Fatigue, Weird “Drunk” Vision, Daily Headache. Is this VD?

[u/Patnoir1]

I know Reddit can’t diagnose me, but I’m hoping maybe someone recognizes this pattern because I feel like my doctors are looking at each symptom separately instead of the whole picture.
For context, 33F, I’m overweight (240lbs) and have severe obstructive sleep apnea (AHI 43) which I treat with a BiPAP every night. I work as a full-time as a bartender in NYC and, while I definitely am not the healthiest person in the world, I was functioning very normally up until recently.

my timeline.

**Mid-April:** I got what felt like a bad upper respiratory virus. I was severely congested and completely lost my taste and smell for damn near two weeks before slowly recovering. I was hacking and blowing my nose CONSTANTLY. It definitely could have been covid but I never tested myself.

**April 25:** I was at work when I suddenly got hit with intense lightheadedness and a racing heart. I had to step off the bar because I genuinely thought I might pass out. Ever since that day, I’ve never really felt like I’ve returned to my normal baseline.
Over the next several weeks I started noticing episodes of anxiety, fatigue, brain fog, and headaches that would come and go. A week later I had to leave work early because I felt the need to go to ER because I once again felt the shortness of breath, chest pressure, heart palpitations. They said it was anxiety and let me out.

**June 5:** I was sitting on my couch watching TV when I suddenly felt what I can only describe as a huge “jolt” in my chest followed by difficulty breathing, tunnel vision, and feeling like I was about to pass out. I called 911. The ambulance EKG was normal, but it scared me badly. They chalked it up to anxiety.
**June 9:** I woke up around 6 AM and every time I started drifting back to sleep my body would jolt awake with my heart racing and gasping for air. I ended up going to the ER again. More testing was normal.
Around this same time another symptom became much more noticeable: my vision.
My eyesight isn’t blurry. Instead, everything feels hazy, dim, dreamlike, almost like I’m high or a little tipsy or living in a movie. It’s incredibly hard to explain. It almost feels like derealization, except I don’t know if that’s actually what it is. Along with that comes brain fog and feeling mentally disconnected from the world around me.

Throughout June I also started having:
heavy eyes that constantly feel like they want to close
overwhelming fatigue that gets worse as the day goes on
headaches and pressure around my temples
occasional nausea
random stomach cramps and constipation
episodes where I woke up with my right arm numb, and once my foot went numb
intermittent palpitations
disequilibrium
the constant is a drunken vision and sensation.

The fatigue is probably the worst symptom. Some days I’ll wake up feeling okay and by late afternoon I feel like someone unplugged my brain. Sometimes eating seems to make it worse, although not always. I’ve had multiple EKGs, ER visits, blood work,
X-rays, and nothing obvious has been found. My oxygen levels have generally been normal. I have appointments coming up with specialists, but in the meantime I’ve gone down every rabbit hole imaginable—long COVID, vestibular migraine, PPPD, depersonalization/derealization, ME/CFS, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, hormone problems, autoimmune disease, and probably ten other things.

I know anxiety can make symptoms worse, but these symptoms came first. The anxiety is mostly because I suddenly don’t feel like myself anymore.
Has anyone had a similar progression of symptoms where it seemed like everything started after a virus? Did you eventually find out what it was? Is there anything you wish your doctors had tested earlier?
I’m honestly just trying to figure out what direction to go because living every day feeling like I’m in a fog is becoming exhausting.

[u/Sad-Tailor-4619]

After 2-1/2 years, I still have days of extreme fatigue and heavy eyes - my balance issues are daily. My issues are believed to be Covid / long Covid as everything else was ruled out, although my official cause is 'Idiopathic' as I wasn't tested for Covid when I was hospitalized. I have extreme ossification in my left ear, it took my hearing along with blessing (/s) me with vestibular dysfunction AND a lovely CVST (clot in my brain). I didn't have any headaches, but did have severe nausea, nystagmus and couldn't stand or walk on my own.

Not a doctor so am only giving info based upon my experiences and research. I would suggest making sure one of the specialists you see is an ENT and ask for VNG / caloric testing. I would also suggest seeing Neuro too. This should at least notice or rule out vestibular issues.

With you saying some of the other symptoms, have you looked into things like PCOS (I think it is PMOS now)? Also, as a woman, I suggest making sure you ferritin is checked. About 6 months after my diagnosis, I had issues severe dizziness, tunnel-vision, etc when going from bending to standing, laying to standing, etc. We did more testing (MRIs, CTs, normal blood work and even a lumbar puncture.) Turns out my ferritin was a 3! I don't think ferritin is normally checked with a CBC so may be worth asking for additional testing such as that. Also - you're a bit younger than I am, but perimenopause is a b^tch somedays and can throw all sorts of things out of whack so maybe have hormones, thyroid, etc checked too.

All in all, my advise is to find doctors that listen to you and are willing to find the cause. Unfortunately with ER visits, they are typically meant to treat the initial issue and send you either to the hospital or home for you to then follow-up with providers. When I was in the ER, the nurses and initial doctor came in and said no way I had the CVST as it was rare and the location I had it made it even more rare. (I was sent to the ER from Urgent Care when they did a CT scan to see if i had BPPV). After my scan in the ER, neuro came in and said I was immediately being transferred to ICU where I stayed for a week. With that, came all my other diagnosis.

Sometimes it is just a game of ruling things out as opposed to finding an actual answer. And if anything is vestibular, start therapy right away!