Female, 19 years old, 5’0”, 100 lbs
medications: Nextstellis birth control, Zoloft 100 mg, Vitamin D3, Adderalle
medical history**:** PCOS, no known family history of medical issues
About a month ago, I was hospitalized due to paresthesia along my entire left side, as well as my lower right face, right hand, and right foot. This was accompanied by a feeling of my throat closing, severe nausea, vertigo, vision issues, limb heaviness, finger curling, and a strong pressure feeling in my head.
Leading up to the hospitalization, some symptoms developed gradually. About four days prior, I kept waking up with a sensation of my throat tightening, like pressure on the upper left and right sides. The next day, I noticed tingling in my left hand along with a dullness in my sense of taste. I went to the doctor and was told it might be a pinched nerve in my neck, but symptoms continued to progress.
A few days later, I woke up at night with all of the symptoms affecting my left side and parts of my right, which led to the hospital visit. While hospitalized, they performed brain, spine, and heart scans, along with bloodwork, and everything came back normal. I was discharged and told it was likely stress-induced.
Since then, none of my symptoms have gone away. They have been ongoing for the past month and have significantly affected my quality of life. Some days I am unable to get out of bed or eat without vomiting. Nausea and migraine medications have not been effective.
My symptoms vary in intensity day to day but never fully resolve. I have noticed a pattern where symptoms worsen after I feel pain in my left hand along with ringing in my ears. After that, nausea and headache increase, followed by a general worsening of all symptoms.
Symptoms also tend to be worse after sleeping. When I wake up in the morning or after naps, symptoms are at their worst and gradually improve throughout the day. While falling asleep or waking up, the right side of my face sometimes feels heavy or droops briefly. After waking, it returns to normal within a few seconds but is always followed by twitching. I’m working with a neurologist but im waiting weeks for appointments and really don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. Soryr for such a long post but any help would be appreciated.