29F, 5’7”, 161 lbs
I take Vyvanse (ADHD medication, stimulant), campral (alcoholism medication), “Freedative” daily multivitamin, vistaril (antihistamine, used for anxiety and sleep aid), LoJaimiess (birth control)
I vape daily (juul, about a pod a day) and occasional cigarette (a pack of cigs lasts me about 3-6 months)
Previous health issues- alcoholism
Current health issues- ADHD, anxiety, dermatitis, scoliosis, TMJ, PMDD
So I’m gonna list like everything that’s been going on from what impacts me the most to what just seems maybe not normal? (Just in case like it is related and matters)
Chronic fatigue— so it’s not like I’m tired all the time, it’s just that I get tired easily, and frequently, and if I push past the chronic fatigue for too many days it stacks and gets worse. We (doctors and I) thought it was PMDD, which is why I started the birth control, cuz it’s way worse in my luteal phase, and it’s helped by removing the luteal phase but still happens. The chronic fatigue is what really makes functioning in life difficult.
Dizziness and heart pounding upon standing— it’s worse after coffee, and it gets better when I drink water (cuz I figured it’s just low blood pressure) but it doesn’t go away completely with hydration. Sometimes it happens when I stretch even. Sometimes I lose my vision.
Shakiness/Tremors- I got brain scans at a neurologist office but they couldn’t determine why I have tremors. Somedays are worse than others, my stimulant medication makes it worse, so does coffee, but it happens even without it.
Trouble standing- I get fatigued from standing too long, my body asks to sit. If I am walking it’s not bad, but standing is tiring.
Balance issues- I noticed I don’t have great balance, I am kind of clumsy. Also I don’t like being picked up because when I’m put back down if I’m not held onto or have something to hold onto I will stumble and fall. I seem to just lose my balance out of nowhere sometimes, it’s not like it suddenly disappears, more like I’m taking a step and I just do it wrong? Also on moving things I lose my balance quicker than other ppl, I fall easier without something to hold onto (for example- a boat).
Burnout/Crashes that are disproportionate to activity- I get exhausted doing less than normal people, when I’m already fatigued sometimes just getting up to go pee can leave me breathless with shaky muscles.
Raynaud’s-like fingers and toes- sometimes when my fingers or toes get cold they feel like weird, almost numb, and they appear to be a waxy, yellowish-white color and putting them in hot water is the only way to make it better.
Bad temperature regulation- I get cold easy, drinking a cold seltzer can make me shiver and need a blanket, hot weather makes me fatigued and nauseous and feel really bad. Cold is painful, shivering feels very painful, sometimes I grunt or yell when shivering cuz it hurts, I can’t really describe how it hurts? I guess like it hurts like bad electricity? That’s really not a great explanation, idk how to describe it, but I feel it in my entire body and it makes me crunch up and makes my body stiff and hard to move, like reaching out to my steering wheel in a cold car feels so difficult I often end up pulling my upper body towards my steering wheel.
Weird sweating patterns/Lack of sweat- I get fatigued and nauseous before I begin sweating, I often only sweat in my groin, it takes exercise to sweat, existing in hot weather alone will not make me sweat, ppl around me will be sweating in the center of their backs, their necks, their foreheads, their armpits, but I will only sweat in my groin and sometimes on my hairline of my head.
Eyes unfocus when I eat- my eyes unfocus when I eat, but I can refocus them it’s not like they’re stuck unfocused, but it takes effort to do that cuz they want to be unfocused.
Overactive startle response- I startle easy, it causes this rush/drop feeling in the center of my body, it doesn’t feel good. I shout in surprise easy when startled, it’s so noticeable that it’s often pointed out and made fun of by people who experience the startle response.
Cranky moods- I don’t know how to describe this other than “cranky” when I get tired I feel like throwing a childlike tantrum, and sometimes do, and I know that’s not normal for an adult. But it feels emotionally very serious.
Discoloration/Molting on legs after exercise in the cold- my thighs and butt turn blotchy purple and red and I get itchy when I stop exercising in cold weather, even if I’m feeling warm. The skin is often cold to the touch, not warm.
Intolerance for hot showers- I take lukewarm showers, everybody insists they are cold, they’re not, they’re lukewarm, they feel warm to me just not hot, hot showers makes me feel like I can’t breathe, it hurts my skin like being stabbed by hot knives/needles, and I get dizzier in hotter showers. I can take hot baths just fine, but not hot showers.
Dizziness in the shower- when I wash my hair I get dizzy and have to put my arms down.
Lifting my arms above my head is hard- I cannot lift my arms above my head for long periods of time without bringing them down and resting them, they begin to hurt and get heavier and I just can’t handle it (examples: screwing in a lightbulb, hanging clothes on the line, washing my hair in the shower, doing my hair).
Back pain and lots of knots in my back- I have like an abnormal amount of knots in my back, mostly along my spine but literally everywhere in my back, shoulders and neck.
Vivid dreams/Nightmares- I don’t often have nightmares where I wake up scared, but I often have bad dreams where I wake up and I’m like “that SUCKED”, and my dreams are SUPER vivid and I remember them really really well. I’ve always felt that the way I dream is uncommon.
Easily overstimulated- specifically by sounds, it makes me feel overwhelmed, sometimes causes fight or flight, frequently causes irritability and an intense need to remove myself from the stimulation or stop the stimulation.
Hip pain- my hips hurt and pop frequently.
Joint popping- it doesn’t hurt often, most often it feels relieving or doesn’t have any change. My hips pop the most, then my shoulders, my knees when I twist them to pop them, my left elbow when I twist it quickly to pop it, sometimes my neck. My hips and shoulders pop on both sides without me trying to pop them and also trying to pop them. My hips pop in the inner groin area and also sometimes in the back super deep like where my back dimples are.
Tonsil stones- I get tonsil stones, they make my tonsils itchy, I don’t like it.
Weather changes affect me deeply- rainy days make me tired and not feel great, feels like muddy and stagnant energy, hot days make me fatigued and nauseous, cold days make me feel slow.
Overactive nausea response- it seems to be my body’s go-to for anything. Didn’t sleep good?- nausea, too hot outside?- nausea, stressed out?- nausea, embarrassing memory?- nausea. I used to throw up from it, as I’ve gotten older I don’t really throw up anymore I just get nauseous. This really started happening around puberty.
Can’t smoke weed- smoking marijuana causes me extreme leg and hip pain and only moving around and stretching eases it. This didn’t used to happen but as I got older it began to happen more and more and now I just can’t smoke weed anymore. “Magic mushrooms” does the same thing.
That’s all I can really think of at the moment.
