Anyone feel lightheaded when sick?

[cheerfulpuppies]

I know this may sound odd but it usually comes on rather suddenly, sort of. I sometimes push myself a little hard don't get enough sleep, start to feel "blah" and then suddenly in the middle of the day or evening I feel full blown sick, aches, my muscles and bones ache or feel like they are on fire, irritable, can't stand my skin to be touched, cold but no fever and just blah in my face most likely due to sinus infection. This usually only happens ever couple of years or lately every year.

Last night I had a couple of wings and felt "off", like they just had not digested and were sitting at the top of my stomach. This morning didn't really feel like much but had a glucerna before work, around noon felt tired went to get a cup of coffee rec'd a patient because i am a nurse and shortly afterwards felt "off" lightheaded and almost worried about walking into the break room to check my sugar because I felt so bad. Sugar was 142, so not low, ate peanut butter with crackers and some water started to feel better, went back out to take over my patient again and by the time he went back to the floor I was feeling "off" again. Took my blood pressure, it was fine 100/72 and felt so off I couldn't eat, and NOTHING affects my appetite. Drank lots of water felt a little better than insanely cold. Took some pain meds, felt a little better, not as cold but couldn't eat much and still feel intermittently nauseaous and slightly lightheaded. I am actually confused as we usually know our bodies best.

And no, I am not pregnant, though I wish that was the reason.

 

[marisalynn]

Sometimes when I have a cold, even though my O2 sat is fine, my heart rate does go up, sometimes into the 120s if I am at work and running around, and I will occasionally get a little light-headed. I am also a nurse, and find that sometimes I push myself too much as well. I will work a 12-hour shift, and then come home and clean up the house, make and clean up supper, and get my daughter ready for bed while at some point trying to get my evening treatments taken.
One thing that you mentioned was drinking water, which is something that I have to constantly remind myself to do. The only other thing I can think of is if you drank coffee without anything on your stomach, maybe the caffeine was a little too much, or maybe I misread that. Anyways, I hope you get to feeling better.

Marisa 26 w/CF

 

[cheerfulpuppies]

Marisa,

no no you didn't misread it I drank coffee on an empty stomach which I do frequently but who know it was not the coffee I usually make. I still can't make heads of it. My sinuses have been bothering me lately but the nausea and lightheadedness are usually not one of my symptoms. And nothing usually deters my appetite. We will just have to wait and see. I will post when I figure it out.

Dana

 

[LittleLab4CF]

Are you dizzy or are you delirious? I obsess a little over the various chemical impacts on my conscious thought, but I see dizzy being an imbalance in oxygenation and delirious more an inability to focus for whatever reason.

If your blood sugar and oxygenation are correct, maybe look at something along the vagus nerve, something autonomic like the esophagus or stomach. When signals run back up the vagus nerve in any concentration a sense of shock can easily overcome a person. Cold and clammy, nausea like never before, swishing waves of dizziness course through the ears and light suddenly hurts your eyes, kind of feeling?

Other spots to check are your endocrine glands, all of them, and of course head, throat and lungs. When something happens quickly to a person so disabling, although temporary, hormones are one of the fastest acting agents to change how we feel. Because of CF, every true gland in our bodies can suddenly become malignant, an uncontrolled rapidly accelerating state. That gland could be the adrenals, pancreas, thyroid or ovaries and such.

I really wish I had something to offer that might help short term. Heartburn is pretty common with CF and possibly what is making you ill. Drugs like Zantac are good after the fact as well as potentially heading off gastritis depending when you take it. You might take a Zantac with your coffee, although I suggest some carbs, like a donut, instead. If this is becoming chronic, a GI doc can generally control these issues with a couple prescription medicines.

My GI tract is the repository for most of my CF issues and I can easily see this developing in a CFer at any time in their lives. I have a substantial drug regiment just to keep my GERD , gastritis and such under control. Like CFers that require industrial quality pulmonary medicine, CFers can have just as much misery south of the diaphragm. If I were to guess were this might be the junction of the stomach and esophagus at the diaphragm is deeply enervated by the vagus and a disturbance in that area can instantly disable a person.

LL

 

[cheerfulpuppies]

I don't know exactly what it is/was. I felt off and terrible for two and a half days. Saturday I seemed to return to "normal". My mother suggested it might be an infection and I have been feeling crappy like I am getting a sinus infection "flare up" for several weeks now but it hasn't truely "hit" me yet. I called the CF clinic but as usual no response, utterly useless as far as this is concerned. It's a good thing I am not "sick" or dying yet. Who knows how or if they would treat that?

Either way I am seeing my ENT on Tuesday who is still new to me so he probably won't d anything when I am sick either but at least I will have another surgery that may help even though the last two didn't do much except make me more aware of my intense sinus headaches and the intense pressure when I bend over and realize that's not "normal" for people and oh yeah I guess I do have pain and pressure in my sinuses, All the time.

 

[LittleLab4CF]

Cheerfulpuppies,

My first thought was a sinus/ear infection but figured that would be your first thought and didn't want to insult your diagnostic abilities. The fact your mother is picking up on something you haven't could imply some delirium. Look for infections close to the brain, like ears, nose and, well, you are going to see one on Tuesday. I tossed in the "swishing" hoping it might ring a bell. Here's hoping your ENT hits that mark.

LL

 

[cheerfulpuppies]

No real answer for last weeks "episode" but at least my ENT did give me an antibiotic. Hopefully it will keep the infection at bay until the end of the month to get me through working the two jobs. I am set and scheduled for my FESS on January 3rd where he is going to drill the openings bigger. I can't believe I am actually looking forward to it as much as I am. I know it will be a lot more painful but hope more than anything it is helpful and worth it.

 

[CyrilCrodius]

You didn't mention any about starting to take antibiotics so I'm assuming that you didn't. But just to make sure, were you? Because some antibiotics can have side effects that are similar to what you describe.

 

[cheerfulpuppies]

No I was not on antibiotics. My clinic does not like to do oral antibiotics even if you feel crappy.