It's been quite a week

Hey Jojo, 

That was quite a week, I am glad to hear erred on the side of caution and went for a check up. You have had a bucket load of stress to deal with, some of which is still ongoing, and you are still recovering from major surgery. Your body sounds like its on overload, so it could be a mini stroke, it may be difficult to tell. I had one of those the first time I had cancer, my face froze and I couldn't speak, fortunately it left no identifiable signs of damage.

With having so much on your plate, and being run ragged at work, it could also be your body reacting to severe stress. You may not be aware of it but you could be over breathing, just taking constant rapid short shallow breaths for long periods can cause hyperventilation. When stressed and concentrating it is easy to do without you being aware, it reduces the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. You often feel unsteady and out of sorts, developing feelings of numbness in your arms, disorientation, dizziness and fainting. It can leave you feeling very out of sorts. It is not quite the same as panic attacks although the conditions can overlap. It might be worth paying attention to your breathing, sometimes there could be a propensity to sighing a lot. 

You could definitely do with treating yourself to a destressing treatment. An aromatherapy massage, or sauna or both, if I lived closer I would be around with my massage table and oils. Understandably the commitment of work is causing the pressure to build, do you get the weekends off? Try to put everything else to one side this weekend and just concentrate on you, there is only so long your body can run on empty. Thinking of you:)

Djinnie xx

aamdsi said:

Oh my!

What a week!  I hope that all tests come back with good news, and come back sooner than July!

in the meantime, put your feet up (if you can) and just breath.  Hopefully you are where you can do that outside with a glass of tea (or wine).

hug to you.

Laurie

Oh JoJo how awful, I'm so glad you had good results and are feeling a bit better. You need a time out, your life is a bit hectic at the moment. can you take some time off work, I know you are short staffed but your health is most important. Sounds like you have great support form your lovely husband And renovating a house, you are amazing xx

karen

Oh Jojo, I don't ask myself why you, I ask myself, why not you? 

The amount of stress you have in your life is astrinomical.  And not just now but, a good long while now.  And it seems to be mounting.  Of all the stressors you have mentioned, and boy are there many, your son's depression and "many other issues" are bound to be taking the biggest toll on your health.   I don't know your son's circumstances but I do know what it means to be a mom and when our kids hurt, be it physically, mentally or emotionally, we hurt, maybe worse.  I am a firm believer that stress kills.  But, before it kills, it manifests itself in many, many ways, ie, dizziness, fainting, nausea, aches and pains and on and on. 

However, being that a vein was nicked during surgery, maybe you have a slow internal bleed that's causing enough blood loss to account for the dizziness.  In which case, the horrendouse amount of stress your'e under may have nothing to do with what ails you.  You mentioned you have fainted many times before.  Any particular reason?  The fact that you felt "out of it" for a couple hours after you passed out makes me think it was a seizure of some kind.  I know you must be so scared!  I hate that you have to wait so long for answers.  It just seems like you should be bumped to the front of the line.  I mean, July?  Really?  I'm happy the other tests and ct all look good.  Did you get copies?  I'm surprised that your bloodwork wasn't more revealing.  I'd get those too.  Just to have a look for yourself. 

Whatever you do, do not accept defeat.  Cry if you want to and scream bloody murder, but don't quit till you get answers.  These doctor's might not figure it out, but someone will.  I just wouldn't be too quick to chalk it up to stress.  Stress will exacerbate any other medical issues, of course, but it's best to rule out a medical etiology for your dizziness and fainting, in my opinion.

In the meantime, JoJo, you gotta get away from it all.  You need to find an outlet that will lend, if only brief, retreats from your stress.  Too bad we don't live closer.  Coffee and Bailey's with a girlfriend is amazing therapy.

I'll pray for you, sweet jojo.  I know your post was 4 days ago, and I'm late to the game so I'm hoping you are feeling somewhat better today.  If I can do anything at all, holla.  And most importantly, hang in there.  Your smile in your picture is so vibrant that I know the lady behind the smile must also be.  Don't lose yourself trying to help everyone else.  Of course our kids always come first but in this instance, you have to put their worries aside and focus on you because, you can't help your son if you are not well yourself.

xoxo

Sindy