On May 23,2019, I went in for a lithotripsy procedure. This is where you go under general Anesthesia and they send thousands of shockwaves through your kidney to break up a kidney stone so that you can pass them. Waking up, I apparently was hysterical and crying about my ex-boyfriend who had died by suicide almost 5 years prior. Hours later, I was having a lot of abdominal pain (they said this was normal) and a lot of bleeding and blood clots in my urine (they also said this was normal). I was taking 3 days worth of antibiotics (nitrofurantoin?) and the occasional hydrocordone for pain. Over the next few days I was in and out of the ER because I had developed terrible headaches and neck pain to the point where I could hardly sit up in bed. They ran blood, urine and even did a CT scan of my head and found nothing. I went home and things continued to get worse over the next few weeks. A few days after the procedure I developed this feeling of nothing is real, no one is real, etc. I was able to force myself to go to work a couple of times but always needed to leave early. The next few weeks and now months have been horrible. I had to actually quit my job, have my mom fly out to Phoenix, put my furniture in storage and move me back home to Minnesota. I have been bed ridden for 2 months now. I can’t do anything for myself. My mom has to make and bring me food and force me to eat, I can hardly talk to people or doctors on the phone because i can hardly process what anyone is saying…This is ruining my life.
My symptoms are constant feelings of i am not real, nothing is real including my family and friends. I have closed off everyone besdies my mom (maybe derealization?), i have no concept of time, i know things happen or happened but i dont remember them happening, head pain and head aches (mostly in back of head, temples, and top of my head but it makes my head feel heavy so its hard to keep myself up right), extreme fatigue and lethargy, neck pain and now extreme back/spinal pain (started in my lower back a few weeks ago now it spread up to my middle and upper back and is worse when sitting or laying down), my vision is impaired (i feel like i cant see things clearly. everything seems bright or is having flashes of light, visual snow kinda), chest tightness, body numbness (usually in hands/arms/feet but today my right side of the back of my leg, butt, and genital area went completely numb for 30 seconds while i was trying to urinate), insomnia, exteme lack of appetite, lack of motivation, ringing in ears, sudden hearing impairment for a few seconds, etc. The list just goes on.
I have seen a Neurologist (EEG, MRI, EMG, ultra sound of my neck. He said everything looked normal and urged me to see a psychiatrist), Cardiologist (stress test, ultra sound of heart, ultra sound of neck, holter monitor. He said everything looked normal but have low blood pressure so put me on Fludrocortisone), GI specialist (HIDA scan, CT of abdomen, upper endoscopy. He said everything looked normal), Endocrinologist (i have graves disease diagnosed a year before all of this. I went to her to see if something was up with my thyroid. She said everything came back normal for my thyroid levels and ran 24hour urine and just said to up my water/lemon water intake to prevent future kidney stones. I have been to 4 different ER’s where they have run numerous blood work, urine, spinal tap, nerve blocks in my neck, more CT and MRI scans and they have found nothing. I even went to my therapist and also my psychiatrist and was put back on Lexapro (escitalopram) 5 days ago to see if maybe this was just all my mental health but it is making my derealization and fatigue and every other symptoms WORSE. I really don’t know where to go from here. Could this all just be anxiety/depression/PTSD related? Or is something more going on.
Side note: I do have previous mental health diagnosis of anxiety, depression, and PTSD which all had been treated and I saw my regular therapist at least once every 3 months.