Question: have a history of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Innappropriate Sinus Tachycardia with PAC's and PVC's. In December 2013 I gave birth to a little girl. I was given an epidural for pain which hurt extremely bad when it was given (an experience unlike my first born), about five minutes later I gave birth to my daughter. I was given a flu shot in the hospital also. Shortly after having her, I began to experience uneasy wozzy like spells. The doctors weren't concerned and I was sent home two days later. The third day home, I was admitted back into the hospital for sinus tachycardia. I have been dealing with these issues for several years. I had an elevated d-dimer and CT scan of chest with contrast to rule out blood clot. I was admitted for two days and during my stay I had developed hives, neck pain, the worst headache of my life (which I contribute to becoming tense during the CT scan and had the pain immediately after they laid me down flat to do the test). I was sent home and told it was my hormones that causes such spikes in my heart rate and I was told to continue my Inderal 10 mg twice a day. The headache continued non stop for two months. During those two months I began to experience motion sickness, disequilibrium, nausea like spells. I saw an ENT and he administered a VNG test. The results showed horizontal nystagmus related to the central nervous system. He was concerned that maybe something happened during my epidural and told me that this needed further evaluation because he does not see this often. Maybe a handful of times in over 20 years. I was sent for an MRI. It was in an open machine without contrast and came back normal. I have had back pain, neck pain, (its muscular) open MRI w/o contrast of spine were normal other than one bulging disc in L4. I saw a balance specialist and he did a whole bunch of tests all of which were normal that day. I was given zoloft and told I was just anxious. I was referred back to my neurologist and he suggested PT for the neck and back pain and also vestibular therapy none of which are helping. The person administering therapy for a month now believes there is something strange going on with my body and does not agree with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and anxiety. The therapist told me, "You clearly have some sort of problem that is deeper than what has been found, I don't believe you are anxious, depressed, I can see that you are just frustrated because you want to enjoy your little one." I guess I should also mention I am not a first time mom. This is my second, my oldest being 10. I've had lab work which showed low Vit D and Vit B12. I've been taking supplements of those for close to two months. I also have IBS and have had more diarrhea lately, first episode an hour after giving birth and it has not let up since. I have had a few instances where I broke out in hives since the hospital admission back in Decemeber. Both were a few weeks ago and a few days apart. It seems like I have periods of time where I experience the vertigo, motion sickness, disequilibrium symptoms and the back/neck pain isn't as severe. When the back/neck pain is more severe I suffer less from the vertigo, motion sickness, disequilibrium, nausea symptoms. For instance two weeks ago I suffered horribly from these spells and nausea for a week straight. I felt like I was intoxicated and was constantly nauseated. I would attend therapy and then come home and rest. Even when I try to fall asleep I experience symptoms of the bed moving. During this time my neck and back pain weren't as severe. Fast forward to this past Friday. The spells subsided and I began to have extreme inflammation in my neck and back muscles along with pain. Sometimes it feels as if I have sun burn and I lost range of motion due to such tense muscles, deep in the cervical spine and on sides/back of neck. Yesterday, I had to take my oldest daughter to see a specialist, I got on an elevator and when I got off I suffered horribly for about 10 minutes with the spells I've been experiencing. I came home and the neck/back pain isn't as severe again, but the spells are back. My neurologist says that structurally everything looks good, but the anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers prescribed he said should be helping along with the PT and it is not. I saw an optometrist and my eye exam was fine, he said my optic nerve looks healthy and he can get me to 20/20 vision with my glasses. Could my symptoms need further evaluation. I've also experienced some other quirky symptoms since this all began. I just don't understand how Dec 6 2013 I was fine and days later broken to the extent of where my family doctor has me off work because I don't know when the spells I am experiencing will hit. Symptoms experience in the past four months: brain fog, difficulty finding words, words coming out wrong, irritability, can't pay attention or concentrate on anything, tingling in extremities, muscle twitches/spasms as I am trying to sleep, nausea, vertigo, disequilibrium, motion sickness, back/neck pain, pain at epidural site, burning/hot feeling where the back and neck pain are, hip pain, diarrhea, hair loss (though may be due to postpartum?), I've had a metallic taste in my mouth a few times, unintentional weight loss (I started out March 2013 185 lbs and currently weigh 166 lbs.) I lost weight my entire pregnancy and continue to do so, very tired, headaches, cold feet/hands, racing heart, difficulty swallowing, changes in body odor, loss of libido. I need someone to think outside of the box and help me figure this out so I can enjoy my little one and get back to work. I'm begin to feel like a burden to my family as they have been helping out so much when I am feeling ill and I am getting tired of going to the doctors and not having any answers.

I am trying my best to get everything uploaded in a timely manner. I am having a difficult time getting the MRI's in this system. I really don't know any other way to do it other than to copy and paste each picture and save as a pdf. I also have some labs and a few others things included. This is all I have as of right now. There is other balance testing I had done and I don't have a copy of that, but it was all within normal limits. I have a little more information and a few additional questions also. There should be about 34 pictures, cspine, tspine, lspine mri's included. It took me hours to get those uploaded so I didn't do the MRI of brain, please let me know if you'd like that also and if you were able to view all the attachments or not. I'm new to the site and not sure how to fully work everything yet. I am not 100% sure if the epidural is the trigger, its a theory that I have only because of the dizzy woozy like spells beginning after delivery, the pain at the epidural site for so long, the loose stools I had beginning immediately after delivery and they continue to be worse than prior to pregnancy, along with the other symptoms that I think may be neurological. The last two days my neck has not been as sore/inflamed. I have noticed though that my sternum and ribs especially on the left side under my bust are tender. At first I just thought it was pain in my back from muscles, but I'm now wondering if it is the cartilage that it within the sternum and ribs? (I do see a cardiologist regularly and I have had several event monitors, which showed tachycardia, the PAC's and PVC's, I had an echo cardiogram approximately two months ago and that was normal also.) I have also been tender under my right arm pit. I also wanted to mention that I seem to stare off into space a lot, maybe like get fixated on something and have to tell myself to snap out of it? The gastro things: About 5-6 years ago I had EGD which should some inflammation from GERD. I also had a colonoscopy which results were "Perfect". I was blood tested for wheat allergy and that was negative. Was diagnosed with IBS which I have experienced issues since age of 16. Surgeries to date: gall bladder removal, tonsils and adenoids removed, LEEP procedure to removal abnormal cells from cervix, surgical repair to nose, and chin implant. It seems as if I am experiencing a lot of body inflammation?? The Anti-inflammatories I have tried are no help as well as the PT I have been doing. The therapist is about to discharge me from therapy because she has exhausted all her resources. She feels that my problem is systemic and that it may stem from something neurological. The vestibular therapy was discontinued as the therapist states that I have no balance problems. Could I be experiencing some sort of allergy that is causing inflammation in various parts of the body? Since I had an elevated d-dimer in December could I potentially still have a blood clot or was that totally ruled out with the CT scan? Is there still a possibility of an infection? My white count was normal when labs were taken, but wouldn't that only show an infection in my blood? Could I have some sort of bacteria elsewhere causing this? Should I ask family physician to repeat urinalysis and add a stool culture? Are there any other labs I can ask to have done that are more specific to certain infections? (I ask this because I know of a person who was fatigue and losing weight, doctors discovered months later he had some sort of infection and he was then given a long term dose of antibiotics.) Would it be beneficial to ask for a blood test D metabolites: specifically 25-D and 1,25-D since my vitamin D is still on the low end even after supplements? Could I have something that needs to be reviewed by an endocrinologist? My mother and maternal grandmother both experience hypothyroidism. My labs are within normal range, but could something in the endocrine system still be dysfunctional? I know that it is not normal to lose weight while pregnant. I went from 185lbs March 2013 dropped down to 164lbs and back up to 185 at time of delivery. Since December I now weigh 166 lbs which is nearly 20 lbs less than last March. I haven’t changed diet or exercise. Should this be a concern? I'm sorry to give so much information and ask so many questions, but each doctor that I see never really gets to see or hear the entire story/picture. I feel like one person needs to take a look at the whole picture since I was relatively healthy aside from the tachycardia and IBS before delivery. I have also been tired too, but the symptoms I experience now are nothing like before. I am in chronic pain and discomfort and it has been very difficult to do normal activities. Please let me know if you need any other information and I can try my best to get it to you.

I hope you enjoyed the holidays and thank you for your reply. My vitamin d went up from 15 to 35. I have been taking the 50,000 micro units once per week for nearly months and it was still 35. I have not changed my diet at all since delivery and i usually eat fairly well and avoid foods that normally trigger my ibs. I wonder if the inflammation is all being worsened by a csf leak? Were you able to review the part of the mri that would show a csf leak? I wasnt sure if i uploaded the correct pictures. If the group of pictures isnt attached, i can remove what i have an add the others. I do believe you are correct with that. I googled post lumbar puncture headache and the majorty of my symptoms fit into that. Im wondering if i receive a blood patch if the majority will resolve. Would an anesthesiologist provide that also? I made an appointment with my family doctor and am goimg to mention this to him. Over the weekend my symptoms were the best that it has ever been, but I think you hit the nail on the head and i have not fully recovered from the epidural because i do feel relief laying in bed and first thing in the morning when i wake up. Being in an upright position seems to cause more symptoms. I did mention the weight loss to my family physician and he wasnt concerned with it at this point. Maybe once i get a blood patch and feel better my weight may be more stable. Hoping to talk soon! Thank you again!!

Good evening, I have uploaded the lumbar spine and the labs and some other things I had done. I spoke to my family doctor today and he is calling to find a new specialist to bring this to their attention and review my entire story. He agreed that a second opinion on all of this is a good idea since the problems have not gotten better in 4 1/2 months and most of these problems began after having the baby. The VNG test that I had done, could the abnormal results be a cause of a leak also? Is that a possibility or is there a possibility that I could be suffering from some sort of migraine that is separate? Thank you XXXX