
Ask HN: Do you recognize these symptoms? - oxAAAFFB
I recently became ill. I have worked with my doctors and they can’t find anything wrong with me. This includes a brain scan.<p>I’m a long time HN reader, so I know that many people here have suffered with mysterious symptoms like me. I thought I would take a shot in the dark by posting here.<p>About 5 weeks ago I began getting headaches and shaky hands as well as confusion. This escalated rather suddenly to very intense bouts of neurological symptoms lasting for about an hour or two. The symptoms now include confusion (brain fog), weakness of limbs or a sensation of weakness, extreme nausea and a bitter depression. These bouts are extremely unpleasant. They seem to happen every couple of days. I can’t identify any triggers.<p>As I’ve said, my doctors refuse to continue testing me, saying nothing is wrong and insisting on anti-depressants. In an effort to get some relief, I’ve traveled away from where I live and even bought new clothes, just on the off chance that it was some kind of chemical exposure in my house.<p>So far, on the road, symptoms have lightened up noticeably but they are still there.<p>The only thing I can think of is that my house was a bit moldy.<p>I’m not looking for medical advice or direction — I would just like to see if anyone has any anecdotes or ideas because neither google nor my doctors are helping much. Thanks.
======
rvz
Given that the doctors are refusing to test you, perhaps you could use an
online symptom checker? I find its better than google for symptoms though and
using multiple tools like this could give you an idea of what it could
possibly be.

Obviously they don't replace doctors, but you can show them a report of the
symptoms and the possible outcome of how you're feeling.

A few you could try are listed here: [https://medicalfuturist.com/the-big-
symptom-checker-review/](https://medicalfuturist.com/the-big-symptom-checker-
review/)

------
Normille
Almost sounds like lead poisoning[1]. Or 'Mad Hatter' disease[2]. Pretty
unlikely I'm sure. But could you have lead piping where you live, or be near a
source of mercury vapour?

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erethism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erethism)

------
user_agent
I've just posted extensively about that in a similar thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23531361](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23531361)

------
uberman
By a brain scan I'm assuming you have been checked for a strokes or TIAs but
have you been checked for "Adult-Onset Hydrocephalus"? One of my relatives has
it and had symptoms similar to yours

~~~
oxAAAFFB
The result of the scan was that I didn’t have a tumor, stroke Or any bleeding.
Thank you, I’ll look into this.

~~~
uberman
On the plus side, correcting the issue for them was relatively simple with a
little shunt. Good luck.

------
LinuxBender
Did the doctors test for B1 deficiency / sufficiency? Should be 2.5-7.5 μg/dL,
or 74-222 nmol/L

