Anyone ever had these symptoms?

[marineman]

I'm sleeping decent when my chest doesn't tighten up (see comments in initial post). Usually I sleep for about an hour then I wake up short on breath. Same thing happens if I am awake and lay down to watch a movie.

Funny thing is, not trying to be funny, that it almost (but not exactly) feels like wicked gas pains right below my sternum - like if I could rip a big fart or burp I'd be fine. In other words, my lower chest/upper abdomen feel "full" and pressurized, but not really with pain or any feeling of sickness. I also considered that I swallowing some air while fighting the regulator for a while, but 9 days over it? No way. I also considered that I pulled something, but again, a sore muscle that doesn't feel like a sore muscle that gets no better after 9 days? Probably not. FWIW, I have not had troubles with any body functions, but I do admit to some periods of excessive gas. Again, not trying to play comedian here, but it's been crazy at times. Oddly, my chest has felt better at times because of it.

Don't ask me how the breathing and the dizzy/lightheaded/foggy feelings tie together, if they do at all....

 

[Diver0001]

ok .... I guess I could think of something incredibly clever to ask next but I see that the thread has been moved to the medical forum and I've tagged a friend who actually knows what she's talking about to come and take a look at this thread .

R..

p.s. any recent changes to your diet?

 

[marineman]

p.s. any recent changes to your diet?

Nope. Good question though! I should have pointed all this out initially. I have been nailing water, eating fairly healthy, and even continuing playing sports and work out per my normal daily regiments. I've been amazed to see that I can perform moderate cardio and not get winded terribly bad (though I am normally in very good shape). This is another reason I'm not surprised my lungs checked out. I have noticed more fatigue than normal, and coordination is a bit off due to the head fog issues. I'm not falling down or anything, but a line drive in softball was significantly harder to hit than normal. My strength and range of motion seem to be decent as well.

Also for you medical minds, heart rate (55 per minute) and blood pressure were a bit low. I forget the exact bp but I think it was around 120/60. I can check at Walgreens if it matters. Neither are uncommon for me though.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Marineman,
A few questions:
1. Have all these symptoms (dizziness, lightheadedness, balance issues, chest tightness) persisted since the original incident? Have they gotten any better or worse over time? Is there anything that you do that helps the symptoms or makes them worse?
2. You said that you felt these symptoms 3-4 hours after your last dive. Did they appear suddenly or gradually?
3. From your posts it sounds like your activity tolerance is slightly decreased. Is that the case?
4. Have you had any recent injury (e.g. fracture) or prolonged period of immobility, possibly even a long airplane ride?
5. Was an EKG done with all your other tests?

These symptoms are worrisome and I don't think "watch and wait" is appropriate. If you start feeling worse at any point, call 911 and get to the E.D.

 

[marineman]

Marineman,
A few questions:
1. Have all these symptoms (dizziness, lightheadedness, balance issues, chest tightness) persisted since the original incident? Have they gotten any better or worse over time? Is there anything that you do that helps the symptoms or makes them worse?
2. You said that you felt these symptoms 3-4 hours after your last dive. Did they appear suddenly or gradually?
3. From your posts it sounds like your activity tolerance is slightly decreased. Is that the case?
4. Have you had any recent injury (e.g. fracture) or prolonged period of immobility, possibly even a long airplane ride?
5. Was an EKG done with all your other tests?

1. Yes, pretty much the same symptoms the whole time.
2. Out of water about 2:00 PM, symptoms in full swing about 7:30 PM. It crept in a bit, but pretty quickly.
3. Slightly, but I'm not completely drained.
4. Only usual little sports bump and bruises, and I did get my thumb sliced open by a glow stick while diving. No plane ride, though I do have one scheduled in 1.5 weeks, hence my concern.
5. Only a chest x-ray. No EKG, CT, MRI, etc. X-ray came back fine.

Head:
Almost feels like I drank 8 beers. I'm foggy, dizzy, slightly off balance, my ears have a slight ring, and my vision is a little funny. No pain in ears, no headaches, etc. Nothing really seems to make it better or worse. Sometimes it feels like I stood up too fast.

Chest/gut:
No pain. I've always been able to fully inhale and exhale perfectly fine. It feels more like pressure 3-5 finger widths under my sternum. More upper abdominal area. Sometimes a gassy spell will hit from one end or the other and the pressure is significantly reduced. My stomach also feels a bit off the last couple days, probably from stress because I'm getting a bit concerned about what is going on.

The rest of me:
Body functions are normal, no pain in joins, no tingling or numbness, no rashes, etc.

Sincerely, thank you all!

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Marineman,
It's hard to say if the neurological symptom are related to the epigastric tightnes thought it would be coincidental if they weren't. You definitely need to be seen by a medical professional as soon as possible. I recommend you have a thorough neurological exam, along with a complete workup of your abdominal symptoms. Sorry I can't get more specific than that, but without having you here in the clinic that's the best I can do. Good luck, and please post a followup note so anyone following the thread can see how you're doing. Also feel free to PM if there's any info you don't want shared in a public forum.
Best regards,
DDM

 

[Bubbletrubble]

@marineman: Your symptoms are concerning. Conditions to rule out include: mediastinal emphysema (secondary to pulmonary barotrauma), pneumothorax, pulmonary embolism, and stroke. It may be none of these things, but you won't know unless you get further evaluated. I'd like to reiterate DDM's advice. See a medical professional as soon as possible.

 

[marineman]

Thank you all. At least nobody is telling me I'm overreacting, which is exactly what I felt like everyone was telling me initially since symptoms didn't look like DCS and the chest x-ray came back OK. That's the most frustrating thing to hear when you KNOW your body is not right.

I have an appointment in a couple hours with a different doctor at my regular family practice so I can start with a fresh set of eyes and ears. After running through the symptoms on the phone, they were quick to schedule me today and it sounds like they think this may not be related to diving at all. I'm almost happy to hear that - I'm not sure I'd return to the underwater world if it made me feel like this after a relatively light dive profile where I know I did everything by the book.

I will keep this up to date with whatever I learn. Hopefully troubleshooting this doesn't turn into a major headache. Wish me luck, and thanks again for your input!

 

[TSandM]

The epigastric tightness combined with belching sounds very like reflux, or possibly gallstones. The same symptoms can occur with coronary artery disease, but unless you have horrible genetics, that's very unlikely at 28. Reflux, in particular, can be persistent. None of those diagnoses explains your neurological symptoms. I agree that a thorough neurological evaluation is in order, especially if you are having any trouble walking, because if you are, something is definitely wrong. If it's just a feeling of lightheadedness and foggy thinking, it can be quite a bit more difficult to evaluate. An awful lot of the times people complain of those symptoms, I'm unable to identify anything specific that is causing them.

 

[marineman]

Here is the latest:

I went to the doc yesterday and saw a different doctor at my family practice. It was a rather long visit and he seemed much more concerned than the last guy - probably because symptoms have continued for so long. He quickly diagnosed BPPV after neurological / reflex / balance testing. He prescribed some meds to help with the dizziness, and told me to do the Brandt-Daroff Exercises. He said therapy may be in order if that does not work. So, it sounds like this is the explanation for the dizziness. He also said this one can potentially take a while to heal. One thing that was odd is that I woke up with my right ear draining a little through the night while sleeping on my right side, but he said my ear drums looked fine.

He seems to agree with TSandM on the abdominal pressure, though he didn't leave it at that and drew some blood to see what else may be going on. He told me to take Gelusil, which is an antacid and anti-gas medication. I wasn't overly happy to hear he thought it was that simple, but I must admit that last night after taking it was the best those symptoms have been in 10 days. He explained that I may have swallowed air while fighting my regulator at depth. He said the air likely expanded on ascent causing some harmless stretching in my digestive tract. That stretching would allow for more recent gas production to fill the void, causing the long period of bloating I'm experiencing. How embarrassing that all of this may literally be caused by a lodged fart... :shocked2:

He also poked around on my back and confirmed that there are still several areas that are very tight and sore. He offered therapy for this, but I will stick with making another Chiropractic appointment for this since I've always had good results with them for back-related issues. He said that is likely a player in the tightness I feel when breathing, and that the gas pressure combined with it probably makes matters much worse. This part seemed odd since I've never struggled with any kind of reflux, but it has been gurgling a lot and fitting other GERD-like symptoms as well.

Either way, he ruled out a lot of the more critical things when the neurological/memory/reflex/balance exam checked out, and he put a lot of emphasis on it being good that my arms, legs, and joints all seem fine and pain-free. Others were ruled out due to two factors: 1) pressure rather than actual pain, and 2) symptoms not occurring for hours after the dive. He also said he could tell I was nervous about the symptoms and said stress is NOT helping any of it.

Either way, it looks like my heart and lungs check out, and DCS does not seem like the culprit. He also told me I should be fine to fly and dive for vacation in the next week and a half, except that it is likely I'll still be a little dizzy.

Does this all sound valid to everyone?