which is only alleviated when I lie down.. I've fainted several times in the shower and once as a kid at school. There's a lot more symptoms but because I'm now at home most of the time I've noticed my symptoms improve. It seems whenever I try to lead a normal life that requires routine my symptoms exasberate and I always end up having to retreat back home.
I've seen a few specialists.
Opthalmologist's comments:
Abnormally large pupils but other then the symptoms the patient describes, the eyes are in perfect health. Possible over-stimulation of Sympathetic Nervous System...
Gastroenterologist:
Endoscopies, biopsies, celiac disease testing, bacterial overgrowth etc - All either negative or inconclusive and the doctor has yet to comment what he thinks might be going wrong. Although acknowledges huge increase in abdomen size.
Can't get seen by anyone else because my GP's believe it is all anxiety and stress related. They won't refer me anywhere else as they say I'm currently being seen by my Gastroenterologist and I should wait to see that what that doctor's verdict is.
Okay so now to the results of the PTTT!
I altered my test a little and forced myself to stand for 40 minutes as I heard the TTT can last that long.
So I took a lie down and waited 10 minutes to find my blood pressure and resting heart rate. I then got up and checked again.
110/56 Pulse 61 - 4:00pm - Lying down
128/68 Pulse 135 - 4:01pm I guess my body thinks I'm about to fight a lion?
(10 readings one for every minute)
120/69 Pulse 96 - 4:02pm
116/71 Pulse 89 - 4:03pm
114/69 Pulse 83 - 4:04pm
105/69 Pulse 87 - 4:05pm
110/70 Pulse 71 - 4:06pm
104/69 Pulse 85 - 4:07pm
105/68 Pulse 86 - 4:08pm
105/70 Pulse 105 - 4:09pm
115/73 Pulse 89 - 4:10pm
107/71 Pulse 70 - 4:11pm
Because I felt like my cuff was going to disfigure my arm after so many tries I began using my heart rate monitor watch with the chest belt. I will now only report heart rate from here on.
Pulse 86 - 4:12pm
Pulse 83 - 4:13pm
Pulse 95 - 4:14pm
Pulse 101 - 4:15pm
Pulse 75 - 4:16pm
Pulse 80 - 4:17pm
Pulse 82 - 4:18pm
Pulse 102 - 4:19pm
Pulse 93 - 4:20pm - From here my calves began to feel weird and my feet felt padded from the bottom
Pulse 96 - 4:21pm
Pulse 103 - 4:22pm
Pulse 101 - 4:23pm
Pulse 94 - 4:24pm
Pulse 90 - 4:25pm
Pulse 97 - 4:26pm
Pulse 95 - 4:27pm
Pulse 79 - 4:28pm
Pulse 93 - 4:29pm
Pulse 96 - 4:30pm
Pulse 106 - 4:31pm
Pulse 109 - 4:32pm
Pulse 105 - 4:33pm
Pulse 109 - 4:34pm
Pulse 103 - 4:35pm
Pulse 105 - 4:36pm
Pulse 111 - 4:37pm
I stopped here because I could barely feel my legs and the soles of my feet were extremely painful. I felt increasingly faint.
Quick mention: Is it normal for the heart rate to vary so greatly? My family member mentioned she was seeing sudden increases of 10-20bpm and sudden drops of 10-20bpm ever so often.
You'll notice closer to the end my heart rate began to sustain beats of 90+. You'll see at around the 4:20pm mark that I made mention of my calves giving off weird sensations and my feet feeling painfully numb and as if the soles of the feet had extra cushioning. I lifted my trousers up and had a family member take my socks off (so I wouldn't move)! To both our surprises my feet and legs were blue/purple. You see I never bothered to check my legs before because I can't actually comfortably stand in one place for longer than a minute so I'm always either swining my legs or walking in circles or lifting them up one by one so the the pain and discomfort never got bad enough to warrant a look.
I've uploaded pictures of my legs before and during the test. Apologies in advance for anyone put off by what they see. Oh by the way the white imprints you see on the pics were me touching that particular part. They were taking ages to fade so I just decided to include them in the picture.
What do you guys think? What should I be pursuing?
Thank you very much for your time
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