It’s been a tough couple of weeks. The dizziness, constipation, nausea, breathing problems, vision problems, and dry skin seemed like such separate issues, and we couldn’t figure it out. I saw 5 doctors, and we did an MRI/MRV, bloodwork, orthostatic blood pressure (on 3 separate occasions), and the Epley maneuver test. Nothing seemed to work. I also spent a week on a low dose of Prednisone in case it was inner ear stuff, and that didn’t help.
I mentioned my symptoms to the surgeon’s nurse, and she didn’t have any ideas. Then I asked if I should continue using the ointment she gave me in a tiny unlabeled jar with no information about it other than that I should use it twice a day. (She later said I could use it as often as every 3 hours, but I never quite did that.) She looked at me and said, “Oh, I’d forgotten about that. That explains your symptoms.”
She gave me the name and I looked it up—every single one of my symptoms was on there. I didn’t even know what she’d handed me was a prescription medication, and I checked and she had never added it to my medical chart!! I’d been using the tiniest bit for 3 weeks, and I’d been having these symptoms for most of that time. I brought the symptoms up with the surgeon after being on it for 1 week, and she didn’t make the connection.
That’s been incredibly frustrating, but at least it’s clearing up now that I’m off the DMSO.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I was on that low dose of Prednisone. I eventually figured out that it was causing some pretty severe mental health issues, so we stopped it a little over a week ago.
Over the past week, the depression got much, much worse. I had other moments where I was just fine, though, and actually doing quite well. It was very odd, and I felt pretty removed from the situation. I got much less sleep than usual and I was talking a lot more than usual, and a good friend pointed out that I seemed hypomanic. I rarely notice it myself, but once it was pointed out, it was pretty clear.
I kept going back and forth between severe depression and hypomania. I’ve been previously diagnosed with bipolar 2, and I remember learning in Abnormal Psych that rapid cycling bipolar means 4 or more episodes per year, but it’s not something that can change on an almost-daily basis. (We also learned to never self-diagnose or to try diagnose friends and family…)
Since it was the weekend and I knew I shouldn’t diagnose myself, I had a consult with Dr. Google. Apparently, a fairly recent diagnosis has popped up in the literature of ultra-rapid cycling, as well as ultra-ultra-rapid cycling, or ultradian cycling. The hypomania and depression were so clear (and those were at least previously diagnosed), so I felt very strongly that this was the answer.
I saw my primary on Monday and brought up my symptoms and my conclusion, and she agreed. We’re adjusting meds, and I’m feeling much more optimistic! So glad to have a primary care provider who works with me and listens to both my symptoms and my ideas about what might be going on!