Off day

Not that anyone wants to hear the gripe but its been a bad day. Ive been off balance sometimes feeling like im tilted to one side. In addition to that ive been sick to my stomach, feel like my jaw, back, and legs are heavy, and am suffering from major anxiety. When these thongs happen i dont think rationally either. The doctors have told me i have migraines and trur vertigo but my mind convinces me its heart failure. Ugh, i completely wish there was a magic pill for all of it. Or atleast something i could take while breastfeeding;)

Heart failure!!! When this first started the very first thing I did was go to my GP and demand an EKG!!!
I try not to let that one creep up on me, but boy do I understand that worry! I had to have my neuro go into depth why it was not my heart.
Your heart would make you feel more lightheaded and woozy, you would not have any “vertigo” symptoms.
Get that one out of your head. If you can’t then get and EKG to calm your mind :slight_smile:

Elisha, i have had many ekg’s. My anxiety is a huge problem. Add actual problems to that and it can br disastrous;) i try not to worry about it but since so many migraine symptoms are similar to stroke i cant get my heart out of my head! Glad to have people like you on here that understand. Sometimes i feel like i do feel a bit woozy…but then i think that its just me being a bit off balance. Got outta the bath today and my legs and arms felt so heavy and i started to panic. Kept getting out of breath when id go upstairs or bend over. My doc said “its not you head, not your heart, its your vestibular system”. Need to repeat that to myself.

Sorry to hear about your day. Unfortunately, the last 5 months I have quite a few of those same symptoms. I am going for an appt with my neuro tomorrow and I intend to ask him about heart issues, as I don’t get classic vertigo, but imbalance and wooziness, along with left sided tingling, joint pain, etc. I really wish that there was a magic pill that just cured all of us, but until then, one day at a time. Hope tomorrow’s better for you!

Thanks jen. I hope its better for you too!

Do you take any benzo’s? Valium helps me so much!
I just saw your last thread that you have 4 kids. You are a busy mom!
I hope you get better soon! I know it’s hard taking care of my two kids with this. You are such a trooper!

You are the millionth person to ask me that:) do you know if thats safe for breastfeeding? I take zoloft and have for quite some time. Yes i do have four! I also watch children from my home so life is crazy! Elisha i am interested in seeing how things turn out with everything you have done. My very firsy ocular migrsine came after a horrible epidural from my second child(seriously he brushed a nerve going in, my body jerked, it only took on one side) Ive had spinals every time after that including one for a d and c. Ive had migraine following every one. This last time i had a horrible bppv attack while i was still on the hospital. The docs dismissed it and said my iron was low. I was very angry about that episode. I felt so robbed of those special days after he was born…especially since hes our last!
Listen to me ramble…

I know all about being robbed. I feel I have missed soooo much of my baby’s life. I’ve been here but I have not been able to interact with him like I did my older son. I just tell myself I will get better and I’ll be thankful for all memories ahead of us when I’m well.
I’ll let everyone know how I progress.

And no, I don’t think you can take benzo’s while breastfeeding. It’s situations like yours and mine that makes me wonder if it’s hormones or surgery?
I hope tomorrow is a better day :slight_smile:

You actually can take benzos while nursing. The baby may experience sleepiness and therefore issues with nursing, but since your baby is six months old and probably not nuring round the clock like a newborn, it may not impact him as much.

I took a benzo (Ativan) while I started Celexa for MAV when my son was five months old. I took it after my last nursing at night so I knew it would be awhile until his next feeing. It helped me with my insomnia issues and anxiety.

I also wonder if you need to swith to a different SSRI if Zoloft is not working for your anxiety? You should be getting some relief from anxiety if you are on an SSRI and if not, you should switch. At least in my opinion.

I had success with Celexa with not only the anxiety but the dizziness. I’m now on Lexapro and Topamax, but Celexa did take away the dizziness for me and killed the anxiety and migraine activity as well.

Dr. Hale is considered the leader in information when it comes to medication that is safe while breastfeeding. His book Medication and Mother’s Milk is the ‘bible’ according to care providers. He has a web forum that you can view where practitioners can ask questions about meds and whether they are safe for breastfeeding moms: infantrisk.com/forum/forum.php

I visit the forum occasionally to see that I’m not the only one in the universe with this thing that most doctors know nothing about (I’m a doctor and people still look at me like I’m crazy when I start talking about it). What I mean to say is that your description of a bad day mirrors my bad days. Veering around, fuzzy thinking, tingling or limbs just feeling like they might give way suddenly, etc, etc. About the nausea, sometimes I take Zofran (ondansetron) for this - no side effects; it’s a specific anti-emetic that helps with nausea. Zofran gives me my appetite back on a bad day.

My son is ten months and still nursing. I have to say, I look forward to weaning him so that I can start trying out some medications (although I do worry that I’ll have a MAV crash when I wean, as my MAV is so closely linked with my hormones).

I did take valium recently for flying, only 2 mg (and I would also consider taking it if I had a bad panic attack, or just an extremely bad MAV day). It wasn’t my doctor’s first choice for a benzo, but she said she was ok with it (I wanted to take it because I had taken it before years ago and know how I react to it). The baby didn’t seem to be affected by it at all. I’ve also taken Ativan, right after he was born actually…the gave it to me in the hospital to help me sleep (I was a mess after his birth, for non-MAV reasons, but that’s another story).

Don’t worry about venting about a bad day…we’ve all been there. I had the nastiest cold right after Christmas, which of course came with a MAV crash which made me really depressed, not wanting to get out of bed, etc. It’s just been the past week or so that I’ve been feeling better, so my outlook is sunny at the moment (it comes and goes so much).

Just want to say that anxiety alone can manifest as what one would think to be cardiac realated. Many people think they are having cardiac chest pain only to find out they were suffering from panic. Off days suck. I feel visually overwhelmed right now, but off I go to work for a full day. Try and keep yourself calm (easier said then done). I wouldn’t think any of you symptoms are cardiac related, especially if you have seen a doctor…and they workde you up properly.

I do wonder how much of this is hormone related. I find that the days i am at my worst there are also many other emotional issues. Then other days i am fine. I have considered everything from diabetes, to cancer, to ms, to simple dehydration! It exhausts me. What i keep coming back to is what i know…that i have vertigo and migraines. The morw digging i do the more i see how many other people have so many of the same symptoms. Its just such a different ball game when you have kids. Everything you do directly effects them. And the guilt! No one tells you how much guilt you will feel over everything. Put on top of that days where you arent feeling so well and may not be the best parent you can be…well that just adds to the anxiety.
I love to babble about this! I will ask my doc about all of these meds. With all the disgnostics ive had, im pretty sure docs are tired of hearing from me. Id like to find a doc that can work with me on managing the migraines. People are so dismissive about migraines! I always get the “its just a migraine” response. Ugh.
Thanks for all the replies. It is a wonderful thing to have this board.

I am a constant lurker on these boards but don’t often reply, but, I had to reply to you!!

I am a 33-year-old mom of 3. I was diagnosed with Heart Failure (Peripartum Cardiomyopathy) 2 years ago after the birth of my 3rd child. What is ironic is all of this dizzy, full ears feeling, headaches and off balance garbage started at the same time! I thought then that all of my symptoms were HF related and boy was I wrong! My heart is healing but I am still dealing with this dang beast known as MAV!!

Let me tell you that as a true Heart Failure patient my symptoms were not being able to breathe when lying down, swollen fingers and feet, very short of breath, no strength-couldn’t even hold my newborn. Add in the dizziness and passing out, not sure what illness to put those symptoms to!! I have definately had anxiety due to not feeling well. If it makes you feel better, get your heart checked out. I do know that anxiety can really add to your symptoms though.

My heart goes out to you (no pun intended). I hope that you are able to find some relief. Life is no fun when everyday is spent worrying about how your going to feel :frowning:

Hugs. Brooke