How to diagnose disorientation / disequilibrium ? Posted: 05-28-07 02:35am
It must be noted that none of these
symptoms are constant; but come and go.
It all started with a feeling of
dizziness, almost lightheadedness. It
wasn't the kind of dizziness that would
make me fall; it was maybe more like
disorientation/disequilibrium. This was
compounded by a feeling of pressure inside
my skull, pressing down.
Anyway, it has progressed. This original
symptoms continued when I tried to sleep.
When I laid down, it felt like I was
falling backwards. I would have a hard
time falling asleep and then would wake up
several times in the night, sometimes
panicked. It would take me a long time to
get back to sleep when I woke up in the
middle of the night.
New symptoms include feeling drowsy during
the day, like the feeling one gets when
just waking but lasting for a long time.
This was sometimes accompanied by some big
amounts of yawning. It felt like a kind
of brain fog, heaviness on my brain or a
dazed feeling.
What can I do about this? What do I
have?
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DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
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Ear, Nose & Throat Disorders Answer A2837 Posted: 06-13-07 07:08am
You wrote: "Current medical status: I
visited the university doctor twice over
the last three weeks of school and also
have visited my family's physician at
home. Both times, the doctors conducted
simple neurological tests (reflexes,
holding out arms, standing on one foot,
closing eyes and standing up), found
nothing alarming and made their
diagnoses.
Current medical treatment: I've seen two
different doctors, the first one twice a
week apart. The first gave me ativan for
managing anxiety, which i've used up. The
second has gone along with that original
diagnosis and also said that my symptoms
could be from allergies, recommending
claritin in the morning and zantac and
benadryl at night to deal with my sleeping
disturbances. The seasonal allergies could
cause inflammation of the
stomach/digestive tract and cause
heartburn, he said, hence the Zantac. In
addition, if these didn't work, he gave me
lexapro to deal with anxiety, instructing
me to start with half a pill daily (5mg)
and work up to whole pills within 3-5
days."
In order to diagnose the condition that
you are experiencing, you can request a
complete laboratory examination including
blood and urine analyses. In addition to
these tests, you can also request an
electroencephalography in order to
determination or exclude a possible
neurological disorder. These
investigations may help you and your
doctors in coming to the right diagnosis.
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