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What Causes Pain And Swelling In Abdomen, Constipation, Depression And Confusion?

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Posted on Wed, 11 Feb 2015
Question: Hello, I'm 67 yrs old woman, My Dr. failed to stop my hydxoryzine at 65, i took it till 67, 2 tab. or sometimes 3 a day as needed. Mostly I took 3 a day.I do not find much answers for what came after I stopped. The symtoms started showing up in September this last year. I have had some extremely, confusing, fluctuating symptoms after stopping it. I took the way of looking at my symptoms, not covering them up and using diabetic diet and food, mostly natural, raw and vegan as my course of flushing out the toxins that were plaguing my body, my being overweight was also addressed and as of now my fluctuating symptoms are lower and different and I lost 20 lbs in about 8-10 weeks. Time has slipped away dealing with this, all the ups and downs questions on what to eat that would help not hurt kept me so busy. but still I am not symptom free or corrected. These are some of my symptoms I was dealing with= They started in sept. got a1c test it was 6, said 6 1/2 was diabetic. other than that all my meds were normal but I had high cholesterol too. being afraid of getting that lifelong disease I went into action, and being angry that the Dr. put me through 2 years of fog and confusion and lethargy and sluggishness with fat retention, when I could have worked my way out of it and they knew months befor but did not inform me till summer was over. So my symptoms started with diarrhea then a feeling of a urinary infection, that is when i went to my clinic and had tests done but the nurse practitioner treated me as if I was somewhat delusional or not serious and pretty much dismissed me. but did do the tests I mentioned. Thyroid panel and a1c panel I think are the names? So because that clinic seemed to be protecting themselves more than I would like over that Dr.issue I took this high road. I'm old not us to Dr. and Medical Plans ect and what to do with changing Drs. Plus all that confusion so I did what I did. other symptoms after that were pain discomfort in the lower regions where my internal organs are. especially Lower middle swelling and pain but all accross felt bad. thats when I started this flush with raw food. First pain was on Left more then on right organs, I suffered and still have constipation, one of the reasons for raw veg. food. Then low blood pressure and then high for about a week or so until I found food that I could eat in the morning and at night before bed. I did talk to ask a nurse as that is a service I have. She wanted me to go to emergency but I felt that emergence could not do much and I could do more, the lack of confidence in Dr. was still there. my pain was not that severe and ask a nurse , for liability purposes said to go to emergency. were the wait was hours and the germs were more. I lived in Europe and Asia for 14 yrs as missionary and I had lived a life of treating myself , with my symptoms and my children for 25-30 yrs in the past so I wanted to try. I had been a vegetarian 30 years or so before I am not now not for 30 yrs now but I still ate healthy but in poverty well is not as before.I had to take prescription drugs because of no other recourse. I was healthy till I had to deal with issues of my very large emotional trauma I had years back at work in XXXXXXX lots of depression and flash backs of sorts ect. did tell Dr. at onset that I would be more sensitive to these meds. because of not taking them much in past. I had Fainting feeling as well, hot flashes feelings but no sweating and sometimes cold feet and toes and tingling and pins and needles on the bottom of my feet. A almost uncontrollable desire to eat, I was always trying to find out what to eat with, I thought Diabetes, that was a bit of hell. This was most of my symptoms then. I take other prescription drugs, not many but all have interactions. Hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg cap= 1 cap. every day.Levothyroxine 75 mcg tab= 1 tab one time daily. I have not taken Lithium carb cap 300mg 1 a day for a week, my other Dr. said when I was reviewed after mistreatment to stop the hydxoryzine he also said stop the Lithium but I could not stop both at the same time so this last week I did. maybe I was overconfident? don't know but could be part of the new symptoms. New symptoms are swelling from knee down with pain. Still confusion, Lost weak feeling, pins and needles in feet, pads of feet and below big toe below or under pad. feet and hands tingle but are warm and I feel very healthy otherwise. Eyes are and were blurry. my cataract has grown diagnosed 2 years back but to small then but will be taken out the 28 of this month. one of the other symtoms I had to look into. I have tried to give all my general medical history. . . direct me on what to do.
I only have social security and medicaid as secondary. . . XXXXXXX

It's not so much a question except that I am 5'3 1/2 tall and at the time of the symptoms happening I was 223 lbs. now of course I am 202.4 and still following pretty much a low fat low carb diet. I was not on raw food only as a medicine diet but I still find some of that diet works and I enjoy Fresh veg for health. if I can afford it.
I hope this new info. may help.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Yogesh D (8 hours later)
Brief Answer:
You should consult a psychiatrist again and restart lithium.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thank you for trusting us with your health issues.

I have carefully gone through your history of symptoms and I can understand your confusion as I see the effect of it in your writing.

At the outset I would like to inform you that I may not be able to help you too much, however, I will try my best to address every aspect of your problem and will try my best to guide you in the right direction.

Hydroxyzine use for long periods is not recommended as it can rarely cause tardive dyskinesia, however I am relieved to know that you are not suffering from such a symptom and your symptom is mainly confusion.

I have carefully read your history to find all the possible side effects you might be experiencing from using Hydroxyzine for 2 years, but I can not honestly find any symptom other than confusion that I can attribute to Hydroxyzine use.

Your HbA1c is absolutely fine, 6 is perfectly fine and you do not need to go ballistic on diabetic diet. Please stop hurting yourself by not eating enough.

Pain and swelling in the middle of the lower tummy have absolutely nothing to do with hydroxyzine usage. They are completely different issues all together and need to be looked at by a doctor as soon as possible so that the exact problem can be identified.

The pain and swelling you are experiencing in the legs, below the knees is also not related to hydroxyzine use, this type of swelling can be seen in low thyroid functioning, which is why the nurse has done a thyroid profile. (it would help me if you could update me with the exact values of these tests, you could use the "upload reports" feature that is available on the right hand side of the web page to do this).

You can continue with you vegan/fresh veg diet, but remember not to starve yourself.

My suggestions:

1. Check and make sure that your thyroid hormone levels are normal, if they are low, then you will need to increase the dose of Levothyroxine. For this, you will need to consult a doctor.

2. You will need to continue taking Lithium for your mood disorders and confusion, and lithium can not be stopped abruptly. Stopping Lithium abruptly can cause the symptoms of pins and needles and many other symptoms. Restarting this will be tricky, so I request you to kindly get serum lithium levels estimated by the lab before re-instating the medicine.

3. You need not go back to the same doctor for you health issues, every doctor is not the same and even if your previous doctor was negligent in treating you, I can assure you that such mistakes happen very very rarely.

You will have to trust me on this, and go to a primary care physician or an internal medicine MD and discuss your condition completely.

4. You can write back to me with the reports of the labs done so that I can try and understand your problems a bit more and help you further.

I sincerely hope I have addressed at least the important aspects of your query, please do write back to me if you have any additional concerns or doubts.

Wishing you good health.

Best regards
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Dr. Yogesh D

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 1130 Questions

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What Causes Pain And Swelling In Abdomen, Constipation, Depression And Confusion?

Brief Answer: You should consult a psychiatrist again and restart lithium. Detailed Answer: Hello, Thank you for trusting us with your health issues. I have carefully gone through your history of symptoms and I can understand your confusion as I see the effect of it in your writing. At the outset I would like to inform you that I may not be able to help you too much, however, I will try my best to address every aspect of your problem and will try my best to guide you in the right direction. Hydroxyzine use for long periods is not recommended as it can rarely cause tardive dyskinesia, however I am relieved to know that you are not suffering from such a symptom and your symptom is mainly confusion. I have carefully read your history to find all the possible side effects you might be experiencing from using Hydroxyzine for 2 years, but I can not honestly find any symptom other than confusion that I can attribute to Hydroxyzine use. Your HbA1c is absolutely fine, 6 is perfectly fine and you do not need to go ballistic on diabetic diet. Please stop hurting yourself by not eating enough. Pain and swelling in the middle of the lower tummy have absolutely nothing to do with hydroxyzine usage. They are completely different issues all together and need to be looked at by a doctor as soon as possible so that the exact problem can be identified. The pain and swelling you are experiencing in the legs, below the knees is also not related to hydroxyzine use, this type of swelling can be seen in low thyroid functioning, which is why the nurse has done a thyroid profile. (it would help me if you could update me with the exact values of these tests, you could use the "upload reports" feature that is available on the right hand side of the web page to do this). You can continue with you vegan/fresh veg diet, but remember not to starve yourself. My suggestions: 1. Check and make sure that your thyroid hormone levels are normal, if they are low, then you will need to increase the dose of Levothyroxine. For this, you will need to consult a doctor. 2. You will need to continue taking Lithium for your mood disorders and confusion, and lithium can not be stopped abruptly. Stopping Lithium abruptly can cause the symptoms of pins and needles and many other symptoms. Restarting this will be tricky, so I request you to kindly get serum lithium levels estimated by the lab before re-instating the medicine. 3. You need not go back to the same doctor for you health issues, every doctor is not the same and even if your previous doctor was negligent in treating you, I can assure you that such mistakes happen very very rarely. You will have to trust me on this, and go to a primary care physician or an internal medicine MD and discuss your condition completely. 4. You can write back to me with the reports of the labs done so that I can try and understand your problems a bit more and help you further. I sincerely hope I have addressed at least the important aspects of your query, please do write back to me if you have any additional concerns or doubts. Wishing you good health. Best regards